Eli Roth's History of Horror (2018–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Apocalyptic Horror - full transcript

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- CONELRAD channel.
This is a class one emergency.

- I think everybody's fascinated
with society falling apart.

[dramatic music]

- Disaster movies used to just
be about bridges collapsing

and buildings blowing up,

but now, disaster movies are
about the end of the world.

♪ ♪

- Nobody wants to be
in the apocalypse.

♪ ♪

But we would all hope
to survive the apocalypse

depending on what
that future entails.



♪ ♪

- [snarls]

- People that think that

some kind of zombie apocalypse
would be fun...

♪ ♪

And as soon
as things shut down,

it's like they can't
even handle

a toilet paper shortage.

- The very foundations
of civilization

are beginning to fall.

♪ ♪

- It is really every man
for himself.

♪ ♪

It's like you don't know
what's worse,



the infection or each other.

- Run for your life!
They're already here!

♪ ♪

- What would it look like if
that really, really happened?

'Cause we... it feels like
we're right on the edge of it.

[zombie snarls]

♪ ♪

[eerie music]

[stairs creaking]

♪ ♪

[evil laughter]

[screaming]

♪ ♪

[chainsaw revs]

[dramatic music]

narrator: Movies with
post-apocalyptic themes

used to be unusual
and shocking.

- [screaming]

♪ ♪

Now, they're a genre
unto themselves.

- I think it's a human trait
that we imagine

that we're the last
civilization.

I think every civilization
throughout time

has thought that they're
probably going to be the ones

who end it for everybody
that comes to follow.

♪ ♪

So it's generated
this whole genre

where we get to see or imagine
what that might look like.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
You might remember a time

when movies about the zombie
apocalypse were hard to find.

[screaming]

But over the last two decades,
the undead have taken over.

♪ ♪

How do you stand out
from the herd?

♪ ♪

With "World War Z,"

actor/producer Brad Pitt
found a way.

[gunfire]

Making a zombie
apocalypse movie

filled with
the globetrotting locations

and spectacular set pieces...

only a Hollywood blockbuster
can deliver.

♪ ♪

"World War Z" casts Pitt
as a CDC field agent

who saves his family
from a zombie outbreak...

[zombies snarling and gunfire]

Then crosses the planet
searching for a vaccine.

- I'm going down!

♪ ♪

The film is very, very loosely

based on the bestselling novel
by Max Brooks.

- I wrote "World War Z"
to answer my own questions.

And the big question I had is

what would a zombie plague
look like across the planet?

♪ ♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

What were governments doing?

Different governments
in different countries.

How were different cultures
dealing with this?

How was one part of the planet
affecting another part?

It's like a world war,

and I wanted to know
about this world war.

♪ ♪

[screaming]

[glass shattering]

- If you're going to call
your movie "World War Z,"

you better deliver the goods,
and this film does.

- [straining]
[zombies shrieking]

- And Brad Pitt is the kind
of hero who's up to the test.

- [grunts]
[zombie rasps]

- When you're put in a really
distressing situation,

so much about a person
is revealed.

And for me, that's why I love
the apocalyptic films so much

because there is so much
of human nature in it.

[screaming and snarling]

Your fears, your...
that's your vulnerabilities.

That's the entire movie.

♪ ♪

[suitcase thuds]

[zombies snarling]

- That was what was so great
about Brad Pitt's character

in that movie is
he's constantly just like,

"What is happening is insane,

"and I'm just going
to do the best

that I possibly can
in this given moment."

[grenade pin clinks]

♪ ♪

He keeps on
barely making out alive.

And I just think that's a wonderful
through line for a character.

[snarling and screaming]

[gunshot]

- I think that future zombie
historians will see that movie

as a turning point for zombies
in pop culture.

♪ ♪

The special effects are now
copied in every zombie movie.

♪ ♪

Because I was just watching
"Train to Busan."

♪ ♪

And the zombies coming together
in a river of humans?

That's straight out
of "World War Z."

♪ ♪

narrator: "Train to Busan"
drew from "World War Z,"

but the South Korean film's
relentless action

and social commentary
put it in a place all its own.

♪ ♪

- It is interesting
how that genre,

you think it's been done before

and then a movie
like "Train to Busan" comes out

and you just go,
"Oh yeah,

"they just...
I have never seen anything."

- Yeah, no. You're the one
that turned me on to it.

When "Train to Busan" came out,
I was like,

there's no way I can watch
another zombie movie

or infected people movie.
I just can't do it anymore.

