Movies to set the Mood in Rifts

[dragonfett]

What movies would you guys tell people to watch to get a good feel for the flavor, if you will, of rifts. Here's my movies.

Terminator 4: Salvation (overall, the plot was meh, the the setting was fantastic for a post-apocalyptic)
The Book of Eli

[glitterboy2098]

Terminator 1 and 2 "Future war" scenes (the T3 scenes sucked, despite their special effects improvements)
The Postman (sort of the penultimate post-apoc setting, even if the story hit an anti-climax)
Mad Max
Mad Max: The Road Warrior
Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome
Babylon A.D. (especially the parts set in russia)
Blade Runner
Reign of Fire
Akira
Silent Mobius (TV)

[Jorel]

Bubblegum Crisis/Crash.
Avatar.
Aliens.
Star Wars.
Robotech.

[Mercdog]

District 9 (D-Bee slums and oppression by human government.)
The Fifth Element (Actually more of a Phase World vibe, but may be useful for elements of the major tech societies on Rifts Earth.)
Doomsday (Just think of it as a CS patrol gone south in hostile territory.)
Cast a Deadly Spell (good example for a magic rich society, though set in the 40s)
Oblivion (a cheap B-movie set on an alien world that has a great vibe for the New West.)

[Kalidor]

Kind of a subpar show, but Earth 2 was a pretty good "Tech vs Nature" show, shortlived as it was.

A Boy and his Dog -- old movie but you should check it out if you haven't seen it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_and_His_Dog

Equilibrium might give you a good Coalition States vibe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_(film)

[Kalidor]

Also Ultraviolet for some of the more high tech areas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_%28film%29

Don't forget, Rifts is a post-post apocalypse so there are quite a few high tech places and cities for stories to take place, even if 90% of the planet is untamed.

[TechnoGothic]

Terminator 1,2,3,4
The Postman
Mad Max
Mad Max: The Road Warrior
Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome
Babylon A.D. (especially the parts set in russia)
Blade Runner
Reign of Fire
Dog Soldiers
Stargate the Movie
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Universe
Ghost in the Shell the Movie
Appleseed the Movie
Appleseed : Duex Machina
Vexel (anime movie)
Strait Jacket anime
AVATAR
The LAST AIRBENDER (movie)
Dark Angel the series
Dollhouse
DOOM the Movie
The ONE
The Forbibben Kingdom
Predator 1, 2, & Predators
ALIEN, 1-4.
AvP 1,2.
Kick Ass(themovie)
Postman
Waterworld
Book of Eli
Split Second (Rutger Huer) Big F***** Guns...
Starship Trooper (a Must)
STAR WARS (orginals)
STAR WARS (Prequals)
BUCK ROGERS in the 25th CENTURY TV series Seasons 1-2.
WANTED
V for Ventetta
ULTRAVIOLET (blood phage)
Resient Evil : 1, 2, 3, 4
BEOWULF (2008) CGI Movie. I AM BEOWULF !!
Beowulf (1999) Christpher Lambert movie.
300 (need i say more)
Troy (2004)
Gladiator (2000)
Hancock
GUYVER (1988/91) OVA
GUYVER (2005) Anime series
GUYVER (1991) Live Action Movie
GUYVER 2 : Dark Hero (1994) Live Action Movie
Underworld (2003)
Underworld 2 (2006)
Underworld 3 : Rise of the Lycans (2009)
Project Metalbeast

[Jorel]

great list.

[Sabre 1]

All the movies listed so far are really good.

I'll just add one: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

[Johnathan]

What about Serenity? Awesome example really in my opinion. Even ignoring the space aspect of it.

[Jorel]

Matrix Trilogy

[Sabre 1]

What about Serenity? Awesome example really in my opinion. Even ignoring the space aspect of it.

Good movie! But i would have used it as an a mood setter for a Phaseworld campaign.

[dragonfett]

Just thought of some more:

Pitch Black
Good Morning, Vietnam
Full Metal Jacket
The Dark Crystal
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Scorpion King
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Last Crusade, and Crystal Skull (I know the plot for Crystal Skull doesn't work as an Indy movie, but it does for a Rifts game)
Lord of the Rings
Robocop
Back to the Future
The Gamers
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Donnie Darko
The 13th Warrior
Jurassic Park
The Lost World
Jurassic Park III
Merlin
Resident Evil (all of them)
Hackers
Frequency
Congo
The Rock
The Abyss

And for Phase World/Outer Space Campaigns:
The Chronicles of Riddick
Star Trek (any of them)

[Kalidor]

Are we still talking about Rifts inspirational movies or are we just reading Netflix's recommendations page?

[Killer Cyborg]

viewtopic.php?p=2094200#p2094200

The Tripods was a BBC release based on the books by John Christopher. It's a post-apocalypse setting where alien tripods have taken over the Earth generations ago, and a group of children decide that maybe the giant tripods that want to mind-control them aren't their friends after all, and try to escape to the mountains.
The books are better, of course.

Circuitry Man
In a world where the atmosphere has been destroyed, oxygen is money and people live underground. A Romeo-Bot and a female bodyguard try to smuggle a case of stolen microchips from LA to New York, pursued by the evil cyborg Plughead.

