The Quiet Earth (1985) Geoff Murphy

Country: New Zealand | Director: Geoff Murphy

A man wakes up to find himself literally alone in the world, and goes about trying to find other survivors, as well as to find out what happened. He suspects that a government research project he was involved in had something to do with the disappearance of everyone. Eventually he finds several other people, and once they begin to trust each other they try to figure out why they were left on earth.

This movie sticks in your mind for days. The opening scenes immediately pull you into this eerie, lifeless world as we see our hero driving around ghost towns, looking for signs of life. A terrifying concept that hooks you. There are classic moments throughout the first half of the movie as we witness the various states of madness our hero goes through before he accepts his situation and takes control. It's this part of the movie that made it a cult classic. As soon as the plot starts to thicken and the focus is taken away from his desolate existence, the magic starts to ebb. However, you are still left on the edge of your seat until you get an answer to any of the questions the story line produced. The end scene, is beautiful.