And I was wrong.

♪ ♪

Just that image of the father
carrying the little girl,

running with, like,
seemingly a thousand

[chuckling]
infected people chasing him.

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

- "Train to Busan" is probably

one of the greatest
Korean films.

♪ ♪

There's something about Koreans
where we have a lot of protocol

in terms of, like,
hierarchy and age

and manners are so deeply
ingrained in your being.

- [speaking Korean]
- [speaking Korean]

- Part of the horror if
you're Korean is watching it

and seeing people lose
all of those kind of protocols,

all of those social niceties.

♪ ♪

- A lot of it is really
sort of the relationship

of a father and his child.

And he basically, is too busy
for her in the beginning.

[zombie snarls]
- [screams]

- And then ultimately,

is as present as a parent
can be for a child,

which he sacrifices himself
for her.

♪ ♪

- [groaning]

- It's an odd commentary on
Korean film and Korean society

that I think most
would consider it

a terrible, sad,
horrible ending.

But actually,
it's kind of hopeful.

[tragic piano music]

♪ ♪

- Throughout the film, he finds
out what's truly important,

the lesson that he learns
about what he values in life.

♪ ♪

I mean, I think that
horror films are really about

when you can get
to the root of a character

and pull out
the strength of them.

And that's what this film
really is.

narrator:
Surviving an apocalypse

is hard and stressful work.

[snarling and gunfire]

It helps to have
a sense of humor.

- [chuckles]

narrator: They say comedy
is tragedy plus time...

which may be why years
of zombie apocalypse dramas

were eventually followed
by zombie apocalypse comedies.

[zombie rasping]

- Just get her off me!

narrator: The best combined
humor with genuine horror.

- Are you okay?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- Remember mad cow disease?

Well, the mad cow became
mad person became mad zombie.

And gave you a really, really
bad case of the munchies.

[clown nose honks]

narrator: One of the mot
successful was "Zombieland"...

[tense music]

♪ ♪

A horror/comedy
featuring a small cast

of heavyweight actors fighting
their way across America.

♪ ♪

- "Zombieland" takes place
in a post-apocalyptic world

where zombies have pretty much
disposed of most people

and there's only a handful
of survivors that are left

that we're aware of.

There's Tallahassee
played by Woody Harrelson.

- You got a purty mouth.
- [snarls]

[rock music]

- Who's managed to survive

just by simply being the most
badass zombie killer there is.

- My mama always told me
someday,

I'd be good at something.

Who'd have guessed that something
would be zombie killing?

- Probably nobody.

- Wichita and Little Rock,

who are played by Emma Stone
and Abigail Breslin...

- We'll take your weapons,
your car keys, your ammunition.

- And if you got it,
sugarless gum.

[lever action click-clacks]

- They've managed to survive

by just putting their own
interests above anyone else's.

- You see, you just
can't trust anyone.

The first time I let a girl
into my life

and she tries to eat me.

- For Columbus,
played by Jesse Eisenberg,

it's ironic, but the reason
he's managed to survive

is because he's the most
afraid person in the world.

- I survive because I play
it safe and follow the rules.

- He's so afraid
that he's created

a set of rules for himself

that have allowed him
to survive,

and it's like a handbook.

- Rule number four...
[horn honking]

- [screaming]

♪ ♪

- Fasten your seatbelts.

- So the biggest problem
with zombie films at this point

is the idea that anyone
would be surprised by zombies.

[dramatic music]

Everyone has
a zombie apocalypse plan

and "Zombieland"
is the first movie

to sort of take that
head-on...

- Don't let them catch you
with your pants down.

Rule number three:
beware of bathrooms.

- To admit
that this is a scenario

that is almost a cliche
at this point

and that everyone
is prepared for it.

And... and here are the rules

you need to follow
to keep you alive.

- Which leads me
to my second rule:

the double-tap.
[gunshot]

- The double-tap,
I think is one of

the greatest acknowledgments
in all of horror.

- I mean, one more clean shot
to the head.

- [snarling]
- [screams]

And this lady could've avoided
becoming a human Happy Meal.

- Someone finally
acknowledging, like,

you have to make sure
it's dead.

Finally, someone called it out.

♪ ♪

[zombie rasping]

narrator: Much of the film
follows the characters

as they journey west across
zombie-ravaged America...

[zombies snarling and gunfire]

Gradually becoming a family

despite
conflicting personalities.

