120 Disaster Movies To Enjoy While Isolating

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I’m not going to lie, I’m watching way too much tv since isolating. By far, my biggest picks have been the disaster movies. Now, I’m not trying to make light of the current situation because I believe that it’s very serious.

I just get anxious just thinking about the fact that the world has basically been a string of science fiction scenarios come to life lately. Clearly, I prefer to deal exposure therapy style.

If disaster movies aren’t your jam, that’s fine! However, if, like me, you feel a little bit better watching chaos on the big screen, then this list is for you.

Organized into categories, here are 120 survival and disaster movies for you to enjoy while we’re living through a real life pandemic. As an added bonus, scroll to the end to see 12 disaster tv shows you can binge watch.

I’ve also linked a bunch of these movies through Prime Video to make them easier to find. Just click on the movie title to be taken there directly.

FIY – I’m not claiming that all of these movies are good! In fact, many of them are hokey, scientifically unsound, or just plain bad movies. However, that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying them.

Disclaimer

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Localized Disaster Movies

In this section, I’ll cover small scale and natural disasters that effect a specific area or population.

Airport – 1970. Tame by today’s standards, but earns a spot for basically creating the gritty disaster survival genre.
The Poseidon Adventure – 1972. A group of people attempt to escape a sinking ship, but things don’t go as planned. Now, they must fight to survive.
Earthquake – 1974. Another Charlton Heston movie featuring arthquakes, obviously.
Towering Inferno – 1974. Shoddy workmanship and poor emergency management lead to an epic building fire.
Avalanche 1978. An avalanche suddenly traps vacationers in the mountains. In this movie, expect lots of bad acting and people randomly flinging themselves about.
Airplane! – 1980. In this disaster spoof, a man must safely land an airplane after the pilots get sick.
Twister – 1996. Storm chasers attempt to create an advanced weather system to predict tornadoes earlier. They also chase lots of tornadoes.
Daylight – 1996. An explosion in the Lincoln tunnel traps a group of survivors. Consequently, they must try to escape before time runs out.
Dante’s Peak – 1997. A vulcanologist is called in to investigate concerning activity in a small town at the base of a volcano. However, nobody listens, and everyone is consequently volcanoed.
Volcano – 1997. Volcanic eruptions devastate downtown LA, and experts scramble to save the city.
Poseidon – 2006. A modern remake of the original Poseidon Adventure.
Tidal Wave – 2009. A couple in Busan realize that a tsunami is coming but only have 10 minutes to escape.
The Impossible – 2012. A family vacationing in Thailand become separated other during a tsunami.
Into the Storm – 2014. A found-footage story about tornadoes tearing up a small town.
San Andreas – 2015. Earthquakes on steroids cause major destruction.

Global Threat Disaster Movies

Here, we’ll look at world ending disaster movies.

Red Dawn original -1984 and Red Dawn remake – 2012. The enemy changes, but in both movies, WWIII begins, and a group of teens organize guerrilla forces to save their hometowns.
Maximum Overdrive – 1986. All the machines take over.
Miracle Mile – 1988. A man accidentally discovers nuclear war is imminent and tries to escape LA.
Deep Impact – 1998. Asteroids threaten to end life on Earth.
Armageddon – 1998. More humans vs. asteroids.
The Core – 2003. The Earth’s core has stopped rotating, so scientists try to explode it into motion. Super hokey!
The Day After Tomorrow – 2004. Global climate change ushers in a new ice age.
Children of Men – 2006. Everyone’s sterile. Consequently, humanity is slowly aging into extinction.
Geostorm – 2007. The Earth is ravaged by climate change induced disasters. Now, a satellite program protects the planet. Until it doesn’t.
Sunshine – 2007. Astronauts attempt to reignite the dying sun.
Knowing – 2009. A man learns about impending disasters. Then, he tries to save his son.
2012 – 2009. Natural disasters quickly overtake the planet, so an author tries to get his family to safety.
Take Shelter – 2011. A man has visions of an apocalyptic future but can’t decide if he’s a prophet or a nut job.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – 2012. An asteroid is about to end life on Earth. Along the way, two people end up on a heartwarming (heartbreaking?) adventure.
100 Degrees Below Zero – 2013. A series of volcanic eruptions cover Europe in a dust cloud that causes a new ice age. It’s unquestionably bad.

