It's official---Post-Nuclear Movies Stink

[Daryl Carpenter]

Hi,
As I browse through the various bad movie review sites, one thought comes to mind. Movies about life after nuclear war, 90% of the time, truly, royally suck. With the rare exception of "Threads", every single post-nuclear movie I've watched are pieces of crap. Thank god the genre died out during the 80s. But hey, they give you plenty of material to rip apart :)
And another thing. How many here have actually seen "Threads"? It scared the living crap out of me when I saw it 10 weeks ago. And then some bunghole decides to crash a plane into the World Trade Center. Threads was still scarier. And don't believe anyone who says it can't happen in real life.

[Vermin Boy]

Six String Samurai, though a wee bit pretentious at times, was a fun post-nuclear movie. Of course, any movie with Buddy Holly beating up the Russian Army while Dick Dale music plays is alright in my book.

[AndyC]

I actually like The Day After, although I know it's not generally considered great. My only complaint is that much of it is very slow and some of the performances are way over the top. The best parts are around the middle, when US-Soviet relations fall apart, war breaks out, things spiral out of control and the bombs start flying.

The bombing of Kansas City is actually one of the better nuclear war sequences I've seen in a movie. I especially liked the fact that they didn't overdo the stock footage. There was some, mostly of buildings being demolished, but special effects were more prevalent. For a TV movie of the early 80s, the effects weren't bad either. If I had to guess about the making of the mushroom clouds, I'd say someone must have dropped dye into water, filmed it up close, then flipped the image upside-down, tinted it appropriately and combined it with the landscape. Very effective.

The people getting vaporized are also worth noting, but I'm not sure whether their skeletons showing due to the intense light passing through their bodies, or because their soft tissues are vaporized a little faster than their bones. In any case, it looked cool, especially when I was about 12 years old.

Finding a copy so many years later, the first thing I noticed was the presence of John Cullum, known to most as Holling Vencoeur, since Northern Exposure. Watching this with a couple of friends, we see the world falling apart around Cullum, bombs on the way, and his family in danger. One of my friends says "Call Maurice! He'll know what to do!" I laughed my ass off.

[Andy]

Yea, You got that right...Some of the worst are
Warrior Of The Lost World...Escape From The Bronx
Escape 2000....The Ultimate Warrior...

[AndyC]

Just to clarify, does post-nuclear include the post-apocalypse category, or does it refer to movies about the immediate aftermath?

[Lee]

Hey what about the Mad Max movies? Those totally kick ass!! Granted most are beyond stupid but some are cool. Along with The Mad Max movies I'd also like to bring up Steel Dawn. Patric Swazy as a futuristic Kung-Fu warrior! I'd put it up there near the top of kick ass post-nuc/post-apocalitic future movies.