As Michael Stripe of R.E.M once sang, “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” Well, these movies are about the end of the world, but they are nowhere near fine.
We at have scoured the pages of IMDb to try and bring you a definitive list of the worst post-apocalyptic movies ever made. These films are so bad that watching them is sure to drive you mad whether your name is Max or not. So strap on your leathers, fill your water bottle and pray to whatever derelict pop culture god you have, because we are about to wander the wastelands of bad cinema at its finest!
The Shape Of Things To Come (1979): 3.1
At some point in the future Earth has become so messed up and awful that man is forced to find new lodgings on the Moon. Unfortunately, some insane son of a gun has decided to start blowing up colonies using an array of automated starships and robots!
H.G Wells’s original story was a grim prediction of our future. This movie is a grim way for Jack Palance to earn a paycheck and pay the bills.
Earth Fall (2015): 3.0
Earth Fall isn’t quite sure how the Earth should fall. A rouge planet nearly colliding, a meteorite storm, a build-up of natural gas, fire and ice storms or the entire planet just stopping its spin with one half facing the sun and the other half in darkness.
Through all this malarkey it’s up to Steve Lannon (you may know him as Joe Lando from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) to make it back to his family, but not before uncovering the government’s secret operation S.A.F.E and judging whether or not it will save the day or blast us from existence! By the way, S.A.F.E does not stand for Stupid Action Film Entertainment, although it should.
Meteor Apocalypse (2010): 3.0
Not the new pizza from Dominoes, but another action-packed after effects extravaganza.
As a shower of bad CGI meteor effects rain down upon the earth, it’s up to David Dmatti (hey, it’s Joe Lando again) to run through the deserts and streets of L.A, all the while vaguely looking in the direction of falling rocks that cause about as much damage as hailstones
In The Year 2889 (1967): 2.9
In The Year 2889, after the nuclear apocalypse, life resets to one that looks an awful lot like 1967. That’s because the film is not set in 2889 at all. That’s just the name of the Jules Verne short story it’s based on. Sorry, not based on, just stole the title from. This is supposed to be a made-for-TV color adaptation of Roger Corman’s The Day The Earth Ended, but again, nothing official.
The only thing we can confirm is this movie is mind-numbingly dull, so if you have trouble getting to sleep the whole thing is available on YouTube.
Maximum Shame (2010): 2.6
Maximum Shame is described as an apocalyptic fetish horror musical chess sci-fi weird feature film.
What it should be described as is someone who had access to a digital camera and a warehouse who tricks a bunch of poor actors to star in a mess that is below the standards of a student film, and then tries to market it in a way to trick good, honest perverts into thinking its porn. That’s the real shame.
Future Fear (1997): 2.5
In the future, a disease from outer space has wiped out all most all life on Earth! Luckily, Jeff Wincott has the cure but has to fight off an assassin sent by an evil general who wants to restart the population with a new race of super-humans.
Now, Wincott has to get from point a to point b for some reason, in a chase movie that critics call “incoherent and extremely boring.”
Night Of The Living Dead: Resurrection (2012): 2.4
In the late ’90s to early 2000s there was a rule that your awful horror sequel had to have “Ressurection” as the subtitle. Aliens and Halloween followed the trend, then ten years after that out lurched Night Of The Living Dead: Ressurection.
Except NOTLD:R wasn’t really a sequel. It was “based on” or “inspired by” or whatever fancy word you can think of for “ripped off.” Production money could only stretch out to poor quality cameras and a few contact lenses, so if you’re a fan of those two things and nothing more, this is the movie for you.
New World OrdeRX (2013): 2.4
A world that isn’t destroyed by asteroids, or nuclear war or zombies, but by a drug that gets rid of all emotions to make humans compliant to the higher power. A nice idea, but sadly that’s it.
New World Order X is a 2013 movie set in the far distant future of 2017. When one person kicks this nasty drug dependency, it’s up to this progressive individual to take a stand. It’s, like, a message on our society maaaaaan. Needless to say, a post-apocalyptic were nothing has been, or will be blown up is nice and cheap, as well as dull and pointless.
Ocean’s Rising (2017): 2.4
Two years ago, someone heard a report that the oceans are rising and thought, “I’ll make a film about that.” Unfortunately, that film wasn’t an informative documentary about carbon emissions, but a schlocky cheap end of the world movie.
That someone was Asylum Films, the seal of below-par quality filmmaking. Our hero gets on a boat in this time of crises, and according to the film’s synopsis, that’s about it.
End Of The World (2018): 2.4
The Asylum returns with quite possibly the most generic apocalyptic movie ever made. Tsunamis and volcanoes make people in an office worried, and a father and a daughter have to run away from various awful things kept safely at a distance so they never have to actually share the screen with them.
In this era of raised awareness about global warming and climate change, it seems the world is consumed by cheap and low-budgeted apocalyptic movies more than ever. So remember, if you want what’s best for the planet, recycle, cut down on fuel-based transport, eat more organic food and stay far away from these films!
