Earthquakes, viruses, and human errors — they were captured in the best disaster movies. Some of them did so well that they have joined the ranks of the greatest movies (looking at you, Titanic). These movies keep us on the edge of our seats. Even when they portray real events, we wait for those final minutes when the built-up stress is gone and a new, real-life-related one sets in. When it comes to the best disaster movie label, two elements are always found — their reality and the story involved with them.
Unlike personal disasters, real-life disasters are devastating and society-ruining. For this reason, the best natural disaster movies can always invoke that dread inside us all. Movies about pandemics are the perfect example of it, especially in the past few years. They can instill a certain feeling of dread because viruses and germs are easily transferred. They can go from one person to another and impact us. However, plenty of brilliant disaster movies should also have a story. When there isn’t a story and characters at stake, the audience will forget it. Titanic (1997) has a romantic story that is just too good to look away from. Even on Valentine's Day, this disaster movie can capture the hearts of millions of watchers.
From hurricanes to crashing into icebergs, the best disaster movies of all time vary in the events they portray and how they do that. To help you prepare for some of them, we have compiled a list of human and natural disaster movies that are terrifying. Want to make your friends a little bit scared? Share this list with them. Found the movie that caught your attention? Upvote it. If you have something to share about the movies, do so in the comments below.
#1 Contagion
2011 | 1h 46m | Directed by Steven Soderbergh | IMDB: 6.8/10 |
Starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law
When the Covid pandemic hit the world, the people who watched this movie were already prepared morally. A highly contagious virus, spread from a bat to a pig and then a human, cripples the world, as CDC rushes to find a vaccine. This movie hits too close to reality since it is heavily scientifically based.
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26points
#2 Don't Look Up
2021 | 2h 18m | Directed by Adam McKay | IMDB: 7.2/10 |
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep
As the pandemic proved, some people, when faced with a disaster, instead decide to hide and ignore the issue. As the researchers try to warn humankind about the upcoming doom of civilization, not everyone is eager to look up at the comet above. This movie is an allegory to the global warming crisis that doesn’t really get the needed media coverage.
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26points
#3 Airplane!
1980 | 1h 28m | Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker | IMDB: 7.7/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, and Leslie Nielsen
This movie did the impossible — it made a scary disaster in the air into a comedy that is just full of jokes. When the crew of a flying airplane gets sick, a PTSD-suffering war veteran, a flight attendant, a doctor, and some balloon autopilots have to land it safely. Starring Leslie Nielsen himself, this disaster movie is nothing more than legendary.
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19points
#4 The Day After Tomorrow
2004 | 2h 04m | Directed by Roland Emmerich | IMDB: 6.5/10 |
Starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emmy Rossum
The ice ages did happen in the past, and if they were to happen today, well, it would be like in this movie — destructive. When the North Atlantic Ocean circulation system gets disturbed, a father, a paleoclimatologist, treks to New York through the icy East Coast of the United States. He does so to protect his son.
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18points
#5 Deep Impact
1998 | 2h 00m | Directed by Mimi Leder | IMDB: 6.2/10 |
Starring Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, and Elijah Wood
Comets have stricken Earth before, so they make the perfect topic for a disaster movie. Trying to destroy the 7-mile (11 km) large comet before it strikes Earth, we see how governments prepare and try to destroy it. This movie shows Russia and the United States working on the Messiah, a solution to the problem.
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15points
#6 Armageddon
1998 | 2h 31m | Directed by Michael Bay | IMDB: 6.7/10 |
Starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Ben Affleck
Where Deep Impact focuses more on the anxiety that the comet brings to the people living on Earth, this one goes all out on the action. After all, when you have Bruce Willis and Michael Bay in the cast, action scenes are guaranteed. The plot focuses on a group of miners that are launched into space to stop a comet from hitting Earth.
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15points
#7 2012
2009 | 2h 38m | Directed by Roland Emmerich | IMDB: 5.8/10 |
Starring John Cusack, Thandiwe Newton, and Chiwetel Ejiofor
People believed that the Mayans predicted the end of the world, so it was natural for Hollywood to capitalize on this prophecy. This disaster movie focuses on this idea and portrays multiple natural disasters hitting Earth. One of the people engulfed in this mess is the main character of the story — a father of two children.
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15points
#8 Twister
1996 | 1h 53m | Directed by Jan de Bont | IMDB: 6.5/10 |
Starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes
Even a tornado, which can lift houses into the air, will not stop some people from discussing divorce papers. Bill and Jo Harding, two professional tornado chasers, try to deploy a research divide when a severe outbreak occurs. However, the movie also has other plot points, some of which are more twisted than the usual game of Twister.