[tires screech]

[suspenseful music]

- Hey, for (no audio) sake.
Enough already.

We were being chased
by ravenous freaks.

We don't have enough problems?

- I think one of the reasons

that it works
as well as it does,

is it... it's very well-cast
with good actors

who are not playing it
for laughs,

which is why the presence
of Bill Murray

is such an effective joke.

- Bill Murray, you're a zombie?

♪ ♪

- [screams in pain]

narrator: Bill Murray appears
as himself,

disguised as a zombie.

- Oh, I do it to blend in.

You know... you know, zombies
don't mess with other zombies.

narrator: But still
living large in Beverly Hills.

- Greatest cameo
in the history of film.

Bill (no audio) Murray.

["Ghostbusters" theme]
- Come get him.

- Light 'em up, Ray!

- Making a commentary
about being Bill Murray?

[evil chuckle]

narrator: Unfortunately,
Murray's zombie makeup

is a little too effective.

- No!

No, it's okay.
It's okay. I got him.

- [groans]

- I just love, like,

the collective gasp
of the audience.

Like, "Oh my God,
you just shot Bill Murray."

- Is that how you say hello
where you come from?

- Like it just, you know,
people don't see it coming

and it's a bit morbid,
but certainly very funny.

- [chuckles]

I'm sorry. It just gets me.
[chuckles]

But it still is sad.

- The characters drive
the story

and it's the relationships
that matter most.

At the end of the day,

the zombies
are window dressing.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: Apocalypse movies
are often about

groups of people
who band together to survive.

[telephone ringing]

But what if there was
no one else?

♪ ♪

What if you were
the last human on Earth?

[shrieking and gunfire]

♪ ♪

[lion roars]

[dramatic music]

- There is something about
the idea of society collapsing

and being left
to fend for yourself.

That's a little bit exciting.

[metallic thump]

[wood shatters]

A little bit fun, you know?

No more trying to figure out
how to pay my taxes online.

- Stop, stop!

♪ ♪

- No more with my Aunt Sally

texting me
about her gall bladder.

[rasping and snarling]

♪ ♪

It's just going to be me
and my dog and my rifle,

and my cans of beans.

[metallic clinking
and cables whipping]

[shrieking]

And it's gonna be awesome.

- [shrieking]

narrator: The origin point,
modern post-apocalyptic horror

is Richard Matheson's
1954 novel "I Am Legend."

♪ ♪

- "I Am Legend,"
which purportedly is the novel

that Stephen King read
and said, "I want to do this,"

has been made into a movie
three times.

[dramatic orchestral music]

"The Last Man on Earth" with
Vincent Price in the '60s...

♪ ♪

"The Omega Man"
with Charlton Heston

in the early '70s...

- [screaming]

[dramatic music]

And "I Am Legend" with
Will Smith in the early 2000s.

narrator: In all three films,
the protagonist is a scientist

who spends his lonely days

killing the zombie-like
survivors of a plague

that has wiped out
most of the human race.

- More of them for the pit.

Every day,
there are more of them.

narrator:
Matheson wrote the script

for "The Last Man on Earth,"

and it's the most faithful
to his book.

- I can't afford
the luxury of anger.

Anger can make me vulnerable.

It can destroy my reason

and reason's the only
advantage I have over them.

- "The Last Man on Earth"
is fantastic.

I don't know why
that's not as well-regarded

as "Night of the Living Dead"
or something. It's so good.

[suspenseful music]

- It's a very bleak movie.

You watch basically
the guy's entire family die

of this disease.

And then there's these big pits
that they throw the bodies in.

- Why are they burning
the bodies?

Why don't they bury them?

- Because it's the best-known
way to control the contagion

to keep the germs
from spreading.

narrator: The hero discovers

the real reason
the bodies are burned

when he buries his wife...

and she comes back.

[tense music]

- When you look at it with
"Night of the Living Dead,"

you see that George Romero
was definitely inspired

by "The Last Man on Earth."

♪ ♪

His treatment
of the zombie characters

is extremely similar
to the ones in this movie.

They're lethargic and
they're... they moan and groan

and they call the name
of the hero.

- Morgan.
Out... out.

♪ ♪

- Robert!
[gunfire]

[dramatic music]

narrator: In 1971,
Matheson's book

was turned into
"The Omega Man."

♪ ♪

A movie that reflects
the turmoil rocking America

after the social upheavals
of the '60s.

