The End is Near: 9 Apocalypse Movies to Help You Prepare For Doomsday

Tank Girl (1994)

Water is scarce in the decade after a comet strikes Earth, decimating its population and leaving one monolithic, malevolent corporation in power. Enter Rebecca (Lori Petty), abducted and enlisted by the company's chief (Malcolm McDowell) to help retrieve an underground store of water, only to create the spunky postmodern heroine known as Tank Girl. This one's a total mess, to be sure, but its wry feminist overtones, young Naomi Watts presence and Ice-T as a kangaroo-human warrior hybrid will take your mind off the horrors of vanquished civilization for at least a little while.

I Am Legend (2007)

Richard Matheson's famous novel about a man adrift following a vampire pandemic had been adapted twice prior to this Will Smith blockbuster, but neither Last Man on Earth (1964) nor The Omega Man (1971) came close to approaching the look, sound, and feel of urban devastation as evocatively as I Am Legend. On the one hand, sure: The ending is a joke. On the other, when Manhattan goes weedy and wild after tomorrow, this is the hunting tutorial for the 21st century.

2012 (2009)

From Roland Emmerich, reigning Bard of the Doomsday Genre, came what was instantly -- and shall forever remain -- the greatest apocalypse film in Hollywood history. May we all hear the babe's joyful wail of "No more pull-ups!" when our own doomsday misadventures are complete.

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