Post-apocalyptic movies and dystopia shows have been very popular in recent years. Some are pure fantasy and designed to merely entertain.
Yet some have settings and scenes that can get your mental wheels turning in the right direction as you continually refine your prepper strategy.
Now I’m not going to tell you that there’s a single spot-on end-of-the-world movie that you need to treat like gospel. Yet, there are a few cherries to be picked from this fruitful tree that might inspire the ways you prep for whatever is to come.
I Am Legend
I think every prepper should watch the movie I Am Legend, to get a better understanding of just how beneficial it can be to have a good dog living at your side.
I admit to being a bit biased here. My own dog is the product of a German shepherd guide dog and a golden retriever field-bred hunting dog.
At home and in the woods our connection is the same, or better than Dr. Neville and Sam in the movie. Not to mention the mental health benefits of having a good dog at your side in tough times!
I Am Legend also shows the importance of having backup transportation and fallback plans for when things go wrong. As well the importance of being aware of your surroundings and how conditions change. Like the time of day.
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The movie also exposes some potential faults preppers should note. For instance, Dr. Neville only has one hardened shelter. He doesn’t have any sort of safe house or secondary location he can hole up in an emergency. He simply has to trust that he can always get back to his home by sundown, from wherever he is in Manhattan.
The Book of Eli
There are some great themes and essential lessons for preppers to note in the post-apocalyptic movie The Book of Eli.
One of the central themes is the preservation of knowledge.
Something that will become increasingly important the longer a worldwide disaster lasts.
It also gives you a good understanding of how perceptions shift. You hear this in quotes like “We threw away things people kill each other for now.” Today there are a lot of things that get disposed of very easily, that we would save during a disaster situation. The Book of Eli might inspire you to think about what other things in your life you can reuse or upcycle.
The Book of Eli also shows the importance of situational awareness and physical fitness. These are things we often underappreciate in our modern world. Throughout the movie, we’re left half-guessing if he’s truly blind and impressed by his physical fitness.
In the real world today, sub-par physical fitness is the number one problem I see when I go on a wilderness retreat with other people. When a crisis strikes, the first few hours and days are critical, and you end up on the back foot, if you’re sucking wind when you could be stepping up to an opportunity.
A Quiet Place
There are a lot of small survival lessons for preppers to consider in the end-of-the-world movie A Quiet Place.
Yet the one that I think the one that needs to land the hardest is the importance of noise discipline.
In the movie, the alien predators are highly noise-sensitive.
When they hear a noise, they hunt it with relentless effort. Thus forcing human beings to change how they live and communicate.
In a prolonged disaster, there’s going to be a lot of people bugging out of their homes and shelters. Even long after the initial wave of people fleeing urban areas, there will still be those who wander the open road.
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Some will be innocent people who ran out of resources and searching for new ones. Some will be roving gangs of thieves and criminals looking for things to exploit.
If they hear your generator, at a distance, or hear you arguing with your kid, they’ll come your way. Maybe not directly. They might scope out the area, listening and watching. Casing your sheltered area to see what you’ve got, and how they might take it from you.
Working out simple hand signals that you and your family members can use will go a long way toward being able to communicate when silence is needed. Emphasizing the importance of “Using your inside voice” with your kids, even when you’re outside is also important.
You might also want to think about some of the things in your prepper survival plan that will make noise. Would solar panels be smarter than a generator? Do you really need a rooster in the hen house? Maybe your old farm truck deserves a new muffler, and you probably should make sure you have some 22-subsonic ammunition in your arsenal.
Station 11
While technically a cinematic limited mini-series Station 11 an art piece and a statement about how an individual’s psychology can change as they adapt to an end-of-the-world pandemic.
Station 11 does a great job of showing how the mindset of different individuals changes in a post-apocalyptic world.
Related: 6 Signs Your Neighbor Will Become a Looter as Soon as SHTF
It also highlights the adaptability of children, as opposed to adults who are still locked into their notions of comfort zone.
One of the main characters, Kirsten starts as a child who loses her parents. Throughout the series we see her ascending and adapting. Often developing skills and mental resilience better than the adults helping her.
When the story flashes forward to her as an adult, we see an extremely capable young woman. She’s a mentor to children younger than her, a star performer, and an absolutely lethal fighter. She also shows off some impressive knife-throwing skills.
We also see Jeevan and other adults, developing the skills and willingness to break out of their comfort zones. Through the process, they struggle with their ego, mistakes caused by dropping their guard, and their inability to know when to trust and when not to trust strangers.
There are also some strategic survival components on display in Station 11. Not the least of which is the use of a minefield that is removed and replaced again. Even when the mines aren’t there, the community still leaves up a sign as a deterrent for strangers who might be planning an attack.
