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By Kim Morgan
Special to MSN Movies
Reality is terrifying enough, so why do we crave disaster movies? Just when we thought we were safely out of the '70s Irwin Allen-drenched disaster era ("The Poseidon Adventure," "The Towering Inferno"), the '90s revived the genre with star-studded, expensive epics of Gotterdammerung. Remember "Deep Impact," "Armageddon" and "Volcano?"
Now, Wolfgang Petersen has decided to take the camp out "The Poseidon Adventure," with his "serious" take on a ship-turned-upside-down, "Poseidon." With that in mind, we've come up with a cursory list of movies that feed our fascination with cataclysmic fear -- in many forms -- and entertain our thirst for watching stuff blow up. It looks like we've been paranoid a lot longer than we thought.
Duck!:
"Armageddon" (1998)
With an asteroid "the size of
Texas" hurtling towards Earth, NASA enlists a few good oil drillers (led by Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck) to crack that damn asteroid in two. This was a
huge hit with a quirky supporting cast (Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare and Owen Wilson cash in) that combines odd patriotism with Aerosmith tunes. For some reason, the film goes out of its
way to destroy Paris. No wonder Cannes audiences laughed at the
screening -- and why did director Michael Bay decide to show it there anyway?
"Deep Impact" (1998)
A comet bigger than Mothra
is fixing to collide with Earth, which could result in the "end of the world as
we know it." NASA gets the thing chopped in half but ... the first chunk causes
a massive tidal wave. The second chunk is dead set on (no, not France -- but, in
the spirit of the "South Park" song) Canada! Guess the filmmakers didn't think
Americans would be as horrified by the Maple Leaf getting the ax.
"End of the World" ("La Fin du Monde")
(1931)
Just to prove the disaster fascination didn't start in
polyester, 1970s America, French film pioneer Abel Gance directed a movie wherein a comet causes
natural disasters aplenty. An unhappy ending? But of course: It's French!
Bugs, Aliens and Bad Monkeys:
"The Swarm" (1978)
The "master of disaster" Irwin
Allen decided to direct a film, this time choosing killer bees as his
doom-bringers. These meanie bees invade the United States, and scientists,
including Michael Caine (in one of his famed must-pay-the-rent roles),
have to intercede -- for 149 minutes! A cheesy classic that's slow moving but
faster paced than say, "Speed 2: Cruise Control" and a lot more charming.
"Independence Day" (1996)
Emmerich's biggest
disaster fetish film finds Earth invaded by aliens, President Bill Pullman giving horrible speeches and Will Smith full of attitude. Here, American cities are
actually wrecked -- New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles -- but we don't
really care. Well, apparently we did actually. The film was a massive hit.
"Outbreak" (1995)
Though pretty inane, this
movie tapped directly into public fear of the Ebola virus, a considerable topic
thanks to Richard Preston's best seller "The Hot Zone." After an infected monkey
is smuggled into the U.S., the horrible disease (which had decimated an African
village decades earlier) is threatening all of humanity. World safety is in the
hands of Dustin "I'm trying to find an antidote here!" Hoffman. God help us all.
Next: Earth, Wind and Fire
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