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Religious Studies Department, SCU
Apocalyptic Films
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General Bibliography Particular Films


General Bibliography
 
 
Online Resources
 
Roger Ebert, "Movie Reviews," Chicago Sun-Times.
 
Internet Movie Database.
 
Rotten Tomatoes.
 
 
Print Resources
 
Aston, James and John Walliss, eds.  Small Screen Revelations: Apocalypse in Contemporary Television, The Bible in the Modern World 50/Apocalypse and Popular Culture 6.  Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2013.
 
Lindohf, Jessica.  "The Ethos of Modern Apocalyptic Stories: The Use of Judaeo-Christian Narrative in Popular Film."  In Virtue Ethics and Sociology: Issues of Modernity and Religion (ed. Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp; New York: Palgrave, 2001) 186-201.
 
Low, Katherine.  "Satan's Seductress and the Apocalyptic Hero: The Body in American Apocalyptic Films at the Turn of the Century."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009).  Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol13.no2/Lowe_Satan.html.
 
Montevecchio, Caesar A.  "Framing Salvation: Biblical Apocalyptic, Cinematic Dystopia, and Contextualizing the Narrative of Salvation."  Journal of Religion and Film 16:2 (2012).  Online, http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol16/iss2/7.
 
Ostwalt, Conrad Eugene.  "The Bible, Religion, and Film in the Twenty-first Century."  Currents in Biblical Research 12:1 (2013) 39-57.
 
--------.  "Hollywood and Armageddon: Apocalyptic Themes in Recent Cinematic Presentation."  In Screening the Sacred: Religion, Myth, and Ideology in Popular American Film (ed. Joel W. Martin and Conrad Eugene Ostwalt; Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1995) 55-63, 164-5.
 
--------.  "Visions of the End: Secular Apocalypse in Recent Hollywood Film."  Journal of Religion and Film 2:1 (1998).  Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/OstwaltC.htm.
 
Seed, David, ed.  Imagining Apocalypse: Studies in Cultural Crisis.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.
 
Sharrett, Christopher, ed.  Crisis Cinema: The Apocalyptic Idea in Postmodern Narrative Film, PostModernPositions 6.  Washington, D. C.: Maisonneuve, 1993.
 
Stone, Jon R.  "Apocalyptic Fiction: Revelatory Elements within Post-war American Films."  In Reel Revelations: Apocalypse and Film (ed. John Walliss and Lee Quinby; Sheffield: Phoenix, 2010) 54-74.
 
--------.  "A Fire in the Sky: 'Apocalyptic' Themes on the Silver Screen."  In God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture (ed. Eric Michael Mazur and Kate McCarthy; New York: Routledge, 2001) 65-82.
 
Thompson, Kirsten Moana.  Apocalyptic Dread: American Film at the Turn of the Century.  Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2007.
 
Walliss, John.  "The End Is...a Blockbuster: The Use and Abuse of the Apocalypse in Contemporary Film."  In Holy Terror: Understanding Religious Violence in Popular Culture (ed. Eric Christianson and Christopher Partridge; Oakville, Connecticut: Equinox, 2010) 63-79, 152-3.
 
Particular Films
The following 68 films are arranged in chronological order.
 
Verdens Undergang (The End of the World)
August Blom(1916)
Fotorama
 
 
 
 
La Fin du Monde (End of the World)
Abel Gance (1931)
K. Ivanoff
 
 
 
 
Deluge
Felix E. Feist (1933)
RKO Radio Pictures
 
 
 
 
The Rapture
Carlos Baptista (1941)
C.O. Baptista Films
 
The Rapture. Online, https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=LcWDQ8ru92s, accessed 19 March 2015.
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Robert Wise (1951)
Julian Blaustein
 
 
 
 
When Worlds Collide
Rudolph Maté (1951)
George Pal/Paramount Pictures
 
 
 
 
The War of the Worlds
Byron Haskin (1953)
George Pal/Paramount Pictures
 
 
 
 
Day the World Ended
Roger Corman (1955)
Roger Corman and Alex Gordon
 
 
 
 
On the Beach
Stanley Kramer (1959)
Stanley Kramer
 
 
 
 
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Stanley Kubrick (1964)
Stanley Kubrick
 
 
 
