Disaster Films

These are an unusual genre that I'd class as a form of horror. They're very depressing by nature as they consist of a group of vulnerable people who die one by one, and force the audience to guess 'who will die next?' This is after an initial disaster in which tens or hundreds of innocent people are quickly slaughtered.

For such a gut wrenching and miserable experience, they tend to be surprisingly high budget affairs with impressive Hollywood casts (no more so than the diamond studded ensemble of The Towering Inferno).

They fit the early 70's because back then American filmmaking seemed to revel in tragedy (and many of the greatest ever films were produced) but I'm surprised they had a resurgence in the 90's, when sugary escapism had long defined Hollywood output. The likes of Independence Day seemed to have rebooted the genre, though I wouldn't strictly class that as a disaster film since it's full of jingoistic battles and most of the cast survive, and one of the main deaths is a sacrifice that essentially wins the war.

Compare that to Daylight - a ticker-tape of pointless tragedy, death and loss, Stallone has enough star wattage to bring in audiences, but I can't imagine many left buzzing on a Saturday night. There's no joy to be had, only tension and suffering. Stallone seems to be at home in a cruel world that beats him down and kills off those who can't make it (the Rocky films have this, and even the action classic Cliffhanger leaves little to celebrate by the end). I think Daylight took the punishment too far, and effectively ended the 90's Stallone revival.

It popped up again in the mid 2000's with Spielberg's War Of The Worlds (an underrated epic horror, but which tactfully avoids killing major characters) and the ill-fated Poseidon remake which tanked, snuffed the genre out for good, and ended director Wolfgang Petersen's illustrious career. It comes as no surprise to me that disaster movies can't survive outside the moody 70's zeitgeist, but I admire their doomed efforts to make movie thrills out of the sinking sensation one gets from reading a tragic newspaper headline.

I think I'm going to buy Daylight, it's a noble effort and, if one can ignore the cardboard characterisation of the survivors and their irritating and unnecessary bickering, does celebrate the most basic human impulse of all - survival. Also, only a 90's disaster flick could produce such a great opening explosion scene, with real sets and pyrotechnics, instead of phoney CGI.