My Top 10 List of Apocalyptic Short Films

If you like apocalyptic short films, you came to the right place. Here’s a top 10 list of the best apocalyptic short films.

ZOMBIE IN A PENGUIN SUIT

This amazing zombie short begins with some poor slob who works at the zoo handing out flyers in a penguin costume, who then becomes bitten by a zombie during an outbreak event. We see his journey from confusion to hunger, with his survival hanging by a thread as those who would destroy him through the dictates of fortune become destroyed themselves, and ultimately decomposition. The penguin costume isn’t funny so much as pathetic, making him stand out against the faceless zombie hordes as an individual, somebody we cannot forget was once a real person. The story is told beautifully and with pathos.

ONCE WAS PARADISE

Terrific short film about the brutality of life after peak oil, set in a post-apocalyptic Hawaii.

SPOILER

In SPOILER, the zombie apocalypse already happened, and humanity won. But the threat of contagion is always present, resulting in periodic infection being detected and responded to with lockdowns of all buildings in the area, which must be cleared one by one. In Los Angeles, coroner Tommy Rossman is the guy they call when things go wrong. His job is to declare people exposed to infection dead, whether they are alive or not, so they can be destroyed. He’s an average guy doing a horrible job on a bad night.

Spoiler from spoiler movie on Vimeo.

PERISHED

In PERISHED, an Australian zombie short, a man struggles to survive alone while the world around him dies. Can he escape? Awesome stuff. Powerful and realistic. You really start rooting for the guy.

EXPLOSIONS

EXPLOSIONS, a short apocalyptic film, imagines a world in which Earth loses its gravity.

I LOVE SARAH JANE

Fantastic short film about Australia slowly falling to a zombie plague, and how love soldiers on in the face of adversity.

APOCALYPSE

The best short films often present a simple idea, brilliantly executed. In APOCALYPSE, a strange plague threatens to end the world … I can’t say anything more without ruining it …

CARGO

In CARGO, a short zombie film, a man awakes after a car crash realizing he’s infected–and that he must now get his baby to safety before he turns into a zombie himself. As a dad, it really got me, and I hope you enjoy it too.

REPLAY

Fantastic animated short film about a mother trying to keep her little boy alive during the apocalypse. Lonely, he seeks friendship with the ghosts of the past.

FACILITY 4

Really brilliant little short, spoken entirely in Russian-with English subtitles–about two Russian soldiers assigned to an underground bioweapons research bunker, normally a boring post–that is, until something goes wrong …