Looking for information about preparing for real life disasters? Check out these posts!

Infectious Diseases

In this section, watch infectious diseases that spread rapidly. I’ve excluded, however, zombie style infections as well as viruses that come from space.

The Omega Man – 1971. I honestly wasn’t sure where to put this one! It’s a little bit local disaster, a little bit pandemic, and a little bit monster movie.
12 Monkeys – 1995. A global pandemic with a sci-fi twist.
Outbreak – 1995. A deadly virus sweeps through a small California town due to an infected monkey being released. Then, scientists fight to save everyone.
I Am Legend – 2007. A modern take on The Omega Man.
Pontypool – 2008. Not a zombie movie, but a virus with decidedly zombie like qualities ravages a small Ontario town. Now, I won’t give too much away, but you contract this virus in a very unique manner! Very creepy.
Blindness – 2008. Pandemic disease that renders its victims, you guessed it, blind.
Contagion – 2011. A deadly virus spreads globally and mismanagement makes things worse… a little too real…
It Follows – 2014. In this gritty horror film, a harmless sexual encounter becomes the world’s worst STD, monster/horror movie style.
Bird Box – 2018. (Netflix Original) A deadly, but unknown threat ravages the world and if you see it, then you die. Now, a woman and two children must try to navigate to safety without using their sight.

Extra Terrestrial Threat Disasters

In this section, you’ll find alien invasions and extra terrestrial threats. If it comes from space, then it goes here.

The Andromeda Strain – 1971. Both a pandemic movie and an extra terrestrial threat.
Night of the Comet – 1984. A comet wipes out most of life on Earth ,and a handful of survivors fight off the zombie/cannibal style threat that remains.
Independence Day – 1996. Aliens attempt to destroy the planet, and humans fight back.
Independence Day: Resurgence – 2006. Two decades later, the aliens are back with a vengeance. Thus, humans fight back even harder.
Evolution – 2001. A comedic look at a quickly evolving alien visitor and the destruction it leaves in its wake.
War of the Worlds – 2005. First, alien forces violently take over. Then, they are subdued by an unexpected threat.
A Quiet Place – 2018. The world has been conquered by a blind but deadly invader. A family subsequently struggles to survive in total silence. This one’s not only really good. It’s also little bit heartbreaking.

Rampaging Monster Movies

Since we’re looking specifically at disaster movies, in this category, I’ve included monster movies with a destructive rampage element. Therefore, if it doesn’t put a lot of people in harm’s way and tear up a city scape, then it’s not going here! (Sorry, The Host!)

Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies – 1993 – 2018. Scientists bring dinosaurs back to life and create a zoo-like theme park. As a result, it goes about as well as expected, and life finds a way.
Cloverfield – 2008. A found footage style movie that’s a little bit pandemic, a little bit extraterrestrial, and a whole lot giant, rampaging, destructive monster.
The Thing – 2011. A little bit extra terrestrial, a little bit pandemic, and a little bit monster movie all in one. In this movie, paleontologists dig up an ancient alien spacecraft with a terrifying threat frozen in the ice of the Antarctic.
Pacific Rim – 2013. Giant, destructive creatures attack from inner space, so people build giant robot suits to protect themselves and fight them off.
Big Ass Spider! – 2013. This one’s hilarious! A giant alien spider escapes a military lab. As it evolves, it rampages through LA. Eventually, a local exterminator and a goofy sidekick try to save the city.
Godzilla – 2014. A pretty traditional monster attacks the city type film. It’s not good, but it’s traditional.
Pacific Rim Uprising – 2016. The sequel to Pacific Rim. Bigger, badder monsters return to try and finish the job.

Post-Apocalyptic Disaster Movies

In this section, movies take place in the dystopian aftermath of world altering disasters.