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13points
#9 Volcano
1997 | 1h 44m | Directed by Mick Jackson | IMDB: 5.5/10 |
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and Gaby Hoffmann
When you have the name of the disaster in your title, you give away the main story. As a volcano erupts in the busy downtown of Los Angeles, a seismologist and a city politician try their best to save the people and the town. Sacrifices and plans are made so that Earth can be saved.
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13points
#10 Gravity
2013 | 1h 31m | Directed by Alfonso Cuarón | IMDB: 7.7/10 |
Starring Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris
Space — it’s not as empty as it seems. The crew of the Explorer and their spacecraft get hit by several space debris (likely old destroyed satellites), and only two members survive. As a last-ditch effort of hope, the two members fly through space to reach the ISS and Tiangong.
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13points
#12 The Poseidon Adventure
1972 | 1h 57m | Directed by Ronald Neame | IMDB: 7.1/10 |
Starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, and Shelley Winters
Even the largest of cruise ships can’t rival the destructive power of mother nature in the form of a seaquake and a tsunami that follows it. Taking place in the fictional SS Poseidon, a group of travelers get their lives turned upside down (literally) when the ship gets flipped. With an A-list cast, the movie is full of twists and struggles.
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12points
#13 Dante’s Peak
1997 | 1h 48m | Directed by Roger Donaldson | IMDB: 6/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 28%
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Jamie Renée Smith
When you name a dormant volcano Dante’s Peak, it’s only a question of time when it will erupt again. When a volcanologist discovers that Dante’s Peak will soon erupt again, he has to do his best to prepare the small town nestled near the volcano for the inevitable. As the movie progresses, we get to see how one volcano can cause a lot of bad things.
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11points
#14 The Perfect Storm
2000 | 2h 10m | Directed by Wolfgang Petersen | IMDB: 6.5/10 |
Starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and John C. Reilly
Tropical storms are not as nice as the first part of the name implies, and they can sometimes change directions. This was the case for the swordfish fishers, as their boat got engulfed by the winds and waves of the 1991 No-Name Storm. Captained by George Clooney’s character, the ship takes a stormy journey.
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11points
#15 The Core
2003 | 2h 15m | Directed by Jon Amiel | IMDB: 5.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 39%
Starring Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, and Delroy Lindo
The Earth spins, and if it were to stop, we would have a world-ending disaster on our hands. Luckily, a group of scientists in this movie have a brilliant idea of how to restart this spin — detonate a nuclear device at the very center of Earth. Throughout the story, we find out how hard it is to reach the core of Earth.
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11points
#16 The Wave
2015 | 1h 45m | Directed by Roar Uthaug | IMDB: 6.6/10 |
Starring Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, and Jonas Hoff Oftebro
The perfect example of a butterfly effect — as a scenic route collapses and causes a rockslide, an 85-meter tsunami hits a town, putting a family at risk. The family in question is a Swedish one living in Geiranger. The most shocking moment of the movie might be the ending, which predicts that this event might happen in the future.
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10points
#17 Titanic
1997 | 3h 14m | Directed by James Cameron | IMDB: 7.9/10 |
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane
Only James Cameron, the mind behind Avatar, could make a tragic ship disaster movie into a wonderfully romantic one. This movie focuses on the real-life disaster of the Titanic, a British passenger liner. The movie portrays the crash and sinking of the ship while mixing in some romantic elements.
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9points
#18 The Towering Inferno
1974 | 2h 45m | Directed by John Guillermin | IMDB: 7/10 |
Starring Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and William Holden
Fire and high buildings — when you mix these two elements, you get quite a horrible disaster. With Newman, McQueen, and Holden taking the lead, this movie focuses on the fire that blazes through the Glass Tower. Released in 1974, this movie got eight Oscar nominations and was universally liked.
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9points
#19 The Impossible
2012 | 1h 54m | Directed by J.A. Bayona | IMDB: 7.5/10 |
Starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland
This film is based on Mara Belón and her family's experiences during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The Bennet family is on their Christmas vacation in Thailand when all hell breaks loose as a tsunami devastates the area. Throughout the movie, we see the struggle the family encounters as they try to find some form of safety.
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9points
#20 A Night To Remember
1958 | 2h 03m | Directed by Roy Ward Baker | IMDB: 7.9/10 |
Starring Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, and Robert Ayres
While James Cameron’s take on the Titanic is the most popular, this movie is one of the most correct versions of the disaster. Throughout the movie, we see how the relaxed life on the Titanic soon turned into a messy disaster. This dramatized take on the sinking is seen as one of the most factually correct by survivors and historians.
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9points