The Best Apocalypse Movies on Kanopy

What it's about: Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes discovers that an unknown force has caused the earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the earth's core. Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex & Crackle), stream on a subscription service (Paramount+, Philo, fuboTV & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Hoopla, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Trapped in a missile silo, a small team of scientists, civilians, and trigger-happy soldiers battle desperately to ensure the survival of the human race. However, the tension inside the base is reaching a breaking point, and the zombies are gathering outside.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (HBO, Philo, fuboTV & 3 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In a boorish future, the government sponsors a popular, but bloody, cross-country race in which points are scored by mowing down pedestrians. Five teams, each comprised of a male and female, compete using cars equipped with deadly weapons. Frankenstein, the mysterious returning champion, has become America's hero, but this time he has a passenger from the underground resistance.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A mysterious global blackout yields countless populations to simply vanish, leaving only their clothes and possessions behind. A small handful of survivors band together in a dimly-lit tavern on 7th Street, struggling to combat the apocalyptic horror. Realizing they may in fact be the last people on earth, a dark shadow hones in on them alone.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 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 (Netflix & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The story revolves around a Basque Roman Catholic priest dedicated to committing as many sins as possible (Angulo), a death metal salesman from Carabanchel (Segura), and the Italian host of a TV show on the occult (De Razza). These go on a literal "trip" through Christmas-time Madrid to hunt for and prevent the reincarnation of the Antichrist.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Vudu), stream on a subscription service (Shudder & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Martin was a normal teenage boy before the country collapsed in an empty pit of economic and political disaster. A vampire epidemic has swept across what is left of the nation's abandoned towns and cities, and it's up to Mister, a death dealing, rogue vampire hunter, to get Martin safely north to Canada, the continent's New Eden.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 2 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, Hoopla, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic America, 18-year old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, are scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War IV, where survivors must battle for food, shelter, and sexual companionship in the desert-like wasteland. Vic and Blood eke out a meager existence, foraging for food and fighting gangs of cutthroats.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 4 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 2 others) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Microsoft).

What it's about: Two girls from the Valley wake up to find that a passing comet has eradicated their world and left behind a mysterious red-dust and a pack of cannibal mutants. With the help of a friendly truck driver, the girls save the earth from a villainous "think tank," karate chop their way through flesh-eating zombies, and, of course, find time to go to the mall.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & YouTube), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: In the near future, oil reserves are nearly depleted and Europe is connected by series of underground tunnels. While navigating these tunnels, Roger hears voices, one in particular. Seeking a way to rid himself of the voice only leads Roger deeper into a bizarre conspiracy of control - mind and body.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 4 others), stream on a subscription service (Philo, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: There is a war in the world between the men and the women. A young girl tries to escape this reality and comes to a hidden place where a strange unicorn lives with a family: Sister, Brother, many children and an old woman that never leaves her bed but stays in contact with the world through her radio...

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).

What it's about: Four couples meet for Sunday brunch only to discover they are stuck in a house together as the world may be about to end.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In rural Connecticut, baseball players Ben and Mickey are trying to survive a zombie plague. They are forced to form a battery: a catcher and a pitcher who work together to outwit the batter, the one who hits the ball. And the batter in this case just happens to be a zombie. Tough Ben and gentle Mickey frequently disagree on the best way to go about the situation. Then they suddenly hear a human voice through their walkie-talkies. Is salvation nearby, like Mickey thinks, or is Ben’s suspicion justified?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & IMDb TV), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: An examination of the extinction threat faced by frogs, which have hopped on Earth for some 250 million years and are a crucial cog in the ecosystem. Scientists believe they've pinpointed a cause for the loss of many of the amphibians: the chytrid fungus, which flourishes in high altitudes. Unfortunately, they don't know how to combat it. Included: an isolated forest in Panama that has yet to be touched by the fungus, thus enabling frogs to live and thrive as they have for eons.

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

What it's about: From Billions to None follows naturalist and author Joel Greenberg and his friends on a quest to reveal the incredible, mostly forgotten story of how the passenger pigeon, the most abundant bird species in North America for thousands of years, became extinct by human hands in a geologic heartbeat. From Billions to None retells the remarkable story of the passenger pigeon and explores its striking relevance to conservation challenges today, and plans for its possible revival. Interweaving rare archival material, CGI animation that brings the flocks of millions to life and aerial cinematography, the film recreates the awe-inspiring nature of these birds, and presents passionate scientists, teachers and young people who reveal why, 100 years later, it's important to remember the event - and act.

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

What it's about: Investigate how an asteroid vanquished the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Join scientists as they drill into the impact crater and, for the first time, reconstruct the hell on earth that unfolded in the minutes, hours and months after the impact.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy).