It might feel like common sense to think that movies that take place while the world is ending - or after the end itself - wouldn't be funny. And sure, most of the time, films with dystopian or post-apocalyptic settings take themselves fairly seriously. The fear of the world coming to an end is a real and remarkably unnerving one, and the world of speculative fiction allows storytellers and filmmakers to explore what might happen during and even after a societal collapse.

On the other end of things, there are also movies with dystopian themes and/or post-apocalyptic settings that offer a good deal of levity alongside more expected things like violence, fights for survival, and societal collapse. For anyone who would prefer their dystopian movies to have a decent helping of humor alongside the hardships, the following titles are all easy to recommend.

10 'Zombieland' (2009)

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Taking place after society has collapsed due to a worldwide zombie virus, Zombieland does qualify as a horror film with a post-apocalyptic setting, but depicts its characters' fight for survival in a way that's more light-hearted than most zombie films. Its violence is usually played for laughs, and it's a movie more concerned with having banter between characters than extended sequences of genuine suspense.

Thanks to the humor working and the cast members all having good chemistry, this approach ends up working in Zombieland's favor. Zombie fatigue may have set in somewhat in the years since the film's release, but in 2009, this humorous take on battling infected hordes in a post-apocalyptic setting was a breath of fresh air for the horror sub-genre. Though its sequel wasn't amazing, the original Zombieland still holds up as a pretty great R-rated horror and comedy movie mash-up.

Rent on Apple TV

9 'Idiocracy' (2006)

Directed by Mike Judge

A broad satirical comedy first and a science-fiction movie second, Idiocracy is a relatively simple movie about an all-too-simplistic dystopian future. Its plot involves an everyday man being put into hibernation and woken up 500 years later, at which point he learns that the world's population has devolved to a ridiculous extent, thanks to every generation apparently being stupider than the last.

Given it shows a futuristic world that's fallen apart to some extent, Idiocracy qualifies as a movie with a dystopian setting, even though it might well be the goofiest dystopian movie of all time. It exaggerates trends from the 2000s to suggest that humanity some centuries from now is doomed, in the process making for a sometimes funny comedy that may nevertheless rub some viewers the wrong way.

Rent on Apple TV

8 'Brazil' (1985)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Time has been kind to Brazil, as it wasn't enthusiastically received upon its release in 1985, largely due to a theatrical re-edit that ruined the film's ending. It's since found its audience and stands as a cult classic work of satirical science-fiction, telling a madcap story about a bureaucrat getting wrapped up in a wide-reaching - and baffling - conspiracy that tears his world apart.

Brazil certainly has a comedic tone throughout much of its runtime, but it's also an exceptionally dark movie with a terrifying setting that often feels like a nightmare. Tonally, there's little else out there like it, due to it successfully managing to be as enjoyable a comedy as it is terrifying a work of dystopian sci-fi - perhaps even up there as one of the all-time greatest science fiction movies, and certainly one of the most nightmarish.

Rent on Apple TV

7 'RoboCop' (1987)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven's Hollywood films are characterized by being heavily satirical while also being wildly entertaining examples of whatever genre they belong to. Starship Troopers is one of the best examples, being a takedown of fascist attitudes while also being a sci-fi/action movie about soldiers fighting giant bugs in space, and RoboCop is a similarly strong example.

It's a sci-fi/action movie with a dark dystopian setting that depicts a world overrun by crime. As such, Detroit's police force decides to create unfeeling, ruthless robot police officers that can combat crime more viciously than any human officers could. It's gritty and violent, but also wildly over-the-top at certain points, enough to make RoboCop also function as a wild and brutal action movie. However, while some of RoboCop's violence is disturbing, much of it's also gleefully funny in a darkly humorous way.

Watch on Tubi

6 'Dead or Alive: Final' (2002)

Directed by Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike is one of the best and most prolific Japanese directors working today, and has over 100 directing credits to his name. Three of those movies make up the Dead or Alive trilogy, with the three films in said trilogy being released between 1999 and 2002.

Each offers a comedic crime/action story, but the third of them, Dead or Alive: Final, throws science-fiction elements into the mix. It has a bizarre story that combines Yakuza gangs with a post-apocalyptic science-fiction setting to mixed results... at the very least, its wild mix of genres does differentiate it from other movies that solely belong to the sci-fi or crime-comedy genres. For better or worse, there's nothing else out there like Dead or Alive: Final, with its blend of unexpected genres.

Watch on Arrow

5 'Delicatessen' (1991)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro

Delicatessen is set in a small town after the events of some sort of apocalypse have dramatically altered the way of life for all who live there. Like many works of post-apocalyptic fiction, food for the characters of Delicatessen is in short supply, which has led to a butcher gaining power and influence by serving human flesh to his customers.

There are various other strange characters who interact throughout the film, with Delicatessen overall being a very dark and sometimes disgusting movie that nevertheless plays a good deal of its horrific situations for laughs. While that understandably makes Delicatessen something of an acquired taste, it's also not too surprising that the film has a devoted cult following. It's certainly not one of the most well-known classic movies of the 1990s, but those looking for something unusual should possibly think about checking it out.

Rent on Apple TV

4 'The Lobster' (2015)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

A twisted blend of romance, comedy, drama, and sci-fi that also presents a dystopian premise like no other, to call The Lobster weird would be a huge understatement. The film's story revolves around a strange hotel where single people are forced to stay for 45 days at a time. They're required to find a romantic partner in that amount of time, and if they fail to do so, they're turned into an animal of their choice and banished to a nearby forest.

Things arguably get even stranger as The Lobster goes on, because that initial premise only really covers the first half of the film, after which it becomes something else entirely. The world of The Lobster is bleak, unusual, and occasionally disturbing, but the movie's absurd sense of humor mixed in with the intentionally deadpan performances can also be darkly funny.

Watch on Max

3 'Death Race 2000' (1975)

Directed by Paul Bartel

A bleak depiction of what was once the far-off year of 2000, Death Race 2000 is a movie about an ultra-violent cross-country car race. Participants are encouraged to drive recklessly and battle each other in the process, and are also rewarded with extra points for running over civilians along the way. Also, a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone shows up here, which is kind of neat.

It's a violent and pessimistic prediction of what would be considered entertaining in the future, but at the same time, Death Race 2000 manages to be a comedy. The violence is very over-the-top, and the premise an admittedly ludicrous one. Death Race 2000 works as a low-budget, broadly satirical film, depicting a worst-case scenario for the entertainment landscape 25 years after its release, and the lengths people might go to gain attention, notoriety, and fortunes.

Watch on Tubi

2 'Hardcore Henry' (2015)

Directed by Ilya Naishuller

Once Hardcore Henry begins, it's a movie that absolutely refuses to stop. It takes place entirely from the point of view of its title character, a cyborg/human hybrid with superhuman strength and agility. His wife is captured by a violent and sadistic villain with telekinetic powers, and so Henry sets out on a violence-filled quest to take out the antagonist's henchman and rescue his beloved wife.

Among all the ultra-violence, the movie finds ways to be pretty funny. Sharlto Copley (who's best known for portraying the protagonist in the modern classic sci-fi film that is District 9) plays a series of clones who keep getting killed off, making for some decent comic relief. In addition, much of the violence that plays out in Hardcore Henry's near-future world is so over-the-top that it can be surprisingly humorous.

Watch on Tubi

1 'Sorry to Bother You' (2018)

Directed by Boots Riley

Sorry to Bother You takes place in an alternate reality of the 2010s which, in many ways, is a good deal more frightening than the one viewers will be familiar with. The story centers on a young man named Cassius Green, a telemarketer who finds immense success in his field and is effectively promoted into an unfamiliar - and nightmarish - underworld where he learns numerous secrets about the way society functions.

The movie is a fantastic takedown of capitalism and the elites who control much of the world's wealth, and is able to comment on real-world issues by presenting a world that's somewhat recognizable, albeit different enough to continually take viewers off-guard. Sorry to Bother You is funny and unsettling all at once, and works exceptionally well as a dystopian movie with plenty of (very) dark comedy.

Rent on Apple TV

NEXT: The Most Chaotic Comedy Movies, Ranked