Disaster Flicks
Ever have one of those days? Well chances are it never got as bad as it did for these people. Dodging meteors, tornados, floods, earthquakes, molten lava, deadly viruses and killer bees. Peaking in the 70s with the Irwin Allen school of filmmaking ("The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", "The Swarm", "When Time Ran Out...", "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"), the disaster movie still rears its head from time to time and made something of a strong comeback in the mid-90s ("Dante's Peak", "Volcano", "Daylight", "Twister", "Armageddon", "Deep Impact" and so on). Head for the hills...
The China Syndrome (1979)
7.4/10
Director: James Bridges
Starring: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas
The title infers a total atomic meltdown that would bore a hole through the Earth all the way to China. Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and Jack Lemmon st... Read more
The Swarm (1978)
4.4/10
Director: Irwin Allen
Starring: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de H...
This cliche-ridden effort is about an unstoppable swarm of killer bees invading the USA from South America and stinging all and sundry. The talented a... Read more
The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
6.4/10
Director: George Pan Cosmatos
Starring: Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, O J Simpson, Lionel Stander, Ann Tur...
An all-star spectacular telling of a terrorist infected with a deadly virus who boards the Stockholm to Geneva Express exposing all aboard to the dise... Read more
The Hindenburg (1975)
6.2/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: George C Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young, Burgess...
The interior of the doomed airship was meticulously recreated by director Robert Wise, unfortunately the same careful attention was not paid to the sc... Read more
Juggernaut (1974)
6.6/10
Director: Richard Lester
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Clifton James, David Hemmings, Ian Holm, Omar Sharif, Richard H...
The high seas have never been more terrifying than in this 'fascinating, hair-raising and nerve-tingling' adventure. Richard Harris and Omar Sharif he... Read more
Earthquake (1974)
5.8/10
Director: Mark Robson
Starring: Ava Gardner, Charlton Heston, Barry Sullivan, Victoria Principal, Genevieve Bujo...
When the most catastrophic earthquake of all time rips through Southern California, it levels Los Angeles and sends shockwaves through the lives of al... Read more
The Towering Inferno (1974)
6.9/10
Director: Irwin Allen, John Guillermin
Starring: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, F...
The Oscar-winning cinematography stands out in this all-star epic about a burning skyscraper. Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden and Faye Duna... Read more
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
7.1/10
Director: Ronald Neame
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Gene Hackman, Roddy McDowall, Shelley Winters, Car...
A massive ocean liner is at sea on New Year's Eve when just after midnight a freak wave smacks into her side, flipping her upside down in the freezing... Read more
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
7.2/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid
A tense science-fiction thriller, this film focuses on a team of scientists attempting to isolate a deadly virus while racing against time and the pos... Read more
Krakatoa - East Of Java (1969)
5.5/10
Director: Bernard L Kowalski
Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle
In the year 1882, a disparate group of treasure seekers races against time to locate a sunken ship loaded with pearls off the Indonesian coast before... Read more