Last Updated on August 5, 2021
#1 – OUTBREAK
In recent years, the good old medical thriller has been replaced by zombie movies. Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller is the ultimate “what if” movie that made millions of people paranoid about not only touching monkeys but about the potential spread of a deadly disease. Anchored by a great cast including Kevin Spacey, Rene Russo, Donald Sutherland, Morgan Freeman, and Dustin Hoffman, OUTBREAK remains to this day one of the most frightening movies about disease ever made. What makes it so scary is that it feels as if it could really happen. That is scarier than any zombie.
#2 – DEEP IMPACT
While ARMAGEDDON may have delivered the action, DEEP IMPACT delivers the realism. There aren’t many happy things to take away from this movie as it ventures to show you what the build-up to a comet impact could do to the citizens of our planet. While the team is able to stop the bigger danger, DEEP IMPACT shocked audiences by actually showing a good portion of the world get obliterated by a megatsunami. In the end, DEEP IMPACT is one of the better disaster films ever made, boosted by Morgan Freeman’s performance as the President.
#3 – THE IMPOSSIBLE
The terrible events of the 2004 tsunami were dramatized in this heartbreaking film starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The sheer power of the horrible storm is brought to stark life in J.A. Bayona’s film while also showing the struggle for the survivors to reunite and mourn those who were not so lucky. Watts received an Oscar nomination for this movie, but McGregor’s performance is equally stunning. Sometimes it is easier to watch a movie about a fictional disaster rather than a true account, but even revisiting events from eight years prior to the film’s release, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a testament to an awful event from recent history.
#4 – TWISTER
Jan De Bont, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Crichton all had a hand in TWISTER and it shows. The second highest grossing film of 1996 is a thrill-ride of a movie and one based in science fact. I think I learned everything I knew about tornadoes from TWISTER rather than any science classes I have taken. Bill Paxton is great in the lead (give this guy more leads!) and Helen Hunt actually looked kind of hot in that dirty white tank top. Also, yet another reminder of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s greatness, even in small supporting roles.
#5 – THE PERFECT STORM
Now, here we have a film that combines quality performances with incredible visual effects. Wolfgang Petersen’s movie combines the thrills of a big budget disaster film with an incredible true story. Hard to watch, THE PERFECT STORM is a movie that everyone should experience at least once. Like last year’s GRAVITY, the feeling of being in the middle of the crushing waves is hard to shake. But, the story will stick with you long after you finish watching it.
#6 – EARTHQUAKE
The grandaddy of disaster flicks, EARTHQUAKE features an all-star cast led by Charlton Heston and was originally shown in sensurround, which gave the feeling that you were in the earthquake yourself. While those gimmicks don’t translate to the home viewing experience, the special effects from the movie still hold up pretty well today. Like the other movies on this list, EARTHQUAKE is not known for award-winning acting, but when buildings are falling down and shit is blowing up, who cares if they deliver the lines with conviction?
#7 – ARMAGEDDON
ARMAGEDDON doesn’t quite live up to it’s epic title, but Michael Bay certainly comes close. It may be hard to call the events of the film “natural” since they defy logic and any scientific proof, but seeing Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and a band of rig workers go to outer space is the very definition of popcorn flick. This is Bay before he got in his own way: huge scale, explosions galore, and cheesy dialogue.
#8 – DANTE’S PEAK
DANTE’S PEAK and VOLCANO came out pretty close to each other, and while VOLCANO showing California get destroyed by lava is definitely cool to see, DANTE’S PEAK just feels a little more credible. Both films have their problems plot-wise, but I will take Pierce Brosnan over Tommy Lee Jones any day. Plus, Linda Hamilton.
#9 – THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
So THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW is not the best movie out there. Heck, it isn’t even the best movie director Roland Emmerich has made, but the sheer insanity of the weather in the movie is enough to recommend seeing it. Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal cannot save this screenplay from itself, but they play along with everything from wind to rain to snow and floods. The power of the special effects in the movie are hard to match, so maybe you should check this one out with the mute button on.
#10 – BLINDNESS
One of my favorite novels of all time was also a criminally underseen movie back in 2008. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, amongst many others in an international cast, director Fernando Meirelles gives us a world when the population suddenly goes blind and the political and social repercussions of it. Moore plays the lone person with sight as society crumbles around her. It is a chilling and disturbing film and a well-made example of plague films that don’t need to rely on blood and gore.
HONORABLE MENTION – SHARKNADO
For a movie that could have been a disaster itself, SHARKNADO became something more when it premiered on SyFy last year. The cheese-fest stars Ian Ziering and Tara Reid as a couple of people stuck in the middle of a tornado that picks up sharks. Don’t get bogged down in the science of the storm but instead enjoy the batshit craziness of it all.
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