The Fallout TV adaptation is available to watch on Amazon Prime TV

Blade Runner (1982)

A Law Enforcement Officer Hunts Down 'Replicant' Robots

Ridley Scott directed Blade Runner, with Harrison Ford playing a law enforcement officer known as a Blade Runner. His job is to hunt down and destroy Replicants. This is what helped elevate the movie, as Replicants were bio-engineered synthetic humans that a corporation created to work on space colonies. However, some gained more intelligence and set out to live on Earth as humans, which the governing bodies deemed illegal. The movie was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.

While Blade Runner’s setting is more dystopian than post-apocalyptic, its ethical debate on robotics can be seen in the Fallout games, particularly Fallout 4, which focuses on Synths (or Androids as they were called in Fallout 3). Created by the Institute organization, these artificial humans serve as the source of conflict between two factions in Fallout 4, which the main character gets involved in. There’s even a Synth detective named Nick Valentine who emulates the retro Noir style in Blade Runner.

The Postman (1997)

A Nomadic Drifter Inspires Hope In A Post-Apocalyptic United States

In the late 1990s, two post-apocalyptic movies starred Kevin Costner and bombed upon release. Age has been kind to the first of these (Waterworld, especially the extended cut), which eventually became a cult classic. However, the same cannot be said of the second film, known as The Postman. In this movie, Costner plays a nomadic drifter known only as The Postman, because he wears a postal courier's uniform that he found during his travels. While pretending to be a postal carrier for the new government, he slowly inspires hope in a destroyed America.

The Postman is worth mentioning concerning Fallout: New Vegas as it features a courier of sorts getting caught between warring groups in a post-apocalyptic America. Plus, the Holnist group in The Postman has similar autocratic beliefs to Caesar’s Legion in New Vegas. There’s even a dam in both that plays a significant role.

Six-String Samurai (1998)

Rock And Roll Rules The United States After A Nuclear War

A major staple of the Fallout games is the various pop-culture references they have, though some are more obscure than others. Fallout: New Vegas, for example, has the New Vegas Samurai trophy, which is a reference to the cult film Six-String Samurai. But this seemingly insignificant reference becomes more relevant as Six-String Samurai and New Vegas share many similarities in terms of their plot and settings.

Six-String Samurai follows the events of a nuclear attack on America by the Soviet Union. While most of the country fell, "Lost Vegas" survived, ruled over by King Elvis. However, when King Elvis dies, it is time to find a new King of Rock 'n' Roll for Vegas. Both Six-String Samurai and New Vegas take place in an alternate America that was ravaged by nuclear war, yet 1950s cultural elements still exist. They also have a protagonist trying to get to Las Vegas while dodging gangs and cannibals.

The Book Of Eli (2010)

A Man Protects The World's Last Bible In The Apocalypse

Them! (1954)

Giant Bugs Attack In This Sci-Fi Monster Movie

Made during the Cold War, Them!'s plot is about giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation and now pose a threat to the American populace. This was a huge theme at the time in horror movies, as the old-school monster movies gave way to the more sci-fi horror films that were based on the fear of nuclear war, including Godzilla and slightly more B-grade movies like Them!

It cannot be stated enough that the Fallout games borrow a lot of imagery from the 1950s. Particularly science-fiction films, such as the 1954 classic Them! Though the movie's premise sounds ridiculous now, it came from fearful speculations on how atomic energy could impact the environment. So, naturally, the Fallout franchise took this concept a step further by making giant ants a natural enemy that the player’s character encounters in the nuclear wasteland starting with Fallout 2.

Damnation Alley (1977)

Survivors Of A Nuclear Apocalypse Try To Find Other Survivors

Apart from giant ants, another type of mutated creature that appears in the Fallout games is giant scorpions. Referred to as Radscorpions, they debuted in the first Fallout game, with several sub-species appearing in the sequels. However, Fallout wasn’t the first work of fiction to include giant scorpions in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland as there was a lesser-known 1970s movie that had the same concept.

Damnation Alley is loosely based on a book by notable science-fiction author Roger Zelazny. The story is about a group of Air Force officers who survive a Soviet Union nuclear attack and another exposition that kills the rest of their unit. They then set out to travel across a desolate America to find the source of a mysterious transmission. However, while they do find both good and bad survivors, they also have to survive attacks by giant radiated scorpions - which Fallout ran with for the games.

Fido (2006)

A World With Subservent Zombies After The Apocalypse Ends

Following Shaun of the Dead’s success, several other zombie-related comedies came out. While some Hollywood productions like Zombieland managed to get a sequel, others like the Canadian-made Fido didn’t. Though Fido doesn’t specify when it takes place, it imagines a world with domesticated zombies. This is mainly done through special collars that repress the zombies’ natural hunger for human flesh, much like the wristbands in the recent Disney Channel movie Zombies.

In relation to Fallout, the zombies in Fido partially resemble the zombie-like Ghouls that appear in the games. Plus, there is the 1950s aesthetic and a war that happened before the events in both works. In Fido, the entire look of the movie is similar to the Pleasantville aesthetic, and the story takes place after the humans have won the war against the zombies and begun to rebuild.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

The Sequel To Mad Max With More Mutant Badguys

If there’s one movie franchise that many people have compared the Fallout games to, it’s the films in the Mad Max series. Starting with the 1979 original, these Australian post-apocalyptic movies feature the titular antihero who wanders a wasteland full of gangs and cults. However, where the series arguably got its distinct style was Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, which is referenced in the Fallout games.

For example, the first Fallout game has a dog resembling the one Max had in The Road Warrior that the player’s character can befriend. Even Max’s signature outfit and gun from that movie can be obtained in the games. It is also in this second movie in the Mad Max franchise that the villains start to take on a more punk rock look, with Lord Humungus and his hockey mask and black leather outfit really setting the tone for the story. It played strongly in how the people in Fallout look as well.

A Boy And His Dog (1975)

A Teenager & His Dog Struggle To Survive After A Nuclear Apocalypse

While Mad Max may have popularized the post-apocalyptic genre in cinema, there were predecessors, including A Boy and His Dog. Based on the novella by Harlan Ellison, another recognized science-fiction author, it’s a 1970s coming-of-age story about the title characters. The movie stars a young Don Johnson as an 18-year-old boy born in the wasteland of a post-nuclear war United States who sets out to survive with his dog, Blood, by his side.

However, this classic scenario comes with a twist: it not only takes place in a post-apocalyptic world - but the dog is telepathic. So it’s easy to see how this may have influenced Mad Max and the Fallout games. After all, dogs are an optional companion in the Fallout games, with the nickname ‘Dogmeat,’ which is used as an insult by the main character of A Boy and His Dog.

Radioactive Dreams (1985)

A Post-Apocalyptic Noir With Teenage Survivors