28 Doomsday Movies for Preppers to Watch

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1. Can I be picky? Right At Your Door, the guy is at home having to seal the house while his girlfriend is caught up in the explosions while at work. Good film tho

   • Omega Man. The ultimate SHTF survival flic.

   • I am looking for a movie that I saw years ago.
     A couple and their two children must leave their home..after several tribulations…they eventually stay at a community and the father dies of an infected cut on his hand from gardening. Thanks.

     • The movie is listed here, it’s called “After Armageddon”

2. Good spot! Have amended that.

3. I think I have seen most of these! And enjoyed them. 🙂

   • Yes – I’ve seen them too many times 🙂

4. 2012 ,San andreas, wwz

5. Panic in year zero.

   • Love that movie, I still think it’s one of the best,

     • I am glad someone mentioned Panic in the Year Zero. It is also my favorite.

6. The Day After is a super good movie from 1983. Its about a nuclear event.

7. What about “Red Dawn” showing the courage of youth?

   • One of the most enlightening parts of the 1984 version of Red Dawn is how any military, government, invading army can obtain B(ATF)E form 4473 to locate/identify firearms owners. Gun registration without calling that.

8. The Way Back a 2010 based on the real history of Sławomir Rawicz a Polish war prisioner.

   Siberian gulag escapees travel 4,000 miles by foot to freedom in India. A lot of good information there.

   • Not seen that one – thanks for the heads up

9. All is Lost. Its about stranded alone in the sea. Not a doomsday movie, but lot of lessom there

10. The Survivalist
    Released 2015/16 BAFTA nominates offering
    Gritty , bleak , doesn’t pull any punches, very highly recommended by me

11. Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America is the most realistic depiction of a pandemic I’ve ever seen. It shows everything from the rich and powerful sequestering themselves, families in quarantine zones trying to survive, hospital workers saddled with the terrible choice of helping others or trying to protect themselves from the sickness, the mass graves that will result from so many dying, what may happen to the elderly and insulin dependent. It’s the most realistic SHTF movie I’ve ever seen.

12. Definitely one of, if not the best prepper movie ever made…

13. The Kid in the movie drove me nuts. No way a kid born in that would be that stupid and naive and be so clueless.

    • THE MOVIE IS “THE ROAD”

14. “The Grey” with Liam Neeson.
    Great adventure and survival film about several guys who get stranded in the wilderness.

15. I’ve watched all these movies….and they were All excellent….However, I would like to give My Review of one of them so that others (Who agree with me) don’t end up wasting two hours of their life they’ll never be able to get back.

    The Survivalist: Ugh!! Oh Wow! BORING……..Made really No sense whatsoever…..slow…..and a HORRIBLE Ending as well. They didn’t explain anything in this movie. The viewer doesn’t know when or where it takes place. The viewer doesn’t know why he (and others) are in the woods surviving.

    There were a few things that a prepper would see as he was doing right, but this is definitely NOT the movie to watch to learn about survival.

    It was just so horrible on so many different levels.

    • Ha, ha – thanks for the review John. A lot of people love this one but its good to hear the different opinions of these movies.

16. Goodbye world,

17. What about I am Legend? Now that’s survival in a nutshell!

18. By the Dawn’s Early Light, starring Powers Booth, Rebecca De Mornay, James Earl Jones, and Martin Landau as the President of the USA.

19. “How I Live Now 2013” – Although in the UK, this is how FEMA will react to US citizens. Although this is justifiable in the same sense if you were asked to manage / feed that many citizens, but with preppers/survivalists they will not want to be treated this way.

20. “Goodbye World 2013” – An example of knowing your constitutional rights, and many lessons on what not to do.

21. Deep impact,

22. How about a good book, anyone read shatter and deep winter they are great and then there is lights out, its excellant.

    • We cover some survival fiction here – https://www.primalsurvivor.net/best-post-apocalyptic-books/

23. The Naked and Afraid tv series was highly acclaimed for having some of the most apt scenarios on survival, with only the barest necessities available to the cast.

24. IT COMES AT NIGHT
    A fascinating look at how paranoia will set in after shtf. Some great prepper stuff too.
    STAKELAND
    Zombified vampires have taken over. Need I say more?

25. One of the best survival, prepardness movies I ever saw was “Panic in Year Zero”.

26. Dante’s Peak – it really highlights how you should know specific threats to your area (some townspeople actually thought the volcano was extinct!), multiple ways out of dead area, and what you and your equipment are capable of. Plus, it’s just a fun watch as far as disaster movie go.

27. World war Z was pretty good. Also Outbreak.

28. I wish they’d make a movie based on the One Second After books. The first book was the best, in my opinion. It talks about dealing with crime. Two kids were executed by firing squad for stealing morphine. Where to bury all the bodies. Government considering taking prepper’s rations and distributing them. People on life-saving medicine like insulin. It’s a treasure trove of information.

