Disaster films have a deep attraction for most people. What happens if a zombie apocalypse were to strike? How are we prepared for an alien invasion? Large scale destruction, space catastrophes, or man-made disasters that jeopardise the human species are subjects that have revealed themselves very compelling.
However, some people just want to watch a science fiction film because it is thrilling, action-packed and extremely entertaining.
We have made a list of the 7 best disaster movies to watch on Netflix.
Pandora is a South Korean made and produced disaster film about a village of people trying to survive in the dangerous aftermath of a powerful earthquake & nuclear disaster.
Directed by Jong Woo Park, it tells the story of Jae-hyeok, who works in a nuclear energy plant. Disaster strikes when an earthquake destroys the plant’s reactor cooling system, leaking radioactive particles into the atmosphere and contaminating the inhabitants of the surrounding area.
After being contaminated very badly, Jae-hyeok volunteers to go back into the disaster area on a suicide mission to blow up the plant as it is the only means to save the whole population.
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, Emotional.
Run time: 2h 16min.
When tests on a new earthquake prediction system at the Hoover Damn cause it to break, disaster strikes and the San Andreas Fault gives out, triggering an earthquake of magnitude 9.
A Search and Rescue copter pilot, played by Dwayne Johnson, and his ex-wife make their way from LA to San Francisco, to rescue their only daughter.
San Andreas is a good disaster movie full of natural disasters, such as powerful earthquake strikes, tsunamis and typhoons.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller.
Run time: 1h 54min.
This is a sci-fi horror film about a possible solution to the global energy crisis. The story takes place in 2028, where a multi-national group of astronauts is working to solve Earth’s energy crisis from an international space station.
However, they soon find themselves trapped on the Cloverfield space station that has opened the ‘Cloverfield paradox’, leading to a parallel universe. The astronaut/scientists must try to survive the unleashing of various horrors from the parallel universe while onboard the space station and hopefully manage to return back home again.
This Netflix original film directed by Julius Onah, stars Daniel Brühl and Elizabeth Debicki, among others.
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Horror.
Run time: 1h 44min.
The film’s plot is about an Air Force Special Operations Command operative who travels worldwide to find a cure after the zombie apocalypse wreaks havoc everywhere on the planet, and risks destroying the human race.
The movie features Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, who is stuck in a traffic jam in Philadelphia, with his two daughters and his wife, when all hell breaks loose in the form of an invasion of zombies. The family manage to find their way out and reach New Jersey, where Gerry calls his former chief, the Deputy Secretary of the UN, who sends a helicopter to extract the family to a US navy ship.
On board, scientists and the military are working to find a solution to the outbreak. They think the zombies may have been infected by a virus. Gerry is tasked to lead an expedition to find patient zero that will provide the scientists to develop a vaccine.
This film is an action-packed apocalypse movie, available to stream on Netflix with great visual effects. One of the best sci-fi war movies.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller.
Run time: 1h 57min.
Everest is a 2015 natural disaster film based on the true story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster.
The film begins on the morning of the 10th May 1996, a group of mountain climbers from two different expeditions begin their final ascent to the highest peak of Everest, the highest point on Earth. With hardly any warning, a violent storm hits the mountain, engulfing the climbers in one of the most ferocious storms ever known to man.
The film also stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clark, Keira Knightley, and Robin Wright and is one of the most thrilling disaster movies on Netflix.
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama.
Run time: 2h 8min.
Bird Box is a Netflix original film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in the near future. This surreal thriller is about the constant looming danger caused by extremely dangerous entities that kill you if you look at them.
Following the movie’s compelling story, Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) tries to get her children to safety and to a new life during this crisis.
Her journey is filled with many dangerous moments as she tries to survive this seemingly unknown disaster.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller.
Run time: 2h 4min.
2012 is a sci-fi disaster film about Dr Adrian Helmsley, a scientist in a worldwide geophysical team that is investigating the effects of radiation from exceptional solar storms. The team learns that the core of the planet is heating up. Helmsley warns the US President that the earth’s crust is becoming unstable and that they must prepare to save a fraction of the world’s population or the entire race is doomed.
Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) arrives at the same conclusion. The world’s leaders hurry to build “arks” to escape the cataclysm, while Curtis tries to find a way to save his family. In the meantime, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.
Roland Emmerich directed this disaster movie which you can watch on Netflix, and also stars Woody Harrelson and Danny Glover.
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Thriller. Run time: 2h 38min.
Among the zombie apocalypse, mother nature rebelling, the global energy crisis, nuclear bomb threats, climate change, massive earthquake scares, the alien invasion, destructive hurricane havoc and looming danger in general, anything could go horribly wrong in the world.
So if you like watching ordinary people survive amid all this, then have a watch at our top picks for natural disaster movies on Netflix.