During the 1980s, popular fear of World War III spurred moviemakers to produce dozens of nuclear threat films. Categories ranged from monster movies to post-apocalyptic adventures to realistic depictions of nuclear war and its immediate aftermath.Coverage of atomic angst films isn't new, but this is the first book to solely analyze 1980s nuclear threat movies as a group. Entries range from classics such as The Day After and WarGames to obscurities such as Desert Warrior and Massive Retaliation. Chronological coverage of the 121 films released between 1980 and 1990 includes production details, chapter notes, and critical commentaries.

Your next stop-mutants, monsters, and mushroom clouds. America, the only country to have dropped the Bomb, and Japan, the only country to have suffered its wrath, naturally portray the nuclear threat through different cinematic lenses, and Apocalypse Then shows the view from both sides of the Pacific. American science fiction films of the 1950s and 1960s generally argue that it is possible to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle, whereas Japanese science fiction films of the same period assert that once freed, the nuclear genie could never again be imprisoned. With this viewpoint in mind, this book examines the genre movies of these two countries released between 1951 and 1967 that spotlight the nuclear threat, running the gamut from Godzilla to Dr. Strangelove, from The Mysterians to The Incredible Shrinking Man, from The Last War to On the Beach.

A world-bridging '57 Chevy whisks friends Brent Sanders and Jerry Mahon to a nuke-ravaged USA. There, Brent and Jerry join the patrons of a drive-in movie theatre to wage nightly combat against gigantic mutant monsters. Amidst this life and death apocalypse, Brent falls in love with Lori Carpenter, a mysterious young woman who conceals a terrifying truth. For despite the atomic horrors Brent has already confronted in this post-nuked America, he doesn't know the true meaning of fear until he discovers Lori's dreadful secret, and then there is no turning back . . . In addition to Atomic Drive-In, the book includes five short stories featuring - in order of appearance - paranormal plants, roads not taken, Kaiju infestation, nanotech revenge, and Frankenstein's Monster at Christmas.