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Disaster Films: Introduction
See also this site's Greatest Disaster Film Scenes, illustrated.
Disasters have been the subject of film-goers' fascination since the time of silent film epics, and this interest continues to exist up to the present time. Catastrophes can take so many different forms - but they are mostly man-made or natural. They can be either impending or ongoing, or they can exist locally or globally.
The most commonly portrayed disasters in films are:
- natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tropical storms, etc.)
- accidents (skyscraper fires, plane crashes, ocean liners capsized or struck by icebergs, viruses unleashed)
- planetary-related (asteroids or meteors off-course)
- criminally-instigated (bombs planted in planes, terrorist conspiracies)
- alien invasions and rampaging creatures (often mutant)
- nuclear-related crises
- millennial-related (the end of the world, or end of the century tales)
- about failed technology or technology-gone awry (computers running amok)
Along with showing the spectacular disaster, these films concentrate on the chaotic events surrounding the disaster, including efforts for survival, the effects upon individuals and families, and 'what-if' scenarios. The best disaster films comment upon the negative effects of advancing technology, demonstrate the 'hubris' of scientists and other individuals, deliver uplifting moral lessons of sacrifice, and provide a 'how-to' in terms of survival skills.
Most disaster films have large-scale special effects (especially in the recent past's mega-budget spectaculars), huge casts of stars faced with the crisis, a persevering hero or heroine (i.e., Charlton Heston, Steve McQueen, etc.) called upon to lead the struggle against the threat, and many plot-lines affecting multiple characters. In many cases, the 'evil' or 'selfish' individuals are the first to succumb to the conflagration. As in any sub-genre, the move to capitalize on the 'disaster film' trend has led to many sub-par disaster films, with weak and unsubtle, formulaic plots, improbable circumstances and bad science, poor character development, and laughable acting from third-rate stars portraying cliched characters.
The Greatest Disaster and End of the World Films: Pre-1970s
Before the 1970s when disaster films underwent a strong revival, there were many earlier action/adventure disaster films, such as The Hurricane (1937) - including one of the most spectacular tropical storm scenes ever shot in film history. And two 50s films, The High and the Mighty (1954) and Zero Hour (1957) - were the inspiration for all the airplane disaster films of the 70s. [Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940) also contained a harrowing airplane crash sequence.] The real horrors of World War II, and the perceived threat of nuclear annihilation and radioactive mutancy during the resultant Cold War led to a further onslaught of disaster-related films in the 50s.
Pre-1970s disaster films included:
- Pompeii's Volcano Eruption: The Last Days of Pompeii (1913), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)
- Flood Disaster in a CityScape: Metropolis (1927)
- War Film with Deluge: Noah's Ark (1928)
Arid Winds, Drought: The Wind (1928)
- Comet on Collision Course with Earth: La Fin Du Monde (1931, Fr.) (aka End of the World)
- Giant Ape Rampaging in New York City: King Kong (1933)
- Volcano: The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)
- Gigantic Insects (in Dream Sequence): cartoon Mickey's Garden (1935)
- San Francisco 1906 Earthquake: San Francisco (1936)
- South Seas Tropical Storm: The Hurricane (1937), remade as Hurricane (1979) (aka Forbidden Paradise) with Mia Farrow
- Locust Attack: The Good Earth (1937)
- Massive Urban Fire: In Old Chicago (1938)
- Earthquake and Horrific Flood: The Rains Came (1939)
- Luxury Liner Disaster at Sea: Titanic (1943, Ger.), Titanic (1953), A Night to Remember (1958), The Last Voyage (1960)
- New Zealand Earthquake: Green Dolphin Street (1947)
- Nuclear Holocaust Disaster Survival: Five (1951)
- Threat of Plane Crash: No Highway in the Sky (1951, UK)
- Planetary Impact: When Worlds Collide (1951)
- Martian Invaders: The War of the Worlds (1953), remade as War of the Worlds (2005)
- Amphibious, Fire-breathing Monster Brought to Life by Nuclear Testing: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1954), and Gojira (1954, Jp.)
