PigLick on 1/8/2009 at 01:30
Death of Grass was a decent book - John Christopher(of Tripods fame)
PeeperStorm on 1/8/2009 at 01:33
I happen to like post-apocalyptic stuff, so I have a few suggestions:
* 12 Monkeys has that black humor that you mentioned, although most of it takes place in the present time before the end.
* Haven't seen A Boy And His Dog yet, but I hear that it's really good.
* If you want a post-apocalyptic high fantasy setting, there's always Jack Vance's The Dying Earth novels and short stories. They're set millions of years in the future when the sun is on the verge of going out.
* Ark II was a Saturday morning kid's show back in the 70's, believe it or not.
* Delicatessen is a black comedy set in Europe. A very, very black comedy.
* I liked Deus Irae by Dick and Zelazney. It's somewhat similar to A Canticle for Leibowitz.
And then there's a ton of anime. These mostly stick fairly close to the feel of the ones that you mentioned, but there's lots of others:
* Trigun is post-apocalyptic, taking place on a desert planet. It has a very western feel.
* Fist of the North Star is basically Kung Fu after the end, but with lots of killing.
* I haven't seen Desert Punk yet, but it's on my "to do" list.
* If you decide to watch Now and Then, Here and There, you should probably hide your razor blades and sleeping pills. You might be tempted to use them afterward. Much of the show was supposedly inspired by news coming out of Rwanda during the genocide there. Another far-future setting.
Aerothorn on 1/8/2009 at 02:01
Second recommendation of A Boy and His Dog. It's kind of dated, super-70s, and rather campy/low-budget, but it's memorable nonetheless.
Twelve Monkeys is probably the best one, though it's not post-nuclear.
P.S. The Quiet Earth is really memorable - I saw it when I was 9 or so and really want to see it again, but AFAIK it's still not out on DVD in the USA, and the foreign DVDs seem to be fullscreen (like the VHS I saw). Poo.
Incidentally, the novel on which it was based is IMPOSSIBLE to find.
Edit: Apparently they released a widescreen DVD when I wasn't looking!
Angel Dust on 1/8/2009 at 02:09
Quote Posted by Tonamel
There's also Stalker (the movie), but I'll warn that it's the slowest movie I've ever watched. And I've watched Koyanisqaatsi.
:laff: Yeah, that's Tarkovsky's style, the whole "sculpting in time". A more accurate warning would be that it much more a philosophical art film than one that pushes the usual post-apocalyptic buttons.
Aerothorn on 1/8/2009 at 02:11
Oh, there's also Last Night, a nice little Canadian pre-apocalyptic movie.
icemann on 1/8/2009 at 06:23
There was a Van Damn action flick set in a post apocalyptic world. Cant recall the name of it. Was a so so movie.
Technically the Planet of the Apes movies would fit into this category, and so I would FULLY recommend them. However dont watch the crappy Mark Wahlberg one. Its an abomination to the series.
There's "The Last Woman on Earth" an old 50s black and white movie about 3 people (2 guys 1 woman) surviving a world apocalypse and how they live afterwards. You can find that one in its entirety on youtube. The audio starts to lag alittle around the middle, so be warned about that if you do go and watch it.
Renault on 1/8/2009 at 07:32
On the book front, read Stephen King's The Stand (and make sure it's the longer, expanded/uncut version, ~1100 pages). Even those who don't like King usually like The Stand. Nuclear holocaust is replaced by biological holocaust. As usual, the movie version doesn't quite match the book, but it's still OK.
june gloom on 1/8/2009 at 08:12
As for comics, read Y: The Last Man. It's about the last man on earth after a supervirus kills basically anything with a Y chromosome simultaneously. 60 issues, well worth reading.
I second The Walking Dead- it's pretty much the first really serious zombie comic that avoids the usual problem of being too much about the zombies and not enough about the survivors. Pretty fucked up shit happens, especially in the runup to issue 50.