Cyborg II
The first film to feature Angelina Jolie, this quasi-sequel to Van Damme's Cyborg also has Jack Palance and Billy Drago.
If that doesn't draw you in, here's a plot summary via Wikipedia:

In the year 2074, the cybernetics market is dominated by the USA's Pinwheel Electronics and Japan's Kobayashi Robotics. Cyborgs are commonplace, used for anything from soldiers to prostitutes. Casella Reese is a top-of-the-line cyborg developed for corporate espionage and is programmed with the "Glass Shadow" program, meant to mimic human senses and emotions such as fear, love, pain and hatred. However, Glass Shadow is also an explosive that runs through her entire circuitry. Guided by the renegade prototype cyborg Mercy, who can communicate through any television screen, she and combat trainer Colton Ricks escape the Pinwheel facility so she can avoid her fate of self-destruction, one that faces most corporate espionage cyborgs.

12 Monkeys
Bruce Willis travels back and forth between a future where humans have been mostly wiped-out by a terrorist created plague and a time right before the plague was released where he might be able to stop it from being unleashed.

The Blood of Heroes
Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen.
If that doesn't get you to see it, I don't know what will, but this is also perhaps the greatest sports movie of all time.
A ragged team of Juggers try to win enough dog skulls in The Game to get the attention of The League, and win a place inside the Nine Cities instead of having to live out in the wastelands.

Def-Con 4
The crew of a nuclear missile satellite refuse to fire their missiles during a nuclear war, only to have their satellite crash-land on a post-apocalypse Earth ruled by savages and mutants.

Hell Comes To Frogtown
Roddy Piper stars as Sam Hell, the last fertile man in the world who is recruited by a female government to infiltrate Frogtown and rescue a group of human women who have been kept as sex slaves by the mutant frogs- then to help start repopulating the world with humans.

The Mad Max Series
If you need a description, you don't deserve to have it.

Six-String Samurai
In 1957, the US went to war with the Soviets and a nuclear war ensued.
After the apocalypse, the last bastion of freedom was a city called "Lost Vegas," where Elvis ruled as king for 50 rockin' years before eventually dying.
After the King's death, every rocker with a sword and a guitar (including Death himself), starts making their way across the wastelands to get to vegas for the contest to crown the new king.
The soundtrack is provided by The Red Elvises- if you don't know who they are, you need to find out.

viewtopic.php?p=1933220#p1933220

The problem is that Rifts has so many different aspects and angles, a single movie can only probably cover one or two of them.

But here are some I'd use:
Crash & Burn
Star Wars (original Trilogy)
Krull
Robocop
Heavy Metal
Phantasm (1-4)
Robot Carnival
Akira
Dog Soldiers
Starship Troopers
Vampire Hunter D
Nemesis 1 & 2
Hellboy
Serenity
Screamers
Iron Man
Ninja Scroll
Big Trouble in Little China
Waterworld
Excalibur
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Lair of the White Worm
Resident Evil
The Mummy

[dragonfett]

Are we still talking about Rifts inspirational movies or are we just reading Netflix's recommendations page?

Yes, at least I am. I was thinking the Jurassic Park movies for the Dinosaur Swamp setting, T4: Salvation for an overall fell of what a post-apocalyptic world with MD weapons would look like, Pitch Black for a horror survival themed game (hell, could easily translate to Rifts), Good Morning, Vietnam and Full Metal Jacket both as a good war story game, Robocop for the cyborgs, stuff like that.

[Prince Artemis]

Adventures of Pluto-nash for a new town burbs vibe

[Jorel]

Leonard Part 6

[TechnoGothic]

Adventures of Pluto-nash for a new town burbs vibe

Love that movie...

[Kalidor]

Okay.. I think I just found the Holy Grail of "Rifts Mood Setting Movies"

It's called "She" (1982) and it's the craziest post apocalyptic movie you'll ever see. I'll let this guy's review from Netflix sum it up better than I could:

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/She/7014 ... id=1211018

Wow... That one word pretty much sums up this movie. Its rare I find a movie on here that doesnt have a single review, so I was intrigued. I figured Id watch a minute or two and see how bad it was. An hour and 45 mins later I finished it. This movie had it all. I though after watching Yor, The Hunter From The Future, Id never find a movie with so much going on. But this one took the cake. Metro-sexual werewolves, hairy men in tootoos, mummy mutants, soldiers in football gear and tuxs, psychic powers, robot frankenstein, lipstick wearing mad scientists, and Motorhead on the soundtrack just to round it out. I honestly could have gone on forever. Sandahl Bergman is her usual beautiful self as the sword wielding She. Camp is all over this one so just know that going into it. Silly acting and very 80s effects abound. With that said, this movie should be experienced. Give it a chance, you just might find yourself with that deer in the headlights feeling that I succumbed to!

It's like the craziest RPG adventure you can imagine, especially if you picture the two lead males as player characters.

It's so bad, it's good -- and if you have Netflix it is a streaming movie and I implore you to check it out.

[Grafsburg]

Though the movie doesn't feel too much like Rifts to me, I like "A Boy and His Dog". It's fun to watch before a game, especially because the campaign I'm currently in can be summed up as "A Boy and His Dog-Boy" .