♪ ♪

- "The Omega Man"
is one of the grooviest

of all apocalyptic movies.

[upbeat funky music]

♪ ♪

- "Omega Man" is essentially
a "Last Man on Earth" story

starring Charlton Heston

where he is terrorized by
zombie mutant vampire-types.

Let's just say hippies.

[upbeat music]

- One of the first things
that happens in that film

is that Charlton Heston
runs "Woodstock"

for himself
in an empty theater.

And there's that weird
kind of amazing moment

when he has clearly
memorized some lines.

- [with character onscreen]
If we can't live together

and be happy,
if you have to be afraid

to walk out in the street,

if you have to be afraid
to smile at somebody, right?

- And then everything that
happens after that in the movie

is this total repudiation
of the "Woodstock" idea.

- We need to cancel the world
you civilized people made.

We will simply erase history
from the time that machinery

and weapons threatened
more than they offered.

- The anti-capitalist,
reformist, Utopian impulse

turns into this racially-
and sexually-integrated

zombie horde
of Luddite monsters

in pancake makeup
and fright wigs.

♪ ♪

narrator: But if the infected
have inherited the Earth,

is Heston really the hero?

- You are the angel of death,
doctor, not us.

- There's always
that fascinating idea.

It's so well-executed
in "The Omega Man,"

which is well,
who's the villain?

- Last night you killed
how many? Three of us?

And today, we don't know yet.

- So he's killing them
and they're trying to kill him.

And who is the real villain?

- Oh, my God.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- My name is Robert Neville.

I'm a survivor living
in New York City.

narrator: Both "The Omega Man"
and "The Last Man on Earth"

were ambitious films that
suffered from low budgets.

That was not the problem
with 2007's "I Am Legend."

- I think "I Am Legend"

benefited so much from
embracing the wish-fulfillment.

[engine revving]

That opening sequence where
he's in a gorgeous red car

hunting a deer
in the middle of Times Square.

Yes, we're doing what only
this movie with this premise

can deliver a scene like this.

- "I Am Legend"
does so many things right.

There's a brilliant scene
where he is in a video store

that he has put mannequins
into to make it feel normal

when he goes in
to pick out a movie.

And he has a breakdown
trying to get

one of the mannequins
to talk to him.

- Please say hello to me.

- I mean, I think that movie
really plays into

one of the greatest fears
that we all have,

which is yes, of course,

we're all afraid
of the apocalypse

and the end of the world,
zombies, that whole thing.

But also just being alone.

- The hell are you doing
out here, Fred?

- He's been alone for so long

that he thinks he's actually
started to go crazy.

narrator: Neville eventually
meets normal humans

and gives them a vaccine,

but the cure was created by
experimenting on the infected.

- This will almost
certainly kill it.

♪ ♪

narrator: Once again,
is he the hero or the villain?

- Did all of them die?
- Yes.

- All of them have the same
thread that at some point,

man is the monster,

that science and society
will keep reinventing itself

over and over.

And if you stay stuck
in the past and don't evolve,

you may be
the source of legend.

You may become the monster.

narrator:
Some apocalypses are man-made,

but the most spectacular...

[tense music]

Come from beyond.

[lasers firing]

narrator:
"The War of the Worlds"

chronicles the devastation
of Earth

by Martian invaders
with superior technology

and a ruthless drive
for conquest.

♪ ♪

When H.G. Wells
conceived the story

at the end
of the 19th century,

it was a sly critique
of British imperialism.

But by the time
Hollywood took it on,

it became a tale about
the limits of American power.

- Now fought with the terrible
weapons of super-science,

menacing all mankind
and every creature on Earth,

comes "The War of the Worlds."
[dramatic musical spike]

narrator:
"The War of the Worlds"

was first brought
to the screen in 1953

by producer George Pal.

The film is drenched
in the militaristic mood

of post-World War II America,

but the real draw of the film
wasn't its theme,

it was the special effects.

[all gasping]

No one had shown
an apocalyptic attack

like this before...

[power thrumming]

[lasers firing]

[screaming]

or created anything like
the Martian war machines.

- I remember when I was
a very little kid,

my mom telling my brothers
and I,

"Your father and I watched
a movie on TV last night.

"They had these things
like manta rays

"and they came up
out of the ground,

"and then a snake came up

and it was shooting lasers
at people."

And we thought, "Oh, Mom's
been into the drinks again."