The Planet of the Apes series – 1968-1972. Astronauts crash land on a planet populated by intelligent primates where humans are treated like animals.
Mad Max movies – 1979-2015. Police officer Max fights for survival and revenge in post-nuclear Australia.
The Day After – 1983. (Available on Youtube) The story of a small Kansas town in the weeks leading up to, and just after, nuclear holocaust.
Waterworld – 1995. The polar ice caps have melted, leaving the planet covered with water. Now, humans struggle to survive and seek a place with dry land.
The Post Man – 1997. A lone wanderer in a post-apocalyptic landscape finds a long dead mailman and his mailbag. He then pretends to be a postman representing a reinstated government so a town will give him food and shelter. Eventually, he becomes a symbol of hope and revolution.
The Road – 2009. A dying man and his son travel across a similarly dying planet in search of a more hospitable environment amid the dangers of the planet and its survivors.
The Planet of the Apes series – 2011-2017. A rebranding of the original movies. An Alzheimer’s drug creates super advanced primates who then stage an uprising against humans.
Snowpiercer – 2013. In the future, a failed climate change experiment has killed all life, except for a handful of people on a train. Of course, caste systems and revolutions are afoot.
Turbo Kid – 2015. In 1997, the Earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. A kid obsessed with comics takes on his favorite superhero’s persona in an attempt to save his quirky friend/love interest.

Zombie Apocalypse Movies

This is undeniably my personal favorite, zombie movies.

However, they don’t have to be called zombies. As a rule, it just has to spread as a result of a bite or fluid transfer and drastically, fatally alter its host. It must also have a survival element.

Additionally, I’m scaling down to some of my personal favorites since it’s a huge category.

Scary Zombie Disaster Movies

Night of the Living Dead – 1968. This movie arguably revolutionized the zombie genre, so it could become the gruesome, fast-paced terror-ride we all know and love today. So, it’s worth a watch if you haven’t seen it yet!
Dawn of the Dead – 1978 and 2004. Watch the former for an old school zombie experience, and the latter for an action packed thrill ride.
The Resident Evil series – 2002-2016. More pandemic/global threat/monster movie than zombie, but a virus that turns people into flesh hungry monsters, so…
28 Days Later – 2003. Non-traditional since the infection is a rage virus, but transmission occurs through bodily fluids and the “tear a man limb from limb” element exists. Therefore, zombies!
REC – 2007. A Spanish found footage film. It follows a reporter and her crew as they attempt to survive a strange and violent outbreak in a quarantined Barcelona apartment building.
28 Weeks Later – 2007. The sequel to 28 Days Later.
World War Z – 2013. This one gets a lot of flack, but I love it. A family tries to find safety as the world ends around them. The father must then travel the globe searching for a cure in order to keep his family safe. Salvation is finally discovered in an unexpected place.
The Girl With All the Gifts – 2016. A fungal disease turns people into mindless, flesh eating monsters. However, a small group infected children maintain their humanity.
Train to Busan – 2016. After a zombie outbreak occurs on their train, a detached father must protect his young daughter. This one will get you in the feels.
Cargo – 2017. (Neflix Original) A man and his baby navigate a zombie-filled Australian outback. Be warned, this one’s heartbreaking. Tread carefully if you just had a baby! I made the mistake of watching this one with an infant and lingering PPD. I fell apart altogether!

Funny Zombie Disaster Movies

Night of the Creeps – 1986. A very hokey B-movie, but fun. Some teenagers thaw out a zombie virus while pledging for a fraternity. Consequently, they must try to save the world.
Shaun of the Dead – 2004. A rare gem that perfectly blends horror and comedy. Sean, a lovable loser, attempts to regain the affection of his old flame in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. His methods are arguably unconventional.
Zombieland – 2009. A rag-tag group of unlikely friends try to survive the zombie apocalypse comedy style.
Cockneys vs. Zombies – 2012. First, a gang of incompetent criminals rob a bank to save their grandparent’s retirement home. In the process, the zombie apocalypse begins. Afterward, gory hilarity ensues as the inept robbers and their grandparents attempt to survive.
KL Zombi – 2013. Make no mistake, this Malaysian zombie movie is bad! It’s also goofy and hilarious. Another lovable loser anti-hero in the midst of the zombie apocalypse ambles about trying to save the day.
Cooties – 2014. When a zombie virus starts spreading through an isolated elementary school, the staff must fight the pre-pubescent hoards to survive. As a teacher, I like to watch this one at the end of very long, hard weeks!
Anna and the Apocalypse – 2016. A musical about a group of high schoolers struggling to survive during the start of the zombie apocalypse during Christmastime.

