Diksha Sundriyal
With the way things are in today’s world, there are a number of ways in which it could all turn into a disaster. Humans don’t even need an alien force to invade the Earth and turn it into a hell-hole, we are perfectly capable of doing that ourselves (as dictated by our actions). It is inevitable that there will come a day when Mother Nature would have had enough and will strike back in one way or another. And while we might not have succeeded in taking any steps to stop or evade this, we certainly have wondered about the ways in which humanity could meet its Judgement Day. Will it be a microscopic virus to turn us into cannibals, or will it be a giant tsunami that will sweep everything away?
Storytellers have creatively concocted stories in which humanity meets its end. But these stories are not just about disasters. They are about perseverance, survival, courage and, in the end, hope. Following is the list of the top disaster movies of 2018. The list also includes best post apocalypse movies of 2018.
16. Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018)
Zoe was a medical student and was attending just another party when she encountered a sick person who started tearing everyone’s flesh off. She managed to escape as the whole place became chaotic and everyone became the victim of whatever was going on there. Watching the whole world collapse around her, Zoe didn’t know what to do. That’s when she found the refugee camp. Five years later, the disease had killed off most of the human population and she was still at the camp working as a doctor, trying to find a cure. It is while running away from the infected that she realises that the key to the cure is within one of them.
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15. Wastelander (2018)
Set in a world that has been fallen prey to the greed of humans, this film tells the story of a man in search of his family. If you liked ‘Mad Max’, then perhaps, you should watch this film as well. The movie’s setting in a sandy, wasted terrain and people wearing masks reminds one of a number of films that found a context for their stories in a similar dystopia. An ex-soldier teams up with a group of unlikely survivors to travel across a piece of land that has turned into a vast wasteland. But the difficult environment is not their only trouble.
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14. Eruption LA (2018)
Josh Kendricks had been struggling with his career as a screenwriter. He wanted to write a script that would blow everyone away, but the idea just didn’t click. Now, he finally tried to write a blockbuster hit in the form of a disaster film. But, never in his wildest dreams did he realise that he would have to face the situation similar to his script in real life. Supervolcanoes near LA had been dormant for a very long time. But, now, time’s up and they start erupting all over. Kendricks has to win the race against time, with the help of a peculiar scientist and a ‘hard to handle’ actress, to save the city.
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13. Scorched Earth (2018)
In a few years, the incessant pollution and the steady rate of climate change would have reached its peak level. Due to these factors, among others, the environment has become very hostile for humans and if someone takes even a breath of this air, they will be taken by a lung disease. Now that there is no industrialisation, the modern world order has shattered and people have returned back to the time when bartering was how business was done. Water and silver, for the masks, have been the top priority now, and laws have been put in place to not use anything that further deteriorates the environment. But there are some people who just can’t follow rules. To catch them, there are bounty hunters. The biggest bounty is on the name of Thomas Jackson who is trying to create a new society of criminals. Will Gage, the fearless bounty hunter, get her prize for catching him?
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12. Patient Zero (2018)
When the rabies virus mutates into something much more dangerous, the people infected by it turn into zombies. The transition takes a mere 90 seconds and because there is no cure for it, humans are an endangered species now. Morgan gets in an accident where he and his wife get infected. While she completes her transition and turns into a zombie, Morgan is able to retain his humanity. However, the virus hasn’t left him completely unaffected. He discovers that he can communicate with the zombies, now. He decides to help the scientists to develop a cure. But, is it something that needs to be cured? Morgan discovers that there is much more to becoming a zombie that he had realised.
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11. The Outer Wild (2018)
Every few hundred years, mutation takes a leap- something I heard in a film! In ‘The Outer Wild’, the mutation has taken a few leaps and, no, people have not turned into mutants with superpowers. Rather, they have become degraded and are, practically, beasts. Humanity is on the brink of extinction and the scientists have wasted their brains trying to figure out the cure for it. So, when Laura realises that she is immune to this mutation, she runs away. She knows that she will be experimented on and whatever life she has will be taken away from her. A man is sent to catch her and bring her to the only colony that houses humans.
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10. The Hurricane Heist (2018)
The first thing that anyone thinks about when a disaster hits their home is to run for a safe place. When a deadly hurricane hits the city, its residents try to escape and get away as far as they can from it. But a group of people have a totally different plan. They have planned a heist of 300 million dollars. Because the facility they plan to raid is inside the town, their tryst takes them even closer to the eye of the hurricane. While this group tries to rob the place, the officer in charge of the safety of the place tries to rebuff their advance to prevent them from being successful. But no matter who the thief is and who isn’t, the hurricane is coming for all of them.