[screaming and lasers firing]

- I just loved the sound design
and the production design,

and the special effects
in that movie.

The heat ray,

the death ray that came out
of the wingtips,

and then the sort of
brilliant optical effect

of when the General
gets frozen.

He's like, "Oh."

And he freezes
and then his outline

and then he turns green
and then you see the skeleton,

and then he disappears.

And the miniature work
is impeccable.

There's these fascinating
photos of the entire farm field

with Martian war machines
suspended above the miniature.

The Martian war machines were,
like, 38 inches across,

so they were pretty big.

These technicians were worried
about burning the sets down

because they were pumping the
electricity through the wires

that were suspending this...
the ships.

[lasers firing]

narrator: Downtown Los Angeles
is thoroughly,

some might even say
lovingly destroyed

in some of the most
spectacular effects sequences

of the time.

[lasers firing and explosions]

Pal's film warned
that military might

and scientific know-how

were no guarantee
against a determined enemy.

The apocalypse could happen.

[thunder and explosions]

- [screams]
Here!

narrator: We could only pray
for divine intervention.

[screaming]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Steven Spielberg's
2006 adaptation

had an equally blunt message

about American complacently
and overconfidence.

[thunder cracks]
- It's okay.

- I want to go inside.
- It's okay.

narrator: Set in New York

and made just a few years
after 9/11,

it's a nightmare vision
of a terrorist attack

waged by shadowy enemies
we don't understand.

- Lightning doesn't
strike twice

in the same...
- [screams]

narrator: In this version,
the Martian war machines

don't fall from the sky,
they emerge from the ground,

where they've been
buried for millennia,

a tip of the hat to the
classic Hammer horror film

"Quatermass and the Pit."

[mysterious rasping]

- Get back!
Let's go! Now!

- There's so many interesting
visual things about it.

I love that the whole front
of the church comes off.

♪ ♪

That effects sequence
of the first war machine

coming out of the ground
is absolutely stunning.

♪ ♪

[machine drones loudly]

Then when the little death ray
comes out and starts,

[imitates lasers]

And the people are running down
the street. And all of a sudden,

you just see the
clothes floating with the dust.

It's definitely
technically more proficient.

You know,
when they're on the ferry

and you look over
and you see the machine

coming underneath the water
up at them.

♪ ♪

I think that's a great example
of what technology gives you

in terms of the advancement
over five decades.

♪ ♪

- They found a different way
to tell that story.

[suspenseful music]

It's completely subjective.

Like, you only see
what Tom Cruise sees.

- Robbie!

[dramatic music]

- It's Boschian in its vision
of worldwide horror.

There is a moment,
a peaceful morning,

when a shaken Tom Cruise
takes his family

down to the riverside
to find freshwater.

And they freeze on the banks
of the river

to watch one bloated corpse
after another float by.

♪ ♪

That's, like, the whole film
in a nutshell.

Every time they think they've
had to witness the worst,

there's always something
more terrible

waiting around
the next corner.

narrator: Every telling
of "The War of the Worlds"

ends with civilization aflame,

but the Earth proves more than
capable of defending itself.

- So at the end, they show up,
they think they're going to,

you know, take us over,
kill us all.

But what they don't realize
is that humans are filthy

and our diseases
just destroy them.

Aliens not being prepared,
that's a good feeling.

That's a hopeful feeling.

I like the idea that aliens
don't do all the research.

♪ ♪

narrator: There are many ways
to cope with an apocalypse.

Some hide in heavily-
fortified bunkers...

[motorcycle engine revving]

While others meet the disaster
head-on.

narrator: How would you face
the apocalypse?

- Help, they're coming!
They're coming!

narrator: Curse the fate that
brought you to this point?

- I've been condemned to live.

narrator: Play games

in your fully-stocked
survivalist compound?

- Is that "Monopoly"?

narrator: Or motor to the mall
and help yourself

to some bitchin' threads?

If you answered yes
to the last question,

you might be a betty
in the mid-'80s

apocalypse film
"Night of the Comet."

[automatic gunfire]

- That movie could not be
more '80s.

[dramatic music]

Down to the music
and the fashion,

and the hairstyles
and everything.

- Like, I'm 18, okay?

And I can watch the comet

wherever I want
to watch the comet.

♪ ♪

narrator:
A mysterious comet

reduces most of the Earth's
population to dust.

- Everybody's gone.
- What?

- I swear to God.

- [coughs]
You made me swallow my gum.

