17 Doomsday Movies for Preppers to Watch

A bike messenger wakes up from a coma to discover that a virus called “Rage” has spread through London.  He finds a group of survivors who band together for survival. 

This isn’t your typical zombie virus movie and it is really well directed.  There are also some good survival tips in it, like collecting rainwater

This might be the best movie for introducing the idea of Bugging Out to your family.  

After the apocalypse, a father and his son travel to the sea to find safety.

There are important survival lessons here about how people can become savage in disasters, wilderness survival, and how to carry your gear.

Released in 1965, this doomsday movie is an oldie but really worth watching. 

It is filmed in documentary style and shows the events leading up to and after a nuclear attack.

There are a lot of survival themes here from mental preparedness to mass chaos to bugging out to the country.

Here’s a doomsday movie that doesn’t usually make it to other lists.

This supernatural horror movie written by Stephen King shows what happens when a mist takes over a town and residents have to be holed up in order to survive.  

There is a really controversial ending which teaching you the importance of mental preparedness and keeping hope.

If you want to watch a doomsday movie that you can laugh at, then this is it (though I’m admittedly biased because I don’t like Kevin Costner).  

In the movie, an apocalyptic event has sent the world back into the Dark Ages (EMP anyone?).  Some survivors band together to form communities and others form militias.

You’ll learn how stupid it is to travel when SHTF and bartering beats money.

In this 2010 movie, a dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles.  A man has to seal up his home – even though his wife isn’t home.  When she comes back, they are forced to communicate through the barricade of tape and plastic shopping bags.

There are some obvious criticisms with the survival advice given in the film (which will make for a good discussion about what you should really do) but the mental preparedness message is good.

This movie is great entertainment and you might even be able to squeeze in a few survival lessons too! 

When aliens invade the world to harvest human bodies, they use an EMP attack to destroy all electronics.  Tom Cruise takes his family to bug out.  Since he doesn’t have a plan, he has to figure things out on the way.  

The lesson? Have your Bug Out Bag packed and plan for disasters!

This sci-fi horror movie is about a group of people who have to live in underground bunkers to survive the ice age induced by climate change.

The movie features cannibalism and some other survival extremes, which makes it a good movie for asking “how far would you go to survive?”

As far as doomsday movies go, this one is different from your standard “giant comet coming to crash into the earth” or “alien invasion” movie.  

It shows how a virus can quickly turn into a mass pandemic and the importance of being able to hunker down and isolate yourself from the contagion.  

Of course the plot focuses on finding a vaccination for it, but it’s still a pretty good movie to watch to start a discussion about pandemic prepping.

Despite how unbelievable the scenario is (it is Hollywood after all), I actually liked this movie. 

I particularly like that they included a homeless man in the movie and he is the most prepared for survival with all of the skills he learned on the street.  Read Survival Skills Learned from the Homeless here.

From Kathy:

Super good movie from 1983 about a nuclear event

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From Rabid Reader:

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

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From Daniel:

From 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.

From Kenshin:

 About being stranded alone in the sea. Not a doomsday movie, but lot of lessons there.

From Catinthehat:

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

From Reffitt:

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.