Apocalypse Cinema

Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture

by Stephen Prince

Vivid images of the apocalypse proliferate throughout contemporary cinema, which pictures the death of civilization in wildly different ways. Some films imagine a future where humanity is wiped out entirely, while others envision humans as an endangered species, enslaved by alien invaders or hunted by zombie hordes. 
 
This book provides a lively overview of apocalypse cinema, including alien invasions, nuclear annihilation, asteroid collisions, climate change, and terrifying plagues. Covering pivotal films from the silent era to the present day, including Metropolis, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dr. Strangelove, Contagion, and Avengers: Endgame, Stephen Prince explores how these dark visions are rooted in religious and prophetic traditions, and he considers how our love for apocalypse cinema is tied to fundamental existential questions and anxieties that never go out of fashion. 

Genres: Film

156 pages, Hardcover

Published July 16, 2021

About the author

Stephen Prince teaches film history, criticism, and theory at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts . He received his Ph.D from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Casey Hubbard]

Though the purpose of this series of books is to offer a short and concise smattering of critical engagement with certain topics in films, i find this sub-genre in cinema to be so engaging that I think it warrants a longer, more thorough deep dive into the topic of Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse films.

I enjoyed what was here though there were some frightening omissions!