Survival Situation Disaster Movies

Finally, I decided to also add this section for movies that don’t fit in to other categories. They’re not necessarily disaster movies. They do, however, contain a survival element.

Westworld – 1973. A full-immersion vacation goes wrong when robots malfunction.
Tremors series – 1990-2018. Underground worm-like monsters (which evolve through each movie) hunt by sound waves traveling through the ground as they wreak havoc on a small town.
Apollo 13 – 1995. Three astronauts are stranded in space when the shuttle malfunctions. Now, NASA must try to find a way to bring them home safely.
Descent – 2005. Especially visceral and creepy. A group of friends get lost during a cave exploration. They must nevertheless survive with dwindling supplies and a deadly predator prowling.
127 Hours – 2010. A man gets trapped during a climbing expedition and quite gruesomely fights to get free.
The Grey – 2011. A downed plane leaves a group of Alaskan oil-men stranded as they fight off the elements and predators.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil – 2011. Hilarious and gory. A couple of mountain hillbillies on vacation are mistaken for murderers by college kids.
Life of Pi – 2012. An Indian boy, his family, and their zoo animals are traveling to Canada when a storm sinks their ship. The boy then tells his story of survival in a lifeboat with a hyena and a Bengal tiger.
The Hunger Games – 2012-2015. In a dystopian world, districts are punished for an attempted revolution through participation in The Hunger Games, where they ruthlessly slaughter each other until a victor is named.
The Martian – 2015. An abandoned astronaut must try to survive and let people know he is still alive.
Gravity – 2015. A routine space walk goes wrong. As a result, two astronauts end up stranded, floating through the void of space.

Bonus: Disaster TV Shows

While these aren’t disaster movies, they are some of my favorite disaster style tv shows also that deserve mention. Therefore, I decided to add a category for them, as well.

Infectious Disease

All the infection movies are Netflix Originals, and can only be viewed on Netflix.

Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak – 2000. A short docu-series that follows real life pandemic fighters in their efforts to prevent the spread of disease.
Containment – 2016. A deadly epidemic breaks out in Atlanta. Later, the city is quarantined, and the people inside the cordon fight to survive.
The Rain – 2018-present. A Danish series that follows siblings trying to survive after a killer virus spreads through the rain.

Zombie Outbreak

The Walking Dead – 2010-present. Probably the most popular series on this list. It follows a group of survivors after the zombie apocalypse trying to find safety from the dead and the living.
In the Flesh – 2013-2014. Four years after the zombie apocalypse, a cure has been found. Now, the living dead are being reintegrated.
Z Nation – 2014-2018. Another zombie show, lower quality than the infamous Walking Dead, but still watchable. A prison inmate receives a zombie virus vaccine which gives him the ability to control the zombie hoards.
Fear the Walking Dead – 2015-present. A prequel to the ubiquitous Walking Dead series.
Black Summer – 2019-present. (Netflix Original) This story follows the early days of a zombie outbreak as strangers come together to survive.

TEOTWAWKI

Jericho – 2006-2008. Members of a small town fight to survive in the aftermath of nuclear attacks from an unknown enemy. I still can’t believe this one got cancelled so early!
Revolution – 2012-2014. Fifteen years after all technology dies, people fight the dangerous forces trying to to take over the world.
The 100 – 2014-present. Nuclear war has destroyed the Earth, and the remaining humans live in a space station. A group of 100 adolescent prisoners is sent to the surface, and it turns out they aren’t the only survivors.
The Last Man on Earth – 2015-2018. A more lighthearted take on disaster shows. A virus has wiped out humanity, except for one man who thinks he is the last man on Earth.

My Takeaway From This List

Guys, I watch way too much tv… While making this list, a fun little break transformed into a massive project. Even more than that, I’ve actually watched almost all of these disaster movies. (A handful are queued up, waiting to be watched!) That’s a lot of hours!

Lucky for you, my vice means that you have an enormous list of disaster and survivor entertainment to get you through the next year or so of pandemic life.

Many of these survival and disaster movies can be streamed through services such as Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, and SlingTV. However, we’ve had to purchase a handful in order to watch them.

So, did I miss any of your personal favorites? Let me know. I’ve got some time, and I’d love to add some more great survival and disaster movies to my list!

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