The Road
The Road is a 2009 movie that does a great job of showing the kind of resourcefulness and mental resilience it takes to survive after the end of the world.
It’s based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy which focuses on the relationship between a father and son, their differences in mindset.
Here again, we see the psychological growth of a child as the son goes from being very innocent to gradually ascending to an adaptable, resilient mindset. Meanwhile, the father struggles to maintain a sense of hope while grappling with the regret of past failures. He also wrestles with the ethics of survival at any cost.
This is a very realistic approach for the kind of choices individuals will have to make in a post-apocalyptic world. Especially if you find yourself unlucky enough to have to bug out, without a close-by safe house or reliable permanent shelter.
The paternal character ultimately struggles to let go of the things he cannot control. There are several moments where his regrets weigh down his survival efforts. Other times his ill-defined moral compass causes him to hesitate to make critical decisions in key moments.
This underscores the importance of making a mental inventory before disaster strikes. Understanding what your priorities are, and what you’ll do to maintain or achieve them is critical after the collapse of civilization.
The Road also does a good job of depicting basic survival skills, and the importance of foraging and scavenging. Not to mention the very real threat of dealing with injuries and illnesses without access to proper medical care. Before SHTF, add these 10 medical supplies to your stockpile, as they will be the first to disappear in a crisis.
End-of-the-world movies like The Book of Eli, The Road, I Am Legend, and others each have their own setting and plot elements to learn from. Once you filter out some of the creative twists, there are some good lessons to add to your mental inventory.
In all of these post-apocalyptic movies, we see how different characters handle the collapse of civilization in their own way. This might help you reflect on the potential pitfalls you might face, and the success strategies you might need to adapt to the changed world.
Reflect on how the people around you might react in an end-of-the-world scenario. How might your children adapt differently compared to the adults in your group? How can you prepare for this and what techniques might help keep everyone on the same page?
These end-of-the-world movies also depict a wide range of survival skills in different environments. You might tap into some depending on your location. If you won’t be able to escape an urban environment, you might want to focus more on I Am Legend. If you’re planning to bug-out into the wilderness with your family, the movie The Road might have more for you to learn from.
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The Book of Eli is more likely a more realistic vein of SHTF movies. The illegals go to weapon and MS13 is the machete it is fast and quick and silent.
We got a lot of south American, middle east and Africa military age males even females who know how to operate a machete.
We are living in the end times world in real time as we see the November 5th election unfolding.
If you like history an want to relive the Soviet Union era and the Chinese empire of Mandarins vote for the socialist of Harris-Walz.
You think things are bad today. More open borders foreigners will be taking over your cities for good. Many criminals and terrorist are here now, you decide, what America you want.
“Borders, Language and Culture” are the formula of strong nations.
God wants us to do the right thing for America.
Ah! The Michael Savage mantra! Savage was an important voice to those who listen and care.What he espoused still holds very true today.
Dont live by Fear , only Truth , stability , Vetted Fact s
Movie s instill, promote fear
When you think Rationally , you will live rationally
So as a Man or woman, or person thinks so they are
and YOU are the company you keep
if you are getting , recieving , being fed by the system or it s people , you will develope loyalty or a sense of debt to that system . DEPENDENCY
So be careful who , what , where you get your Information
Deception is everywhere
People like to be heard, listened to , followed , even if in FAILURE
Truth Stands the test of time , proven in fact , and does not change with every whim or change in society
But people do change
Fact wont , Fiction will
The Propaganda Machine of TV is changing , distorting , manipulation the view of many , and decieving many
That is why you must Vet what you see , listen to and believe in
much deception out there .
Movies tend to tell a picture and then used by others to sell a vision of what s to come
Look it Up
Act Blue , G 2, 8 , 20 , much more , many more
prepreping involves investment of Time, Assets, earnings
so do it well and with caution
Most of us preppers are not living in fear Chris we are preparing for the truth unfolding.
You think religion is the best way out, well we need a balance too.
Fine example of religion running government amok is found in the middle east countries of say Iran.
A side note, have heard the religious cabal has lowered the marriage age of female to what we conservatives think of pedophiles abusing young women.
Religion and politics are a bad combination to run societies into the ground.
Yes we can belief in GOD but not in what have seen throughout history. The elites take advantage of religion to rule the unwashed masses yesterday and today in this world.
Another worthless article followed by irrelevant rambling
comments.
If you want helpful information go SurvivalBlog.com or
ModernSurvivalBlog.com.
Both sites no longer take comments and are better for it.
If those two websites are so good, what are you still doing here?
Goodby Chuck :(, Ha, ha!
Yet you comment Chuck.