 
The Planet of the Apes
Franklin J. Schaffner (1968)
Arthur P. Jacobs and Mort Abrahams
 
 
 
 
The Andromeda Strain
Robert Wise (1971)
Robert Wise
 
 
 
 
A Thief in the Night
Donald W. Thompson (1972)
Mark IV Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • A Distant Thunder (1978)
  • Image of the Beast (1980)
  • The Prodigal Planet (1983)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
A Distant Thunder
Donald W. Thompson (1978)
Mark IV Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • A Thief in the Night (1972)
  • Image of the Beast (1980)
  • The Prodigal Planet (1983)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Dawn of the Dead
George A. Romero (1978)
Richard P. Ribinstein, Claudio Argento and Alfredo Cuomo
 
 
 
 
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Philip Kaufman (1978)
Robert H. Solo
 
 
 
 
The Late, Great Planet Earth
Robert Amram (1979)
Pacific International Enterprises
 
 
 
 
Mad Max
George Miller (1979)
Byron Kennedy
 
 
 
 
Image of the Beast
Donald W. Thompson (1980)
Russell S. Doughten Jr. and Donald W. Thompson
Mark IV Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • A Thief in the Night (1972)
  • A Distant Thunder (1978)
  • The Prodigal Planet (1983)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
 
Early Warning
David R. Elliott (1981)
Missionary Enterprises/Gospel Films
 
 
 
 
Omen III: The Final Conflict
Graham Baker (1981)
Harvey Bernhard and Richard Donner
 
 
 
 
Years of the Beast
D. Paul Thomas (1981)
Gospel Films/Jack Van Impe Ministries
 
 
 
 
The Day After
Nicholas Meyer (1983)
ABC Motion Pictures
 
 
 
 
The Prodigal Planet
Donald W. Thompson (1983)
Mark IV Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • A Thief in the Night (1972)
  • A Distant Thunder (1978)
  • Image of the Beast (1980)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Night of the Comet
Thom Eberhardt (1984)
Andrew Wane and Wayne Crawford
 
 
 
 
The Terminator
James Cameron (1984)
John Daly and Derek Gibson
 
Fletcher, Michelle.  "'Behold, I’ll Be Back'”': Terminator, the Book of Revelation, and the Power of the Past."  In Close Encounters between Bible and Film: An Interdisciplinary Engagement (ed. Laura Copier and Caroline Vander Stichele; Semeia Studies 87; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016) 105-125.
 
 
Miracle Mile
Steve De Jarnatt (1988)
John Daly and Derek Gibson
 
 
 
 
The Seventh Sign
Carl Schultz (1988)
Producer
Ted Field and Robert W. Cort
 
 
 
Millennium
Michael Anderson (1989)
First Millenium Partnership and Gladden Entertainment
 
 
 
 
Dreams
Akira Kurosawa and Ishirô Honda (1990)
Mike Y. Inoue and Hisao Kurosawa
 
 
 
 
The Handmaid's Tale
Volker Schlöndorff (1990)
Daniel Wilson
 
 
 
 
The Rapture
Michael Tolkin (1991)
Karen Koch, Nancy Tenenbaum and Nick Wechsler
 
 
 
 
The Prophecy
Gregory Widen (1995)
Joel Soisson
 
 
 
 
Twelve Monkeys
Terry Gilliam (1995)
Charles Roven
 
 
 
 
Waterworld
Kevin Reynolds (1995)
Kevin Costner, John Davis, Charles Gordon and Lawrence Gordon
 
 
 
 
Escape from LA
John Carpenter (1996)
Debra Hill and Kurt Russell
 
 
 
 
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich (1996)
Dean Devlin
 
 
 
 
The End of Evangelion
Kazuya Tsurumaki (#25) and Hideaki Anno (#26) (1997)
Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
 
 
 
 
The Postman
Kevin Costner (1997)
Kevin Costner, Steve Tisch and Jim Wilson
 
 
 
 
Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm
Peter Gerretsen (1998)
Cloud Ten Pictures, Jack Van Impe Ministries, Prophecy Partners
 
Associated Films
  • Revelation (1999)
  • Tribulation (2000)
  • Judgment (2001)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Armageddon
Michael Bay (1998)
Jerry Bruckheimer/Touchstone Pictures
 
