5 movies to watch if you love The Last of Us

If you’re a fan of The Last of Us game – or excited for the HBO adaptation – the following are five films that tell a similar story.

It’s been in the works for years, and this weekend the TV adaptation of hit video game The Last of Us finally launches globally. Overseen by the game’s creator Neil Druckmann, and Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin, the official synopsis is as follows…

The series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the US and depend on each other for survival.

If you can’t get enough of horrific journeys across apocalyptic landscapes where no one can be trusted, we’ve got you covered. As these are five films to watch if you love The Last of Us.

28 Days Later (2002)

Writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle reinvigorated the zombie sub-genre with this tale of a rage-infused chimpanzee triggering an epidemic that wipes out much of humanity.

Cillian Murphy plays a bicycle courier who misses society’s collapse due to being in a coma, waking to find himself pretty much alone in London. He eventually meets other survivors, and they embark on a dangerous road trip to a promised land in the north, but that safe haven ends up being just as bad as what they are running from.

Children of Men (2006)

Based on the novel of the same name by P.D. James, Children of Men is set in 2027, when humans have become infertile, and war and famine have ravaged the planet.

Clive Owen plays Theo, who agrees to help a young refugee called Kee, little realising she is hiding a secret that could be the key to mankind’s future. As Kee is pregnant. What follows is a dangerous journey to get Kee – and her baby – to safety.

I Am Legend (2007)

There have been multiple movie adaptations of Richard Matheson’s seminal 1954 sci-fi novel I Am Legend, with Vincent Price version The Last Man on Earth (1964) and Charlton Heston version The Omega Man (1971) both excellent.

But the movie that shares most DNA with The Last of Us is Will Smith’s 2007 adaptation, which finds the star battling zombies with his loyal dog, while trying to find a cure for the mutant flesh-eaters.

The Road (2009)

The most upsetting movie on this list, The Road was a depressing book by Cormac McCarthy, that was turned into a depressing movie by John Hillcoat. But if you can cope with the downbeat tone, The Road packs a powerful punch.

Viggo Mortensen is ‘Man’ and Kodi Smit-McPhee is ‘Boy,’ the pair struggling to survive following an unspecified event that has wiped out most of the animal and plant life on the planet. But while starvation should be their greatest fear, real danger comes in the shape of marauding gangs of cannibals.

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

The Girl with All the Gifts is based on a novel by M.R. Carey that was published just a year after The Last of Us hit shelves, and there are several similarities between the two stories. Especially in terms of the parasitic fungus that has wiped out much of mankind, and turned others into cannibals.

The ‘Girl’ in question Melanie, a hybrid of human and zombie who is wanted for research, but slowly sees a different path for herself and others like her. Criminally overlooked when it was released, The Girl with All the Gifts is superb sci-fi that should have launched a franchise.

The Last of Us starts on HBO and Sky this Sunday evening (January 15) and you can read our spoiler-free review of Episode 1 here.