Remember this scene from ‘Red Dawn’?

It occurred to me that years ago I saw myself as one of those kids in the truck, and now I see myself as the guy saying  “Boys, get in there and get sleeping bags and food”. Age comes on apace, I guess.

News of a disease outbreak or possible pandemic may readily conjure up Hollywood fantasies of horrible disease symptoms, government crackdowns and mass death. The very notion of infection, or viruses and bacteria invisibly taking over the human body, creates a sense of both uncertainty and helplessness that can lend itself to thoughts of doomsday. Movies have not hesitated to play out those worst-case scenarios time and again.

An interesting list, to be sure. However, one that was neglected but, in my opinion, worthy of a watch, is “Carriers”. (Featuring the smoking hot Emily Can Camp). Most notably for the ride into grittiness and ruthlessness as the characters start facing harder and harder choices.

But, really, who needs to watch stuff like this when it’s happening, to a slightly lesser degree, in real life?

The media is telling us that a ‘second wave’ is on the way, or that reported infection rates are increasing (keyword: reported…by whom? Reported how?), and that we should expect worse times to come.

Well, yeah….is there anyone who really thought this was over? Even if they came up with a vaccine tomorrow it will still be months, if not years, before the consequences of this thing are behind us. Even if you snapped your fingers and it disappeared tomorrow, the effects will still be here…the economic, social, and political fallout will linger even after the Kung Flu is considered ‘no longer a threat’.

You and I, we’ve been expecting something like this for a while…some sort of event that makes us start locking our doors more often, keeping a wary eye open, and start circling the wagons. Now it’s here and it’s time to see if we’ve been making smart choices these last few years (or decades).

If this really is an escalation of the current situation, it’s been a quiet one. I haven’t seen an increase in panic buying at the supermarket. However,  guns and ammo are still virtually unobtainable without paying ‘the Covid tax’. Fortunately, for many of us, guns and ammo were the first thing we stockpiled when we were a fresh wet-behind-the-ears newly minted survivalist.

Anyway, there you have it…a list of movies to download and watch in a darkened room while patting yourself on the back for your foresight and planning. You did stockpile popcorn, right?

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There’s a link at the top of the column on the right hand of your screen. I think what I’ll probably do is, on an experimental basis for now, post a footer in a random post once a week with a quick link. We’ll see if that doesn’t come across as too crass and self-serving.

I’ve watched about half of these. One thing I always find terribly amusing is that in the British series the individual with a simple double-barrel shotgun is the high muckymuck because everyone else had nothing more deadly than a crossbow or a cricket bat. Contrast that with, say, Walking Dead where our heroes went from 870’s and Remington 700’s to MP5, M4, and AUG’s in less than three seasons. (Heck, they even had an RPG at one point.)

What I don’t like is that, at least in the series I’ve seen, it all boils down to a) having to fight other survivors for resources and b) scrounging. And while those probably would be rather important, I am always amazed how hygiene, or the utter lack thereof, leads to almost no bad consequences. Take Walking Dead….its summer in Georgia and these people are covered in dirt, sweat, blood, and a zillion other nasties and no one gets an infection when they cut or scrape themselves.

Anyway…entertaining post-apocalyptic TV shows are fairly rare. Movies come and go all the time, but TV shows…not so much. Probably because its difficult on a TV budget to empty out several square blocks of a city (which is why so many of these take place in rural settings, I suppose.)

Anyway, for your amusement…………