The Best Apocalypse Movies and TV Shows

What it's about: In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly, and patient Jeffrey Goines, the son of a famous virus expert, who may hold the key to the mysterious rogue group, the Army of the 12 Monkeys, thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Nearly 10 years have passed since Sarah Connor was targeted for termination by a cyborg from the future. Now her son, John, the future leader of the resistance, is the target for a newer, more deadly terminator. Once again, the resistance has managed to send a protector back to attempt to save John and his mother Sarah.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (TBS & TNT) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 3 others).

What it's about: An U.S. Spaceship lands on a desolate planet, stranding astronaut Taylor in a world dominated by apes, 2000 years into the future, who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way.

Where to Watch: 115 episodes (88%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 131 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hulu), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: The first remake of the paranoid infiltration classic moves the setting for the invasion, from a small town to the city of San Francisco and starts as Matthew Bennell notices that several of his friends are complaining that their close relatives are in some way different. When questioned later they themselves seem changed, as they deny everything or make lame excuses. As the invaders increase in number they become more open and Bennell, who has by now witnessed an attempted "replacement", realises that he and his friends must escape or suffer the same fate. But who can he trust to help him and who has already been snatched?

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 2 others).

What it's about: Columbus has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee doesn't have fears. If he did, he'd kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they're about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Hulu) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video & 6 others).

What it's about: Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Starz), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: When a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, only one thing is certain: if you see it, you take your life. Facing the unknown, Malorie finds love, hope and a new beginning only for it to unravel. Now she must flee with her two children down a treacherous river to the one place left that may offer sanctuary. But to survive, they'll have to undertake the perilous two-day journey blindfolded.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Showtime) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime).

What it's about: 100 years in the future, when the Earth has been abandoned due to radioactivity, the last surviving humans live on an ark orbiting the planet — but the ark won't last forever. So the repressive regime picks 100 expendable juvenile delinquents to send down to Earth to see if the planet is still habitable.

Where to Watch: 5 episodes (6%) are available to watch free online (The CW). 71 episodes (90%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 79 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: A group of scientists in San Francisco struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of a plague that is wiping out humanity, while Caesar tries to maintain dominance over his community of intelligent apes.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.

Where to Watch: 144 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 144 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: They’re not righteous, they’re wrongteous! Hook up with Finn and Jake as they travel the Land of Ooo searching for adventure. But remember, adventure isn’t always easy. Sometimes you’ve got to battle fire gnomes that torture old ladies, save a smelly hot dog princess from the Ice King, and thaw out a bunch of frozen businessmen. What the cabbage?!

Where to Watch: 1 episodes (0%) are available to watch free online (Cartoon Network). 5 episodes (2%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 1 episodes (0%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (Cartoon Network). 156 episodes (50%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The provocative story of Cole, a time traveler from a decimated future in a high-stakes race against the clock. Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, he journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.

Where to Watch: 47 episodes (98%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 48 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (TBS) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: After being infected in the wake of a violent pandemic and with only 48 hours to live, a father struggles to find a new home for his baby daughter.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix).

What it's about: Five college friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a TV everywhere service (Freeform) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men, who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.49 on 9 services (iTunes, Google Play & 7 others).

What it's about: An idyllic sci-fi future has one major drawback: All citizens get a chance of being 'renewed' in a Civic Ceremony at their 30th birthday, unless they run and escape before their time comes.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Starz), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 9 services (iTunes, Google Play & 7 others).

What it's about: After the re-emergence of the world's first mutant, world-destroyer Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Set in a post-apocalyptic world, young Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow “runners” for a shot at escape.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (FX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Their mission is simple: Find a cure. Stop the virus. Save the world. When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction.

Where to Watch: 56 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 5 episodes (9%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (TNT). 56 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in "The Walking Dead"? This spin-off set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world, will answer that question.

Where to Watch: 53 episodes (93%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 57 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In a land controlled by feudal barons, a great warrior and a young boy embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment.A genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.

Where to Watch: 24 episodes (73%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix). 7 episodes (21%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (AMC). 33 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Thousands of dead people have risen from their graves and nearly destroyed Britain. A cure has been found - but can the treated zombies be rehabilitated back into living society?

Where to Watch: 9 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu). 9 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed-up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 4 others).

What it's about: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Sony Crackle), stream on a subscription service (Shudder) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: In the future, America is a dystopian wasteland. The latest scourge is Ma-Ma, a prostitute-turned-drug pusher with a dangerous new drug and aims to take over the city. The only possibility of stopping her is an elite group of urban police called Judges, who combine the duties of judge, jury and executioner to deliver a brutal brand of swift justice. But even the top-ranking Judge, Dredd, discovers that taking down Ma-Ma isn’t as easy as it seems in this explosive adaptation of the hugely popular comic series.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Katniss Everdeen reluctantly becomes the symbol of a mass rebellion against the autocratic Capitol.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: Robert Morgan is the last man on earth, as far as he can tell. A plague killed everyone else on the planet several years ago. He was immune to it, and can only guess why. Vampires that were formerly human attack Morgan's home every night

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix, SnagFilms & Tubi TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor & ConTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 3 others).

What it's about: This bizarre surrealistic black comedy takes place in a small fictitious post-apocalyptic town where food is scarce and butcher Clapet has the macabre business of using human flesh to feed his customers. Yet when his daughter falls in love with his next slaughter victim things turn into chaos.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix & Tubi TV) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An American girl on holiday in the English countryside with her family finds herself in hiding and fighting for her survival as war breaks out.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & Warriors Gangsters) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Defiance is an American science fiction television show that takes place in the future on a radically transformed Earth containing new species arriving from space. In the show, Joshua Nolan works as the lawman for the town of Defiance, a community where humans and intelligent extraterrestrial species coexist. The show follows Nolan, his adopted alien daughter Irisa, and the town's new mayor Amanda Rosewater.

Where to Watch: 38 episodes (97%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 39 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (HBO) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: After a zombie becomes involved with the girlfriend of one of his victims, their romance sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.

Where to Watch: Available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 8 services (iTunes, Google Play & 6 others).

What it's about: When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: Falling Skies opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

Where to Watch: 52 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).