 
 
 
Deep Impact
Mimi Leder (1998)
David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck
 
 
 
 
End of Days
Peter Hyams (1999)
Armyan Bernstein, Bill Borden and Thomas Bliss
 
 
 
 
The Matrix
The Wachowski Brothers (1999)
Joel Silver
 
 
 
 
The Moment After
Wes Llewellyn (1999)
TMA Productions, Christiano Film Group
Signal Hill Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)
  • The Moment After II: The Awakening (2007)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
The Omega Code
Robert Marcarelli (1999)
Matthew Crouch for Code Productions and Gener8Xion Entertainment
Trinity Broadcasting Network
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Revelation
André Van Heerden (1999)
Paul Lalonde and Peter Lalonde
 
Associated Films
  • Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm (1998)
  • Tribulation (2000)
  • Judgment (2001)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Left Behind: The Movie
Vic Sarin (2000)
Joe Goodman, Paul Lalonde, Peter Lalonde and Ralph Winter
Cloud Ten
 
Associated Films
  • Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002)
  • Left Behind: World at War (2005)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
 
Tribulation
André Van Heerden (2000)
Apocalypse Film Projects, Cloud Ten Pictures, Jack Van Impe Ministries, John Hagee Ministries
 
Associated Films
  • Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm (1998)
  • Revelation (1999)
  • Judgment (2001)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Steven Spielberg (2001)
Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielbrg and Bonnie Curtis
 
 
 
 
Judgment
André Van Heerden (2001)
Cloud 10 Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • Apocalypse: Caught in the Eye of the Storm (1998)
  • Revelation (1999)
  • Tribulation (2000)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Hironobu Sakaguchi (2001)
Jun Aida and Chris Lee
 
 
 
 
Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
Brian Trenchard-Smith (2001)
Matthew Crouch, Lawrence Mortorff and Richard J. Cook/Gener8Xion Entertainment
 
 
 
 
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force
Bill Corcoran (2002)
Cloud Ten Pictures, Darius Films, Namesake Entertainment
 
Associated Films
  • Left Behind: The Movie (2000)
  • Left Behind: World at War (2005)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Time of the Wolf
Michael Haneke (2003)
Veit Heiduschka, Michael Katz, Margaret Ménégoz and Michael Weber
 
 
 
 
The Day After Tomorrow
Roland Emmerich (2004)
Roland Emmerich and Mark Gordon
 
Aichele, George.  "The Posthumanity of 'the Son of Man': Heroes as Postmodern Apocalypse."  Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 23:3 (2011).
 
Belmont, Cynthia.  "Ecofeminism and the Natural Disaster Heroine."  Women’s Studies 36:5 (2007) 349-372.
 
Branston, Gill.  "The Planet at the End of the World."  New Review of Film & Television Studies 5:2 (2007) 211-229.
 
Kakoudaki, Despina.  "Representing Politics in Disaster Films."  International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 7:3 (2011) 349-356.
 
Leiserowitz, Anthony A.  "Before and After The Day After Tomorrow."  Environment 46:9 (2004) 22-37.
 
Pirro, Robert.  "Aesthetic Legacies and Dashed Political Hopes: Caspar David Friedrich Motifs in Roland Emmerich’s Post-9/11 Popcorn Message Movies."  Germanic Review 88:4 (2013) 400-417.
 
Taylor, William M.  "Urban Disasters: Visualising the Fall of Cities and the Forming of Human Values."  Journal of Architecture 11:5 (2006) 603-611.
 
Von Burg, Ron.  "Decades Away or The Day After Tomorrow?: Rhetoric, Film, and the Global Warming Debate."  Critical Studies in Media Communication 29:1 (2012) 7-26.
 
Wood, Aylish.  "Encounters at the Interface: Distributed Attention and Digital Embodiments."  Quarterly Review of Film & Video 25:3 (2008) 219-229.
 
 
 
Six: The Mark Unleashed
Kevin Downes (2004)
Bobby Downes, Kevin Downes, Cosimo Michael Occhipinti and David White
Signal Hill Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • The Moment After (1999)
  • The Moment After II: The Awakening (2007)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
Left Behind: World at War
Craig R. Baxley (2005)
Ron Booth and Paul Lalonde
Cloud Ten
 
Associated Films
  • Left Behind: The Movie (2000)
  • Left Behind II: Tribulation Force (2002)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/
vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html
.
 
