sci-fi

Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

I just stumbled upon this list of the top ten ghost towns, and all of them would make fascinating settings for post-apocalyptic movies.

I think I'd most like to see a film made in the walled city of Kowloon:

"The Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city."

I've never been to a ghost town myself, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has.

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

That's really freaky. I didn't realize places like that existed. It would definitely be an interesting place for a sequel to Tropic Thunder (lol), but the word lawless should be clue enough to the curious that heading into that place without proper "equipment" could be hazardous to one's health.

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

SkyPilot:

I just stumbled upon this list of the top ten ghost towns, and all of them would make fascinating settings for post-apocalyptic movies.

I think I'd most like to see a film made in the walled city of Kowloon:

"The Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city."

I've never been to a ghost town myself, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has.

 

That's a really fascinating article Adam.  Thanks so much for posting it.  Although The Kowloon Walled City seems to actually be the only entry in that list that didn't seem like an actual ghost town since it said squatters had been living there.  I don't think it's a ghost town if there is still people living there, even if they aren't really keeping the place up.  That's probably what makes that one the most interesting of all of them though.

Here's some stuff about The Walled city being featured in films from the Wikipedia article:

In film, the martial arts tournament in the 1988 film Bloodsport, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, takes place inside the Walled City. The Hong Kong horror film Re-cycle features a decrepit, nightmarish version of the Walled City complete with tortured souls from which the protagonist must flee. The finale of the unfilmed American remake of John Woo's The Killer was scripted to occur in the Walled city which was described within as a den of criminals outside the reach of the Hong Kong Police Force. ^[6]

Some of the scenes in the Batman films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (particularly a walled neighborhood known as the Narrows) were shot on a set inspired by Kowloon Walled City.^[7]

The Walled city has also been seen in (or inspired) a number of television programs including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Our Man Bashir" which is set partially in Kowloon and episodes 3 and 4 of Street Fighter II V take place near the Walled City. In the music video of Britney Spears's "Slave 4 U," the setting resembles the Walled City.

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

Risselada:

SkyPilot:

I just stumbled upon this list of the top ten ghost towns, and all of them would make fascinating settings for post-apocalyptic movies.

I think I'd most like to see a film made in the walled city of Kowloon:

"The Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city."

I've never been to a ghost town myself, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has.

 

That's a really fascinating article Adam.  Thanks so much for posting it.  Although The Kowloon Walled City seems to actually be the only entry in that list that didn't seem like an actual ghost town since it said squatters had been living there.  I don't think it's a ghost town if there is still people living there, even if they aren't really keeping the place up.  That's probably what makes that one the most interesting of all of them though.

Here's some stuff about The Walled city being featured in films from the Wikipedia article:

In film, the martial arts tournament in the 1988 film Bloodsport, featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, takes place inside the Walled City. The Hong Kong horror film Re-cycle features a decrepit, nightmarish version of the Walled City complete with tortured souls from which the protagonist must flee. The finale of the unfilmed American remake of John Woo's The Killer was scripted to occur in the Walled city which was described within as a den of criminals outside the reach of the Hong Kong Police Force. ^[6]

Some of the scenes in the Batman films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (particularly a walled neighborhood known as the Narrows) were shot on a set inspired by Kowloon Walled City.^[7]

The Walled city has also been seen in (or inspired) a number of television programs including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Our Man Bashir" which is set partially in Kowloon and episodes 3 and 4 of Street Fighter II V take place near the Walled City. In the music video of Britney Spears's "Slave 4 U," the setting resembles the Walled City.

I saw The World of Suzie Wong ages ago and it probably hasn't aged well. But I think it was about an American businessman who travels to Hong Kong to become a painter and falls in love with Suzie, who lives in Kowloon. As it happens in real life, in the movie a disaster strikes Hong Kong and Kowloon is the hardest hit.

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

unclefestering:

I saw The World of Suzie Wong ages ago and it probably hasn't aged well. But I think it was about an American businessman who travels to Hong Kong to become a painter and falls in love with Suzie, who lives in Kowloon. As it happens in real life, in the movie a disaster strikes Hong Kong and Kowloon is the hardest hit.

Huh, interesting!  Thanks for that.

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

The more I look at the picture, the more I think of the documentary Atomic Cafe. I'm not really sure why. It is an interesting look at the Cold War through old testing ground footage mixed in with propoganda films and everybody's favorite lesson on surviving a nuclear attack, "Duck and Cover."

Re:Ghost Towns and Post-Apocalyptic Movies

Wow, Kowloon's influence has touched a lot of movies. The most pleasant surprise for me was learning that parts of Bloodsport were filmed there.