World-ending scenarios have always been a popular idea to explore in the medium of film. Disasters—natural or caused by humanity—can make for great spectacle and excitement, especially when seen on the big screen. Naturally, dealing with large-scale disasters in real life is anything but fun, though seeing it in a work of fiction is another matter altogether and lets viewers live vicariously through a dangerous situation without actually being in danger.
Even if the golden age of disaster movies may have come and gone in the 1970s/1980s, the sub-genre still lives on in interesting, less formulaic ways. This is demonstrated by the new Noah Baumbach movie White Noise, which sees a family dealing with the aftermath of an "Airborne Toxic Event." It's an offbeat, unexpected, and weird take on the disaster movie genre, as are the other nine movies listed below.
'White Noise' (2022)
To call White Noise simply a disaster movie is a little misleading. The film is constructed around a toxic chemical spill that impacts the main characters and the town they live in, but structurally, it's only the middle act that feels like a disaster movie. The story is just as interested in exploring people's lives before and after things are thrown into chaos.
White Noise is also a social satire, featuring a good deal of surreal, dark humor throughout its more tense sequences. It is a very odd and uneven film, but it's easy to admire its ambition and the strong lead performance given by the always-compelling Adam Driver.
'In Night and Ice' (1912)
At first glance, In Night and Ice might not seem particularly strange by silent film standards. After all, it runs for about half an hour and tells a straightforward, no-nonsense story about the sinking of the Titanic, with most of its runtime focusing on the disaster itself.
Its strangeness sinks in when you realize they wasted no time making the movie, as it was filmed and released the same year of the incident. Apparently, filmmakers weren't concerned about the idea of something being "too soon" way back in 1912.
'Shin Godzilla' (2016)
Shin Godzilla may be the most recent Japanese live-action Godzilla movie, but it's already earned the right to be counted as one of the best in the long-running series. It looks at what might realistically happen should the titular monster surface and wreak havoc in Japan during the 21st century, making for a surprisingly tense and down-to-earth monster movie.
By veering away from monster fight scenes, Shin Godzilla embraces the disaster movie genre, much like the original movie did in 1954. Making it a disaster movie also allows the filmmakers to satirize the procrastination of modern bureaucracy and politicians and how systems of power get in the way of helping people during disasters.
'Don't Look Up' (2021)
A dark comedy aiming at American politics and culture at large, Don't Look Up is an intentionally divisive and in-your-face movie about a comet fast approaching Earth. Scientists insist that humanity has to act quickly if a disaster is to be avoided, while those in power—namely, the President and her staff—don't feel that the comet represents a real threat.
It's the comedic tone beneath the anxious, rapidly fast-paced that makes Don't Look Up stand out within the disaster movie genre. It's certainly not just a comedy, and it can get fairly heavy at points, but it does show another way to tackle a story that involves an impending world-ending disaster.
'Left Behind' (2014)
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Left Behind is a disaster movie about the world spiraling out of control after what seems to be a Rapture on a global scale. Millions of people disappear suddenly one day, with the survivors on Earth left to fend for themselves, with no indication (at least early on) of what caused the mass disappearance.
At the risk of being blunt, Left Behind is simply not a good disaster movie. Nicolas Cage stars and does his best with the outlandish premise and iffy dialogue, but it's a disaster movie that's more likely to be enjoyed ironically—as a "so-bad-it's-good" film—rather than a genuinely riveting piece of post-apocalyptic science-fiction.
'Sharknado' (2013)
You don't really have to know the premise of Sharknado to work out immediately that it will be a ridiculous disaster movie. The title says it all, in all honesty, as clearly someone thought, "It would be cool to combine a shark movie with a movie about a tornado," then came up with the title and likely went from there.
Perhaps on the strength (or ridiculousness) of the title alone, the original Sharknado spawned a low-budget franchise, as there are now six Sharknado movies. There's apparently an eager audience out there for movies about tornados filled with sharks who want to kill people...do with that information what you will.
'The Legend of the Titanic' (1999)
A surprising number of movies exist that take place on the Titanic, though few are as surprising or flat-out weird as the animated family film, The Legend of the Titanic. It combines the well-known story of the legendary ship's sinking with kid's movie tropes made popular by classic Disney films, including featuring musical numbers and talking animal characters.
It's also strange because of how it depicts the disaster itself. There are no casualties in The Legend of the Titanic's version of the ship's sinking, with the day being saved by a shape-shifting octopus who holds the broken Titanic together long enough for all its passengers to disembark safely. That only scratches the surface when it comes to detailing how wild this movie is; it needs to be seen to be believed.
'Virus' (1980)
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One of many disaster movies that are now harder to watch in a post-2020 world, Virus is a disaster movie on an epic scale. It runs for over 2.5 hours, features a cast with both Japanese and American actors, and centers on a group of survivors forced to live in Antarctica to escape a deadly airborne virus that decimated much of the world's population.
Virus is a strange movie, with parts of it feeling like a traditional disaster movie but other parts feeling significantly darker, scarier, and eerier than what you'd usually get out of the genre. It doesn't necessarily achieve this by being realistic, seeming torn between being grim and gritty while also providing spectacle and morbid entertainment. It might not come together cohesively, but the end result sure is interesting to watch.
'Knowing' (2009)
One of many underrated Nicolas Cage movies, Knowing is about a series of escalating disasters that rock the world. Cage plays a teacher who opens a time capsule shortly before these disasters happen and realizes there might be information that predicts the tragedies befalling the world, even though the time capsule was buried decades ago.
It's a movie that doesn't quite stick its landing, as after two strong initial acts, the third and final act gets a little odd. Even if the ending harms the movie overall for some viewers, the first two-thirds of Knowing makes for a surprisingly good disaster movie, with the big setpiece moments—including a terrifying plane crash—still packing a punch over 13 years from Knowing's release.
'The Happening' (2008)
The Happening is notorious (or legendary, depending on your point of view) for being a ridiculous and offbeat disaster movie. Its plot involves a strange type of natural disaster, where the plants of the world seem to be driving huge portions of the population to take their own lives. The main characters, therefore, need to fight for their safety, albeit against an enemy they don't quite understand or know how to combat.
Beyond the strange premise, The Happening is also an odd disaster movie because of how it's executed. It may be an intentional throwback to sci-fi movies of old, or it might be clumsy writing, but either way, the characters in The Happening talk and act very strangely, which can make the movie quite funny. It's the kind of movie where if the humor is intentional, it's a very clever comedy, yet if it's unintentional...well, then it might not be a "good" movie. However, it's still an entertaining and unpredictable one.