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.
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#22 Deepwater Horizon
2016 | 1h 47m | Directed by Peter Berg | IMDB: 7.1/10 |
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and Douglas M. Griffin
Oil spills are one of the most devastating ecological disasters, and one of the most famous was the Deepwater Horizon accident. A dramatized take on the disaster, the movie focuses on the people who work on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The movie is scary in the way that it portrays the whole disaster and the immediate aftermath of it.
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#23 Greenland
2020 | 1h 59m | Directed by Ric Roman Waugh | IMDB: 6.4/10 |
Starring Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, and Roger Dale Floyd
Who could have known that Greenland, a place full of ice and snow, would become a saving point for the people? When a planet-destroying level comet flies toward Earth, a family must fight for their lives to survive the upcoming disaster. One of the ways they do so is by going to Greenland and reaching the bunkers there.
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#24 The Burning Sea
2021 | 1h 44m | Directed by John Andreas Andersen | IMDB: 6.3/10 |
Starring Kristine Kujath Thorp, Henrik Bjelland, and Rolf Kristian Larsen
Oil spills are one thing, but when it bursts into fire — it is both an economical and a severe ecological disaster. This disaster movie is placed off the coast of Norway, where an oil platform falls and causes a domino effect. As the oil spills onto the water, fires erupt, and researchers look for a way to stop it.
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#25 Meteor
1979 | 1h 48m | Directed by Ronald Neame | IMDB: 5/10 |
Starring Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, and Karl Malden
When a disaster unites the USA and the USSR, two rivals during the Cold War era, you have quite a problem heading your way. When a large meteor approaches Earth, these two superpowers must work together to stop it from hitting the planet. They use world-ending devices to save Earth from a humanity-destroying disaster.
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#26 Earthquake
1974 | 2h 02m | Directed by Mark Robson | IMDB: 5.9/10 |
Starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy
Earthquakes are one of the most devastating disasters, not only for the immediate effect but also for the things that come after it. This movie plot focuses on an earthquake that hits Los Angeles and the struggles that come from surviving the aftereffects. Looting, flooding, and grief— all of these aspects are showcased terrifyingly.
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#27 Into The Storm
2014 | 1h 29m | Directed by Steven Quale | IMDB: 5.8/10
Starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Matt Walsh
Humans are interesting — when we see a disaster happening in front of us, we usually ignore the warning and record it. This was the case with a group of townspeople, storm trackers of this movie. When multiple tornadoes hit Silverton, people try to document it while seeking a way to survive.
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#28 Geostorm
2017 | 1h 49m | Directed by Dean Devlin | IMDB: 5.3/10 |
Starring Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, and Abbie Cornish
Machines have evil intentions too, especially the man-made satellites flying around Earth, pretending to help us. When a series of climate-controlling satellites malfunction, they cause severe storms on Earth. Disasters happen on Earth and in space above, as people rush to end these disasters.
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#30 Airport
1970 | 2h 17m | Directed by George Seaton and Henry Hathaway |
Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, and George Kennedy
Disasters can also happen in airplanes and airlines, especially when you throw a crazy person into a bowl of anxious passengers and a snowstorm. The plot of the movie shifts between an airline that is open during a snowstorm, and a plane with a bomber. The action takes place over one evening and night.
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#31 The 33
2015 | 2h 07m | Directed by Patricia Riggen | IMDB: 6.9/10 |
Starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, and Juliette Binoche
Mining accidents are some of the most horrible ones due to people getting stuck underground with little chance of rescue. This movie portrays the event where 33 miners got trapped in a mine for 69 days. We see the action above and below the ground as people try to survive and rescue the trapped people.
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#32 Moonfall
2022 | 2h 10m | Directed by Roland Emmerich | IMDB: 5.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 35%
Starring Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and John Bradley
The moon was created from the debris of Earth, but now it seems like these pieces are returning to Earth. When a force knocks our natural satellite toward Earth, this fact is discovered by two astronauts and a conspiracy theorist. This phenomenon causes problems even before the collision happens.
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#33 Zero Hour!
1957 | 1h 21m | Directed by Hall Bartlett | IMDB: 6.6/10 |
Starring Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, and Sterling Hayden
This movie is the serious version of the same disaster as Airplane! A remake of a Canadian television play, this movie's story focuses on a WW2 veteran who, after the plane crew gets sick, has to land a plane during a heavy fog. With some passengers on the brink of passing away, the veteran has to make some serious, anxious decisions.
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#34 In Old Chicago
1938 | 1h 35m | Directed by Henry King | IMDB: 6.7/10 |
Starring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, and Don Ameche
After a destructive fire raged through the city of Chicago in 1871, Hollywood decided to base a 1938 movie on it. This movie is a fictionalized recounting of the Great Chicago Fire and how it started, focusing mainly on the O'Leary family. Also, this movie shows how even a cow can practically burn down a whole city.
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#35 Black Sea
2014 | 1h 54m | Directed by Kevin Macdonald | IMDB: 6.4/10 |
Starring Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, and Ben Mendelsohn
Combine the deep sea, a submarine, and a disaster on it, and you will have a claustrophobic person’s nightmare. A submarine crew descends into the deep waters of the black sea to look for sunken gold on the coast of Georgia. The movie portrays how a fire and an explosion can soon become a disaster.
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#36 San Andreas
2015 | 1h 54m | Directed by Brad Peyton | IMDB: 6.1/10 |
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, and Alexandra Daddario
Earthquakes and faults are city and nation-destroying disasters that happen in our world, especially in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Their destructive power was perfectly portrayed in this movie, as it causes a devastating blow to the West Coast of the United States. We look at this event through the eyes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and other characters.
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#37 The High And The Mighty
1954 | 2h 27m | Directed by William A. Wellman | IMDB: 6.7/10 |
Starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and Laraine Day
An airplane malfunctioning over the Pacific Ocean is already scary, but insert a nervous pilot too, and you will get a total flying disaster. Luckily for this movie's characters, there is another veteran pilot, with some PTSD, on board. With anxiety and affairs on board, this plane ride is an exciting watch.
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#38 Pompeii
2014 | 1h 45m | Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson | IMDB: 5.5/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 27%
Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning, and Kiefer Sutherland
Volcanoes — when they erupt, the skies darken, and people who live near them can only hope that they will survive. Pompeii might be the most famous site of a volcano’s victims, and this movie is a dramatized take on how it got destroyed. A gladiator must fight through volcanic destruction to save his love.
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