For the next few weeks, survival is going to have to be on an individual basis.
By far, the most serious-minded film AIP ever put out has to be 1962's Panic in Year Zero!, in which Ray Milland (who also directed) and his family (wife Jean Hagen, kids Frankie Avalon and Mary Mitchel) just miss being obliterated when Los Angeles gets nuked one fine morning. The foursome is on their way up into the mountains, having gotten on the road at an obscenely early hour, when they see bright flashes of light behind them and an ominous mushroom cloud hanging over the city. Their first instinct is to turn around and head home (for one thing, Hagen is worried about her mother), but when the radio reports that there has been an unconfirmed nuclear attack Milland decides the thing to do is to get far away from other people for a while.
For her part, Hagen isn't quite ready to give up on civilization, and she doesn't like the change that comes over Milland when he goes into survival mode. He may seem cool, calm and rational, but just because he isn't acting out of blind terror that doesn't make him any better than the people who are. As for their children, Avalon is happy to play protector -- and is super eager to do so once he gets a gun -- but Mitchel calls the whole thing a "drag" and doesn't take it seriously until she wanders off and has an encounter with some unsavory types. (Milland and screenwriters Jay Simms and John Morton can't come right out and say what they do to her, but it's clear enough.) If there's such a thing as honor after the collapse of civilization, that's precisely what Milland and Avalon set out to avenge, getting a second crack at the trio of toughs who tried to shake them down earlier. When order is restored, they're just the sort of punks who won't be missed.