Loss of Airplane Engine During Trans-Pacific Flight: The High and the Mighty (1954), a precursor to later airplane disaster films
- Radioactive Giant Ants: Them! (1954)
- Extra-terrestrials Kidnap American Scientists: This Island Earth (1955)
- Survival After a Nuclear Attack: The Day the World Ended (1956), remade as In the Year 2889 (1966)
- Giant Pterodactyl On the Loose: Rodan (1956, Jp.)
- Alien Invasion and Attack by Spacecraft: Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
- Giant Carnivorous Praying Mantis: The Deadly Mantis (1957)
- Imperiled Ocean Liner: A Night to Remember (1958), a documentary-like chronicling of the Titanic disaster when the ocean vessel hit an iceberg
- Survivors of Nuclear Devastation Awaiting End in Australia: On the Beach (1959)
- Sole Survivors in a World Decimated by Radioactive Cloud: The World, The Flesh, and the Devil (1959)
- Shipwreck: Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
- Nuclear Explosions Causing Planetary Imbalance, Floods, Fires: The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
- Nuclear Submarine Mission to Save the Earth: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
- Monster Super-Fest: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964, Jp.)
- Threat of Cold War Nuclear War: Fail-Safe (1964), and spoofed in Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb (1964)
- Planetary Split: Crack in the World (1965)
- Volcano: Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
The Major Era of Disaster Films: The 1970s
In the 1970s, actual disasters, such as the Watergate crisis (from 1972 to 1974), the collision of two 747s in the Canary Islands (in late March, 1977), and the Three Mile Island incident (in late March, 1979) made the time ripe for Hollywood to contribute. Big-budget disaster films provided all-star casts and interlocking, Grand Hotel- or "Ship of Fools" type stories, with suspenseful action, races against time, and impending crises in locales such as aboard imperiled airliners, trains, dirigibles, crowded stadiums, sinking or wrecked ocean-liners, or in towering burning skyscrapers or earthquake zones.
Producer and director Irwin Allen was nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" in the 1970s due to the tremendous success of his films. The three films most responsible for jump-starting the renaissance of spectacular disaster films were Airport (1970), and Allen's two special effects-laden epics The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). These kinds of films would often receive numerous special/visual effects Oscar nominations, but were often neglected for their acting performances:
Airliners Imperiled:
- Airport (1970), a devastating blizzard, and a man with bomb in briefcase threatening to detonate it; with an Oscar-winning role for Helen Hayes!
- Airport 1975 (1974), cockpit of 747 airliner hit by small plane
- Airport '77 (1977), passengers trapped in a jet 50 feet underwater in the Bermuda Triangle
- Airport '79: Concorde (1979), bomb on-board plane bound for Moscow Olympics, which must fly upside down to avoid missiles
- Spoofs: Airplane! (1980); also Skyjacked (1972)
- Computers Running Amok and Threatening Global Destruction: Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
- Virus Epidemic: The Andromeda Strain (1971)
- Luxury Liners:
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972), New Years Eve tidal wave flips passenger ship upside down
- Juggernaut (1974, UK), bombs planted inside steel drums on ocean liner
- Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), Poseidon salvage crew trapped again
- Poseidon (2006), another rogue wave capsizes the ocean liner
- Biochemical Killer Virus: The Crazies (1973) (aka Code Name Trixie)
- Endangered Underwater Research Station: The Neptune Factor (1973)
- Burning-Blazing in 138-story Skyscraper in San Francisco: The Towering Inferno (1974)
- Los Angeles Earthquake: Earthquake (1974) presented in Sensurround
- Dirigible or Zeppelin: The Hindenburg (1975), the Hollywood version of events leading to the 1937 disaster
- Great White Killer Shark: Jaws (1975) and its sequels in 1978 and 1983
- Vicious African Killer Bees in New Orleans during Mardi Gras: The Savage Bees (1976, TV)
- Animals Running Amok - Bloodthirsty Worms: Squirm (1976); Menacing Swampland Creatures: Frogs (1972); Mutant Flesh-eating Rabbits: Night of the Lepus (1972)
- Giant Mutant Creatures on a Remote Island (rats, chickens, wasps, and worms): The Food of the Gods (1976)
- Sniper in Football Stadium: Two-Minute Warning (1976)
- Trains: The Cassandra Crossing (1977)
- Super Bowl Stadium and Goodyear blimp: Black Sunday (1977)
- Giant Mutant Attacking Ants: Empire of the Ants (1977)
- Zombie Vampires: Rabid (1977)
Amusement Park Terror: Rollercoaster (1977)
- Ski Resort Avalanche: Avalanche (1978)
- Oil Refinery Explosion: City on Fire (1978)
- Nuclear Submarine Wreck: Gray Lady Down (1978)
- Deadly Psychokinetic Powers to Induce Disasters: The Medusa Touch (1978)
- Deadly Gemini Strain (M3) Virus: The Plague (1978)
- Killer Bees from S. America Invading Houston: The Swarm (1978)
- Nuclear Plant Meltdown: The China Syndrome (1979)
- Wayward Meteors: Meteor (1979)
- Nuclear Accident: Chain Reaction (1980)
- Volcano: When Time Ran Out... (1980)
- Deadly Virus and Threat of Nuclear Holocaust: Virus (1982, US/Jp.)
