Acid (2023)
Deadly Acid Rain
A harsh and urgent French-made catastrophe film about a family trying to survive and get to safety with the appearance of a sudden cloud of deadly acid rain
Catastrophe
A catastrophe refers to a vast and cataclysmic event that disrupts society. This can be everything from Nuclear War to Alien Invasion, from Plague and Pandemic to Monster Movies and the zombie apocalypse to list some of the most common examples.
A catastrophe is anything that wrenches life out of the everyday and affects society on a wide scale. Society can refer to everything from the entire world, a whole country to a city or a small town. Catastrophes can range from widespread mass destruction to environmental ones to those on a small scale where people unexpectedly lose their senses or memory.
The Catastrophe film is often related to the Disaster Movie, which is a more melodramatic form featuring clearcut characters and their dramas as they are caught in the midst of a catastrophic event, although it should be made clear that not all catastrophe films are disaster movies.
A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
Survivors Unable to Make a Sound in the Midst of an Invasion
The third in the trilogy of A Quiet Place films, this is a prequel that takes us back to the start of the invasion
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
End of the World Prophecy
An M. Night Shayamalan film concerning strangers who conduct a home invasion to force Dave Bautista and family to make a horrible choice to prevent their vision of the end of the world
The End We Start From (2023)
England Devastated by Catastrophic Flooding
Jodie Comer is a new mother who travels through an England that has been devastated by catastrophic flooding. Not dissimilar to The Road but less bleak
Bird Box: Barcelona (2023)
Mysterious Catastrophe After Which People Are Forced to Not Look Outside
Bird Box was a hit on Netflix and this is a sequel. The talented Pastor Brothers take the basics of the original and actually make a much better film out of them filled with fine tension
Apocalypse Clown (2023)
Clowns in the Aftermath of Social Collapse
Not another killer clown film as you might initially assume, but a really funny Irish comedy about a group of dysfunctional clowns in the aftermath of the collapse of civilisation
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Catastrophe and Social Collapse
A strong and dramatic work about a sudden catastrophe that occurs when the world’s internet and cellular system are shut off. Produced by no less than former US President Barack Obama
Survive (2024)
Catastrophic Reversal of the Earth’s Poles
A French catastrophe film where the Earth’s poles abruptly reverse, transforming what was ocean into a desert. A survival film that is based on a premise that is fundamentally scientifically absurd
Flow (2024)
Animation/Animals on a Journey
A delightful animated film from Latvia made entirely without dialogue, following a group of animals fleeing as their territory is flooded. The winner for my top film of 2024.
War of the Worlds (2025)
Alien Invasion/Modernised H.G. Wells Adaptation
An adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic alien invasion novel modernised into the era of mass data surveillance, social media and Amazon delivery drivers. Shot in the Screenlife process where the film screen becomes a computer screen