The Coming Year of Apocalypse Films

Or, how to make "The Road" look upbeat.

Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash

In March 2020, when COVID-19 shut everything down for a spell, I started watching pandemic films. There was the very shout-y 1995 Dustin Hoffman film Outbreak. There was the underrated cast of 2009’s Carriers. And there was Stephen Soderbergh’s impeccable Contagion.

Why watch these films as a pandemic was breaking out? Because as scary as COVID-19 might have seemed in early 2020, these films highlighted all the ways in which things could have been so much worse. For me at least, seeing a more imaginative and grandiose horror made my mundane existence more bearable. Or as behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings put it: “By watching apocalyptic movies and TV shows, viewers are able to anticipate the worst-case scenarios in their heads, a coping mechanism which helps them deal with the fear factor relating to COVID-19. Escapism, empathy and resonance allow people to diminish some of the negative emotions created by the pandemic.”¹

As 2023 comes to an end and 2024 is coming into focus on the horizon, it is safe to say that the vibe is one of anxiety. The variation of possible futures has widened over the past twelve months. Even the good news on the economy can be explained by bad news.² There are an awful lot of scenarios where the United States turns more autocratic and the world turns even more chaotic.

Unfortunately, this is all grist for my pedagogical mill. As I gear up to teach an updated version of my End of the World and What Comes After class, anxieties about the future can lead to some interesting course material.

So it is interesting and disturbing to note that the apocalypse films coming out next year seem way too disturbing for my taste. They all make Cormac McCarthy’s The Road seem like the feel-good film of the year.

Think I am exaggerating? Here is the most optimistic film of the lot:

According to IMDB the plot of Mahalia Belo’s film is, “a woman tries to find her way home with her newborn while an environmental crisis submerges London in floodwaters.”

To be fair, I may see this film. Jodie Comer is always worth watching. It gives off a sense of foreboding but not necessarily hopelessness.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s I.S.S., on the other hand…

According to IMDB, “When a world war event occurs on Earth, America and Russia, both nations secretly contact their astronauts aboard the ISS and give them instructions to take control of the station by any means necessary.” This sounds like the perfect film for Ana Marie Cox and I to dissect on our Space the Nation podcast. There is definitely some international relations in this space film!

That said, the film’s premise is incredibly grim. Bleeker Street is producing this film? More like Bleakest Street amirite?! I teach international relations for a living and even my reaction is, “the world has blown itself up — who cares about controlling the damn space station?!” I suppose one could argue that it’s a better version of George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky but that is a super-low bar.

I.S.S. is about the end of the world. Alex Garland’s Civil War, on the other hand, is about the end of America:

According to IMDB, “The film follows events in the U.S. during a civil war. Government forces attack civilians. Journalists are shot in the Capitol.”

I’ve seen films like 2017’s Bushwick that have a similar premise, but this one contains so many disturbing elements. Jesse Plemons is a scary-good actor,³ and the few seconds he has on screen in this trailer are terrifying. The idea of Nick Offerman portraying a leader who is not Ron Swanson is disturbing. Garland’s track record of creating chilling sci-fi premises — 28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Annihilation — is unimpeachable.

The most disturbing element of this trailer, however, is that it feels way less far-fetched than it should. And maybe that’s the difference between these trailers and my pandemic watches. This time around, the worst-case scenarios posited by these films are more conceivable than they used to be. I still do not think any of them will happen — but it’s getting tougher to reject them as inconceivable. And I guess that takes the fun out of watching the world end.

1. Ironically, it could be argued that no decent film has been made about COVID-19 itself.

2. For example, the likeliest reason that consumer confidence surged this month is that Republicans are feeling confident because they think Trump will win next November.

3. Consider the contrast between his role in Civil War and his character in Love & Death. The dude’s got range is all I’m saying here.