- There's nobody.
I mean, there's nobody!

narrator: A pair of sisters
from the LA suburbs

must run a gauntlet
of deranged cannibals...

- [screaming]

♪ ♪

narrator:
Mutant mall employees...

- Let's play a game.
It's called scary noises.

narrator:
And sinister scientists.

♪ ♪

- [snarls]
- [screaming]

narrator:
All things considered,

they handle it pretty well.

- Like this is the height
of, you know,

valley girl mentality.

This culture
that's very ditzy LA women.

- Daddy would've gotten us
Uzis.

- And to see a movie
where they end up

surviving and kicking ass,

it just makes it really stand
the test of time with how,

like, how great it is.

- They said you were dead.

- They were exaggerating
totally.

- Hey, that's a great outfit.
- Thanks.

♪ ♪

narrator: You could look
at "Night of the Comet"

as being an expression
of the fear of nuclear war.

- Thirsty.
- Yeah?

Well, what are you going to do
when your complexion freaks up?

Dermatologist is dead,
you know.

narrator: That's
probably over thinking it.

[suspenseful music]

If the apocalypse does come,

you'd better hope you can
spend it outdoors and free...

[ominous music]

narrator: Not locked up
with the doomsday prepper

at "10 Cloverfield Lane."

[metallic impact]
- [yelps]

[tires squealing]

♪ ♪

narrator:
After a traffic accident,

a young woman wakes up
to find herself

chained to a railing
in a survivalist's bunker.

He tells her
that he has saved her

from an apocalyptic attack.

♪ ♪

- Everyone outside of here
is dead.

[ominous orchestral music]

narrator: Leaving the bunker
means certain death.

♪ ♪

Can he be trusted?

- No one comes in or out.

♪ ♪

narrator: The tense scenario
is played out

between three actors:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead
as Michelle,

John Gallagher Jr. as Emmett,

and John Goodman
as the inscrutable Howard.

♪ ♪

- It's quite a still movie.

Purposefully, we are... we have
very specific compositions

to make our characters
feel boxed in

and, like, we're watching a
little diorama unfolding.

Then there are moments
where things get more unhinged

and the camera loosens up
and we're more handheld.

[tense music]

- [screaming]
- Stop!

narrator: One of those moments
comes when Michelle,

convinced that Howard
is a dangerous predator,

tries to escape and discovers
the apocalypse is real.

- [screaming unintelligibly]

[snarling and head bashing]

♪ ♪

- The obvious reference points
that we had were "Misery."

- You did it! You did it!
You murdered my Misery!

- Which we could homage
because it was a remake

up until our final act.

I kept on saying to everyone is
that we're sort of the inverse

and that in "Misery,"
you meet Kathy Bates

and you like her
and you trust her.

And then you're not sure
if there's a darkness.

[thunder rumbling]

♪ ♪

- [groans]

- In our movie,
we meet this guy

and we are immediately going,
"He's trouble."

- You think I sound crazy.

Crazy is building your ark

after the flood
has already come.

- "I've seen this horror movie
before.

I got to get out of here."

And then it flips on us
and we go, "Oh wait,

maybe he's not trouble,"
you know?

♪ ♪

- You gonna walk out on me?

narrator: But as time passes,
Michelle realizes

she is
in a worst-case scenario

because Howard is
a homicidal maniac.

[metallic scrape]
- [screaming]

And when she finally gets out
of the bunker,

she sees the apocalypse
is still in progress.

♪ ♪

- Come on.

narrator: And the audience
sees why this film is a sequel

to the giant monster movie
"Cloverfield."

♪ ♪

- It's a
psychological thriller

that becomes an
apocalyptic horror at the end

because you don't know
if any of it's real.

♪ ♪

And then this is
a great reveal of,

like, no, not only is it real,
it's infinitely worse

than what you thought.
[chuckles]

- [gasps]
[glass cracks]

[windshield wiper squeaks]

[creature roars]

There is an apocalypse.
There are aliens.

It's super (no audio) up.

And I think Trachtenberg did
a really fantastic job

making a movie that was really
more spiritually a sequel

to the first one.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Most movie apocalypses

arrive with a bang.

♪ ♪

But what if the end of the
human race comes quietly

and we don't realize it
until it's far too late?

- [screams]

narrator: "Planet of the Apes"

gave us one of
the most indelible images

of post-apocalyptic Earth
ever recorded:

when Charlton Heston
comes across

the centuries-old ruin
of the Statue of Liberty.