29. When Miller wrote the mad max flicks he got it about right as he said in the second one the citys will explode only those mobile enough and ruthless enough will survive You can see the part about a city being out of control by looking what Chicago’s south side that’s a lawless free for all area all inner citys will go first and it will not take a enemy attack to do it best to be far away from them to begin with !

30. A very recent movie is How It Ends, which is a Netflix original. It’s a combination of bug out and get to a (far away) loved one, the daughter and wife of the two main characters.

    It avoids any alien, zombie, monster etc causes, and none of the characters even know exactly what happened, which seems a very realistic possibility to me.

    There are some very good depictions of how people are likely to start behaving (the good and the bad), and some scenes that I think are accurate and educational. (Example – what to expect at a gas station when everyone is panicking)

    There are some good examples of mistakes to be avoided too. Alot of good discussion points for kids.

    Plus some pretty good acting from both main characters, portraying “I’ve been expecting this,” and “what the hell do I do?”

    • Ah, that was the name of the movie we just watched. Just posted a comment on it. What I struggled with on that movie was how quickly society broke down. Would people really be killing each other after 3 days? The thought that power might come back on after day 4 and you are suddenly charged with murder would stop such immediate killings..

31. I watched some movie recently where something happened on the west coast and the entire grid across the US went down. What I questioned is how quick society broke down in the movie. People were killing others inside 3 days?..

    This is the part I struggle with in any plan, if the entire electrical grid goes down, how long before being out in the open is dangerous. Would grocery stores shutdown immediately? How long before someone raids the stores? Whilst getting some last minute supplies would be nice, I am not sure being anywhere near such a place would be healthy.

32. Blackula…

33. Another good one that actually is quite entertaining, but still shows a unique perspective with regards to SHTF, and the mental preparedness required to survive, is “Bushwick”. A convincing portrayal by Dave Bautista as a combat veteran with emotional scars, its definitely worth the time.

34. Here is a great series about survival. You can learn a few ideas here — BBC Survivors

    https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1258189/?ref_=tt_ov_inf&no_cache=11195

35. What about The Divide? Drabo. B-}

36. I just saw “the testament “ on Netflix/ Hulu/ HBO can’t remember which on Apple TV. It was about a mother and her three kids after a nuclear blast. Kevin Costner was in it , one of his first movies. Actually entertaining.

37. The Day. After 1983
    Nuclear disaster on the us. Really opens your eyes to what you might encounter

38. Two recommendations: 1. A History Channel docudrama, “After Armageddon.” Lots of valuable lessons in this story about the gradual collapse of the electrical grid after a pandemic wipes out a critical number of the skilled people who are needed to keep it going.

    2. An old “Twilight Zone” episode, “The Shelter,” about one prepared family who, at the apparent commencement of a nuclear attack, must deal with unprepared neighbors and friends who all want access to their shelter which was built to accommodate only one small household.

39. How about another oldie? Ultimate Warrior staring Yul Brenner, 1975.
    Yeah it’s a good versus evil plot line, but many of the things that are happening around the characters are realistic possibilities.

40. 2015’s “Into the Forest” starring Ellen Page (Juno) and Evan Rachel Wood. Two sisters learn to survive on their own in their isolated home after a massive, wide-spread power outage that lasts for years. Very low-key except for the rape scene… more mind-set techniques than actual prepping steps.

41. Would it be possible to create a “printer friendly” version of these movie recommendations? 40 sheets of paper is a bit much to leaf through while sitting in front of the TV, ya’ know? 🙂

    • Thats a great idea – we will get a printable done up. Watch this space.

42. Not a movie, but was a great, though brief, tv series, Jericho. I liked it a lot.

43. Tomorrow, When The War Began. A down under Red Dawn type of movie!

44. I loved the Postman and thought it was a great film. After the collapse of society, this is how it restarts. Establishing communications through postal routes through a pony express is a great idea.

    One of the best prepper entertainment series is the Walking Dead. Mental, physical, supplies, prepping for more than survival. Its a great series.

45. Another good movie is How it ends made in 2018

46. The Trigger Effect 1996 is a good one to see what not to do.

47. Red Dawn shows the courage of teens THEN. Today I doubt anything close would happen.

48. The Grey….supurb
    Survivalist….sucked big time.
    The Postman…excellent!
    didn’t see most of the rest in the list

49. When I attended U.S. Marine Corps Survival School, in one class we saw and had discussions about the movie “The Edge”. Very good movie dealing with Wilderness Survival.

50. The stand by Stephen king .it was a made for tv miniseries, it follows survivors after a flu strain kills 90 % of the world.

51. “Into the Forest”. Modern day survival story that takes place in the Pacific Northwest. Two sisters must fight for survival after an apocalyptic blackout leaves them without gas, water, electricity or cellphones. Rationing food and gas, the sisters learn how procure food and water. Eventually they are confronted with the best and worst of mankind forcing them to make life or death decisions.

52. The Divide – 2011 didn’t make the cut?

53. The orginal post apocalypse film called “Five” by
    Arch Oboler.