Most of the many Tales From the Apocalypse follow the expected post-apocalyptic path of person/s alone in deep space/on a deserted, ruined planet, or about to discover something shocking about their current situation, and yep, most of them do adhere to that lonely, rather grim and hopeless thread; that of us feeble humans bound to inhospitable environments in what appear to be hopeless tasks; whether survival as individuals or as a species. There’s not much optimism about most of them, and some, such as “Lunatique,” seem to exist only to underline the potential for any number of unhappy fates that may await us in the future.

However, they’re all engaging enough; well-filmed with the sort of atmosphere and effects one wouldn’t usually expect from movies on a shoestring. This we must applaud the crew for, as such a high level of production can’t be easy to achieve on a limited budget, especially where sci-fi is concerned.  It’d be all too easy to venture into the realms of rubbery, slimy monsters leaping from the shadows, but this doesn’t happen. None of them have an ounce of cringe about them, but for the main part they all have that air of desperate hopelessness, which is often what results from the lost in space/post-apocalyptic production. That’s my point though; we all tend to wish that with any film there’s some future for the characters (unless you’re of a naturally grim state of mind).

Still though, there are moments where the darkness lifts to allow some light in. The one that touched me in this way most deeply was the first, “Alone.” Here at least we can share the hope that both characters have something achievable; to not be alone forever in deep space. This optimism was also present in “New Mars,” so the picture’s maybe not as black as I’m painting it. There’s some clever stuff in here when considering the idea of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The deeper message to me seems to speak of the hazards of getting too big for our spaceboots and letting technology take the lead over our own sensibilities and indeed, commonsense. There’s long been talk of the dangers of AI taking over; a terrible master as opposed to a good servant.

Even very recently (2023 for the parochially sensitive), concerns about technology being boss have been publicly voiced, and movies like these and their predecessors can easily be seen as ominous foreshadowing. While I’m not hiding in a bunker just yet, I do think there’s food for thought here. Not a bad collection, unless you’re prone to paranoid overthinking, in which case watch with a group of mates with whom you can have a level discussion afterwards. Now, put that tinfoil away and enjoy life moment to moment; you could do far worse than watching Tales From the Apocalypse.