 
War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg (2005)
Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson
 
Alec, Charles.  "Extraordinary Renditions: Reflections upon the War on Terror in British and American Screen Science Fiction."  Historia Actual On-Line 22 (2010) 117-24.
 
 
 
 
Apocalypto
Mel Gibson (2006)
Vicki Christianson and Ned Dowd
 
 
 
 
The Moment After II: The Awakening
Wes Llewellyn (2006)
Bobby Downes, Kevin Downes, Amanda Llewellyn, Wes Llewellyn and David A. R. White
Signal Hill Pictures
 
Associated Films
  • The Moment After (1999)
  • Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
The Apocalypse
Justin Jones (2007)
David Michael Latt, David Rimawi and Paul Bales
The Asylum/Faith Films
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
2012: Doomsday
Nick Everhart (2008)
The Asylum/Faith Films
 
Walliss, John.  "From The Rapture to Left Behind: The Movie and Beyond: Evangelical Christian End Times Films from 1941 to the Present."  Journal of Religion and Film 13:2 (2009). Online, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/ vol13.no2/Wallis_Rapture.html.
 
 
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Scott Derrickson (2008)
Twentieth Century Fox
 
 
 
 
Doomsday
Neil Marshall (2008)
Benedict Carver and Steven Paul
 
 
 
9
Shane Acker (2009)
Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Jim Lemley and Dana Ginsburg
 
 
 
 
2012
Roland Emmerich (2009)
Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon and Larry J. Franco
 
 
 
 
Fish Story
Yoshihiro Nakamura (2009)
Yasushi Udagawa
 
 
 
 
The Road
John Hillcoat (2009)
Marc Butan, Mark Cuban, Rudd Simmons and Todd Wagner
 
Cohen, David S.  "Script to Screen: The Road."  Script 16:1 (2010) 40-44.
 
Fernandez, Jay A.  "Mountain Can-Do Feeling at Festival."  Hollywood Reporter 411:19 (2009) 1-39.
 
Fordham, Joe.  "Road to Nowhere."  Cinefex 120 (2010) 15-26.
 
Goldrich, Robert.  "John Hillcoat."  Shoot 55:3 (2014) 16-30.
 
Goldrich, Robert.  "John Hillcoat."  Shoot 51:8 (2010) 18-23.
 
McCarthy, Todd.  "Rocky 'Road' to Screen for Mccarthy Tome."  Variety 416:4 (2009) 29-36.
 
McSweeney, Terence.  "'Each Night Is Darker—beyond Darkness': The Environmental and Spiritual Apocalypse of The Road (2009)."  Journal of Film & Video 65:4 (2013) 42-58.
 
Sargeant, Jack.  "At the End of the World Apocalypse, Survival and Love in John Hillcoat's The Road."  Metro 164 (2010) 38-41.
 
Shepard, Lucius.  "A Sentimental Journey."  Fantasy & Science Fiction 118:3/4 (2010) 187-193.
 
Stratton, Billy J.1.  "'Everything Depends on Reaching the Coast': Inscriptions of Placelessness in John Hillcoat's Adaptation of The Road."  Arizona Quarterly 70:4 (2014) 85-107.
 
 
 
The Book of Eli
Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes (2010)
Alcon Entertainment/Silver Pictures
 
 
 
 
Contagion
Steven Sodergergh (2011)
Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher and Gregory Jacobs
 
 
 
 
This Is the End
Evan Goldberg (2013)
Nicole Brown, Barbara A. Hall, Kyle Hunter, Nathan Kahane, Ariel Shaffir and Jason Stone
 
 
 
 
The Leftovers (TV)
Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta (2014)
[A consulting producer for seven apisodes from 2015–2017 was SCU Religious Studies alumnus Reza Aslan]
 
 
 
 
The Handmaid's Tale (TV)
Reed Morano, Mike Barker, Kate Dennis, Floria Sigismondi and Kari Skogland (2017)
 
 
 
 
 
War for the Planet of the Apes
Matt Reeves (2017)
Mark Bomback, Mary McLaglen and Jenno Topping
 
 
 

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