- Nuclear Explosion: The Quiet Earth (1985)
- Collision-Course Runaway Trains: Runaway Train (1985)
- Mysterious Military Nuclear Submarine Crash, and Aquatic Aliens: The Abyss (1989)
- Underground Worm-like Creatures: Tremors (1990)
- Deadly Spiders: Arachnophobia (1990)
- Terrorists, Assassination Plot: Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), The Jackal (1997)
- Out of Control Fire: Backdraft (1991)
More Recent Resurgence of Disaster Films:
There was a modern-day resurgence of disaster films, beginning in the mid-1990s. The sub-genre was really revived at this time with the emergence of advanced special effects techniques. Other disaster films (from the past and recent present) have included similar and more imaginative kinds of catastrophies (or threats of disaster), such as killer viruses, deadly terrorists, tornadoes, asteroid impacts, among others:
- Prehistoric Dinosaurs: Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001)
- Giant Mutant Ticks: Ticks (1994) (aka Infested)
- Nuclear Weapons: Testament (1983), True Lies (1994)
Giant Mosquitos: Mosquito (1995)
- Space Capsule: Apollo 13 (1995)
- Virus Epidemic: Outbreak (1995), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Virus (1999), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
- Attacking Alien Invaders: Independence Day (1996), spoofed in Mars Attacks! (1996)
- Chemical Truck Explosion in New York's Holland Tunnel: Daylight (1996)
- Stormchasers Following Dangerous Tornadoes: Twister (1996)
- Hijacked Cruise Liner: Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
- Giant Carnivorous Anaconda: Anaconda (1997)
- Iceberg in North Atlantic and Luxury Liner: Titanic (1997)
- Erupting Volcanoes: Dante's Peak (1997), Volcano (1997)
- Asteroid/Comet Impact: Deep Impact (1998), Armageddon (1998)
- Fire-breathing 'Nuclear' Monster in NY: Godzilla (1998)
- Severe Flooding in Indiana Town: Hard Rain (1998)
- The Last Six Hours at the End of World - Drama: Last Night (1998)
The Devil Looking to Plant His Evil Seed: End of Days (1999)
- Plane Crashes or Crises: Alive (1993), Fearless (1993), Air Force One (1997), Con Air (1997), Cast Away (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001)
- Monstrous Crocodile: Lake Placid (1999)
- Nuclear Annihilation: Deterrence (2000)
- Tropical Hurricane Sea Storm: The Perfect Storm (2000)
- Deadly Apocalyptic Plague Unleashed by Virus-Infected Monkeys in London: 28 Days Later (2002)
- Giant Spiders: Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
- Nuclear Submarine Reactor Failure: K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
- Nuclear Weapon at Super Bowl: The Sum of All Fears (2002)
- Inexplicable Worldwide Phenomena Caused by Collapsing Electromagnetic Forces in Earth's Core: The Core (2003)
- Divers Accidentally Left in Shark-Infested Waters: Open Water (2003)
- The End of the World due to Global Warming: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
- Rogue Wave Capsizes Luxury Cruise Ship in North Atlantic: Poseidon (2006)