- You blew it up!

Ah, damn you!

God damn you all to hell!

[dramatic music]

narrator:
And in "Soylent Green,"

the bleakest of Heston's
'70s-era apocalypse movies,

a world ravaged by climate
change and overpopulation

resorts to a high-tech form
of cannibalism

to feed the masses.

- Soylent Green is made
out of people.

Next thing, they'll be
breeding us like cattle.

You gotta tell 'em!
Soylent Green is people!

♪ ♪

narrator: But the end
of the human race

doesn't always require
ruined cities

and blighted countrysides.

[shrieking]

There is the quiet apocalypse
of being stealthily replaced

by things that look like us,
but are utterly alien.

♪ ♪

That's the paranoid premise
of jack Finney's novel

"The Body Snatchers."

- They're like huge seed pods.

narrator: Which has
been adapted and ripped off

countless times since it was
published in 1955.

[dramatic orchestral music]

- "Invasion
of the Body Snatchers"

is a movie that gets remade,
like, every generation.

I mean, we all get the

"Invasion of the Body
Snatchers" that we deserve.

- Miles.
- Miles.

♪ ♪

- For mine,
it was the 1956 version

which was an almost film noir.

- Listen to me!
We're in danger! Danger!

- Get out of the street!
Go on! Get out of here!

[ominous music]

narrator:
In a small California town,

people are being replaced
by duplicates.

♪ ♪

Emotionless creatures
grown from pods

that all think identically.

- No emotion.
And you have no feelings.

Only the instinct to survive.

narrator: Clearly,
there's an allegory here

about conformity
and political extremism,

but the targets
of the critique

depend on your point of view.

- Desire, ambition, faith.

Without them, life's so simple.
Believe me.

- The genius of the first

"Invasion
of the Body Snatchers"

is that it can be interpreted
as anticommunist.

And it can be interpreted
as anti-McCarthy witch hunts.

- He's been talking day after
day about the way he wants to

get anyone tainted with
communism out before sundown.

- It's a malignant disease

spreading through
the whole country.

♪ ♪

- So that's a really clever
thing is that the, you know...

like, "Invasion
of the Body Snatchers"

is like a double whammy.

[dramatic orchestral music]

♪ ♪

[screeching]

narrator:
Phillip Kaufman's 1978 version

is more of a sequel
than a remake.

- [screaming]

narrator:
Set in San Francisco,

it's a chilling horror film
and a satire

of the baby boom generation's
drift away

from the free-thinking values
of the '60s.

- Matthew, I've lived
in this city all my life,

but somehow today,
I felt everything had changed.

People were different.

[ominous music]

narrator: Donald Sutherland,

a one-time symbol
of the counterculture,

stars as a health department
inspector who slowly realizes

his friends are being replaced
by pod people.

♪ ♪

- All right. Let's back up
and go through it once more.

narrator: In one of many
clever bits of casting,

Leonard Nimoy appears
as a pop psychologist

who at first seems to be
the voice of reason.

- You're jumping into
a very bizarre conclusion

that this man you live with has
been replaced by somebody else.

Isn't it more likely that want
to believe that he's changed

because you're really looking
for an excuse to get out?

- Nimoy who up until then had
always been seen as a good guy,

as Spock from "Star Trek,"
suddenly playing a villain,

made that film
extra frightening.

- You will be born again
into an untroubled world.

Free your anxiety, fear.

- But he also was, like,
a strange sort of ambassador

or emissary
for their point of view.

He almost made
becoming a pod person

sound somewhat appealing.

- We don't hate you.
There's no need for hate now.

♪ ♪

narrator: In keeping with
the bleak spirit of the times,

the hero ends up
being absorbed

into the emotionless
collective.

- [screeching]
- No, no!

- I mean, that last shot
of Donald Sutherland

is absolutely terrifying.

And the way
Veronica Cartwright screams.

It has the scariest ending
to any horror film in the '70s.

- [screeching]

- Horror films are fun

when they take
the kind of paranoid fantasies

that skitter around our brains
and say,

"But what if it was true?"

- [gasps]
Jack!

- Reality, however,
becomes a little less fun

when we can't parse
the difference

between truth
and paranoid fantasy.

♪ ♪

narrator:
Someday, the end will come.

[zombies snarling]

♪ ♪

Civilization will collapse.

♪ ♪

Will you be a victim?

Or a survivor?

♪ ♪