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9. Cargo (2018)
When the whole world has gone to dust, there is only one thing that can keep a man going: the love for his family. The world that Andy lives in has been destroyed by a virus that turns people into their flesh-eating versions within the 48 hours of their exposure to it. With his wife and his one-year-old daughter, Andy spends his days on a boat because hitting the land again is not a good idea. After his wife gets bitten, they are forced to leave their safe surroundings and venture back to the land in search of medical care. Instead, things turn worse when Andy, too, gets infected. Before the virus takes its effect on him, he has to find a way to save his daughter.
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8. Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
One of the disasters that will most likely crumble the structure of modern society is the presence of people (and worse if they are leaders) who abide so strongly by the orthodox belief system that they can’t accept anything that doesn’t conform to their ideas. The premise of ‘Fahrenheit 451’, based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury, is something similar. In a futuristic world, most books have been banned (disaster), because the new “government” believes that people are reading the wrong books and creating all sorts of misery in the world. Firemen are employed to find and burn these books (apocalypse, for a bookworm anyway!). But, then, a fireman’s beliefs are changed when he gets a chance to read them.
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7. The Cured (2018)
The apocalypse hits Europe in form of a virus that turns people into zombies. But that was five years ago. Now, the scientists have found a cure and the zombified people are being turned back to their human state. Those who successfully undergo this transition are called the Cured, but there are some who can’t be reversed back, they are called the Resistant. Senan is one of the Cured and is soon to be assimilated into the society. But he is haunted by the things he had done as a zombie and, like many others, fears that he will not be accepted back in the society. This gets even more complicated when he is released to the care of his sister-in-law. She asks him about his brother, and even though he knows about him, he can’t tell her everything.
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6. The Domestics (2018)
The world that ‘The Domestics’ depicts has become the playground for a power struggle. Most of America has been divided into factions, the groups of murderous people who will kill anyone who doesn’t become one of them. As Mark and Nina witness this change around them, they decide to leave their home and travel someplace where all these ideologies don’t exist and they can leave a safe and peaceful life. As they begin their journey, they are chased by the factions who want to kill them. As their enemies gain ground on them, Mark and Nina have to survive the harshest of circumstances to not just stay alive, but also to keep their sanity intact.
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5. Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Based on the book of the same name and the third instalment in ‘The Maze Runner series’, this film has its protagonist, Thomas, and his friends, race against time to save the world from a virus that is ravaging the already damaged world. In a dystopian world, Thomas has already gone through a series of trials to ensure his survival and has countered the forces that tried to destroy him. Now that his friend, Minho, has been captured by the organization that experiments on children like him, Thomas and Co have to figure out a way to get him back. They have to keep in mind that the time is ticking as the virus is spreading more rapidly throughout the world.
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4. Mortal Engines (2018)
Based on the novel of the same name by Phillip Reeve, ‘Mortal Engines’ is set in a world where the world is on the move again. No one stays in the same place anymore as whole cities have been mobilized. They continuously move from one place to another because if they don’t, then they will become the prey of some other cities. You are either the hunter or the hunted. It is in one of those cities that Tom, a teenager lives. His life was going normal, as compared to how life is in the world, but then he interrupted something, by mistake. A masked woman was about to kill a man, whom Tom recognized as one of the most powerful men in the city. In the mess, Tom is thrown out of the moving city along with the strange woman.
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3. Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
When we see the apocalyptic world in movies, it is generally filled with either eerie silence or deafening explosions. The society is in shambles and there is anarchy everywhere. The lead characters are generally sullen because of a recent loss or because they have been separated from their family. ‘Anna and the Apocalypse’ is set in a similar world. But instead of melancholic sound, there is music; and instead of everyone being miserable and tired, there are high-school kids, full of hope and excitement. It is the time of Christmas and the town of Little Haven is preparing for the celebrations. But a danger lurks on the periphery of their happiness, and before it destroys everything, Anna and her friends have to take up arms against it and live through it.
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2. The Quake (2018)
A sequel to 2015’s ‘The Wave’, this film picks up where its predecessor left off. Sort of! If you have seen ‘The Wave’, then, you must know that it tells the story of a geologist who saves a number of people when a deadly tsunami hits the town of Geiranger. In all the disaster films, we see how a man becomes a hero and saves the day and everyone gets their happily ever after. But it would be an illogical thing to believe that an event of such magnitude doesn’t leave an effect on the survivors. The hero of this story is suffering from PTSD which has ruined his personal life. Now, he must save people again after he discovers that an impending earthquake is on its way.
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1. Dukla 61 (2018)
There are many dangerous jobs in the world, and working in a mine is one of them. (As a claustrophobic, I can’t even imagine how people work down there.) No matter its dangers, it is what Milan has to do in order to put food on the table for his family. An accident in the mine had killed his best friend, and since then Milan has become prone to panic attacks. He can barely keep a lid on his anxiety while working there. So, it only angers him when his oldest son returns home, leaving behind his studies, with a pregnant girlfriend and tells them that he, too, is going to work in the mine. Unbeknownst to them, the negligence of their superiors is about to become the cause of a major disaster.
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