Entertainment
Survival fiction, reviewed for what it teaches.
Books, films, and TV about the end of the world as we know it — and the long work of putting it back together. We read and watch them for the story, then ask the question that matters here: what does this get right about resilience, and what can a real household take from it?
This weekend
June 6, 2026
Robopocalypse delivers visceral thrills but wears its ambitions on its sleeve
Robopocalypse · Daniel H. Wilson
Daniel H. Wilson's robot uprising novel is a propulsive, cinematically charged page-turner that earns its tension even when its literary reach exceeds its grasp.
Station Eleven is the post-apocalyptic TV series that dares to love the world it destroys
Station Eleven · Patrick Somerville (HBO Max)
HBO Max's 2021 adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's novel is a rare survival drama built not around fear and violence but around memory, art, and what makes a life worth living.
Arcadian is a tense, intimate monster movie that earns its scares
Arcadian · Benjamin Brewer
Benjamin Brewer's 2024 survival horror film strips the creature feature down to its bones — a father, two sons, and something hunting them in the dark.
Books
Robopocalypse delivers visceral thrills but wears its ambitions on its sleeve
Robopocalypse · Daniel H. Wilson
Daniel H. Wilson's robot uprising novel is a propulsive, cinematically charged page-turner that earns its tension even when its literary reach exceeds its grasp.
One Second After is the EMP novel that earns its reputation
One Second After · William R. Forstchen
Forstchen's 2009 novel imagines the lights going out and never coming back — and turns a small North Carolina town into one of the most quietly devastating collapse stories in the genre.
TV Series
Station Eleven is the post-apocalyptic TV series that dares to love the world it destroys
Station Eleven · Patrick Somerville (HBO Max)
HBO Max's 2021 adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's novel is a rare survival drama built not around fear and violence but around memory, art, and what makes a life worth living.
Earth Abides is uneven television with a genuinely compelling core
Earth Abides · Todd Komarnicki (MGM+)
MGM+'s adaptation of George R. Stewart's 1949 novel wobbles through melodrama and a few stiff performances, but its patient fascination with rebuilding a world keeps it watchable.
Movies
Arcadian is a tense, intimate monster movie that earns its scares
Arcadian · Benjamin Brewer
Benjamin Brewer's 2024 survival horror film strips the creature feature down to its bones — a father, two sons, and something hunting them in the dark.
The Long Walk is a brutal, beautifully acted parable of desperation
The Long Walk · Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence's adaptation of Stephen King's early novel never explains how America broke. It doesn't need to. The horror is a country desperate enough that boys volunteer to walk until they die.