You build a website and have completely different articles or advice on survival and they have to be different. Every day and cannot be repeated for new people on here to read. Free.
Go away and take your non useful comments with you.
Thank you Claude.
Liked them all. Especially the Book of Eli.
mila kunis and jennifer beals really did add a lot to the movie…. both are gorgeous.
What movies were they in together?
They were in The Luckiest Girl Alive but that’s not an end of the world movie?
They both are liberals in the Harris-Walz camp, beauty is only skin deep.
Watched all movies but Station 11 not so much. Religion has always led people but has become weaponized. Government’s long reach has now made its way into a woman’s uterus. No thanks!
To the dumbasses knocking all movies as fear mongering and manipulation…get a life. Only dumbasses are afraid after watching or manipulated by movies. The point if watching them is to be entertained. Here a few others that are equally as entertaining: Bird Box, The Walking Dead series, Don’t Look Up, Greenland, World War Z, How it Ends, 2O12, The Silence, the Divergent series.
Those you mentioned suck, their not much entertainment and made by liberals who hate us conservative preppers anyway, don’t wait your time.
Many watch the dumbass movies a loose a few brain cells and lower their IQ’s a bit.
2012 was a climate change nonsense of biblical proportions to the uneducated.
World War Z was a clown show of Hollywood fantasy, those CG graphic zombies climbing from the ground up to the helicopter in the sky was impossible. Except if you are in the Meta verse goggles tripping on dope.
The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston is a good movie also. Great score and the Good Friday symbolism of the ending hits home every time I watch it .
These movies are good for what they are, in particular the Road. I’ve actually picked up more useful information from reading the One Second After and the Catalyst series of books. More real world scenarios without the Hollywood polish.
I am reading One Second After now. So far, it’s excellent!
I’ve read “One Second After” and the sequels. It was the scariest read I have had.
Debbie in MA
Also a good read is the Angry American series starting with “Going Home” .
Movies
They think out of the box giving you
Unthought of perspective
Besides your dribble CHUCK, without comments here, the authors don’t know if their articles have any merit.
“The Postman” is a post-apocalyptic movie and book about people in the disestablished United States about 16 years after unspecified apocalyptic events and plagues that followed. Most technology was eliminated and most people lived in communities that were small, independent, and mostly isolated from other communities.
A drifter (played by Kevin Costner) wanders through the scattered communities of Utah, trading performances of Shakespearean plays for food and water. He gets captured by a ruthless, horse-back militia called the Holnists who randomly terrorize and steal from people in the communities.
After the drifter escapes from the Holnists, he rambles through the woods and finds an abandoned mail Jeep, a postman’s uniform, and a bag of mail. He puts on the uniform, carries the mail bag, and starts walking to communities, claiming to be a representative of the newly-restored U.S. government and looking for people addressed to get the undelivered mail.
QUICK, QUICK THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING. Grab your guns. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Boy oh Boy you right wingers sure love you’re end of the world shit. Your jezuz is not coming to save you, your guns will not save you, because it’s all fiction.
Get a life.
After you have served your purpose, you will most likely suffer the fate of Mao’s Red Guard when they were no longer needed for the next stage in his revolution. Even the N*z*s had their house clean, and Lenin and Stalin had their various house cleans to get rid of those who no longer served their purpose. That is the reality of the past which unfortunately tends to repeat itself. All revolutions work in stages, and as one is achieved those who carried out “the work” need to give way for the next stage. Mao’s Red Guard had to go for re-education and those who objected were disappeared. Welcome to the reality of the masters you serve – whether you realize it or not. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
“Tomorrow When The War Began” both the movie and the TV series from a book by John Marsden. More of a teen drama but does a good job of confronting the human emotions and reactions when confronted by unconfrontable realities, It is basically a group of teens who live in a country town in Australia who return from a camping trip to find they have been invaded by a foreign nation. Quite a few others also come to mind such as Planet of the Apes, but what I find they all lack is engaging in basic survival skills such as recognizing and preparing food, not just animals but also plants — which also differ from country to country.
Not a movie, but a book series “299 Days”
Almost all of these movies portray scenarios that are years into the apocalypse. The Road did show some “Look Back” scenes where upon the outset of whatever, he started filling the bathtub up with water before the water was cut off. Station 11, the first episode covered some scrounging skills. I prefer movies that can be used as training aids. The TV Show ‘Jerico” was a good training tool. Hence the term, “Jerico Syndrome” used to label and encouraged avoiding their mistakes made in the beginning of the war. I think the movies “how I Live Now” and “Cell” should be included in the list. Also, “Tomorrow, When the War Began”, an Australian version of “Red Dawn” was good as well.