Doomsday Movie Marathon

It’s cold and snowy, which is the perfect environment for a movie night. Here are some of my favorite disaster films you should definitely watch at least once.

Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

This is my all-time favorite zombie movie. It is a remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 classic film by the same name. The store follows an ER nurse named Ana, who wakes up at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse with ravenous, running zombies. She flees her suburban neighborhood as it quickly descends into chaos. Along the way, she runs into fellow survivors named Kenneth, Michael, Andre, and Luda. They band together to seek shelter in a nearby mall similar to the original movie plot.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

The eye of the snowstorm always gives me the chills. The film is about a Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall as he makes a daring trek to New York City as his weather predictions start becoming true. His son Jack and his two friends Brian and Laura are there for an academic competition, just as a violent winter storm his dad predicted slowly approaches them. Jack is heading there to save him and the others who have sought shelter at the New York Public Library.

The Core (2003)

Another weather-related disaster movie. Based on the book Core by Paul Preuss, the film is about the Earth’s core has stopped spinning and dissolving the Earth’s magnetic fields. Unless they fix it, life as we know it will cease to be due to solar radiation. Scientist Dr. Josh Keyes, the one who found the problem, is assigned the task of assembling a team to venture down there to do just that. The plan is to burrow to the core and use nuclear weapons to jump-start it.

Contagion (2011)

This film is best known for how it eerily mirrored the events of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The plot follows multiple characters through a pandemic involving a highly contagious disease that is spread by respiratory droplets. One of the people is a scientist working on developing a vaccine while another one is tracking down the last trip Patient Zero took before she died. Another is a survivor spreading rumors that it was a government cover-up while promoting an alternative cure.

Waterworld (1995)

Many people claim this is the worst disaster movie ever made, but I like it. It was the most expensive made at the time. The story explains that all the polar ice caps have melted, covering the entire planet in water. The main character centers around a drifter named “The Mariner” who gets swept up in a situation involving a gang of pirates named the Smokers who are looking for a little girl named Enola who has a map tattoo on her back leading to dry land.

The Book Of Eli (2010)

The Book Of Eli is classified as a post-apocalyptic Western film. It takes place thirty years after a nuclear holocaust. A man named Eli is crossing the devastated US terrain on a mission. Eli is in possession of the last known copy of the bible, and book warlord Carnegie wants it more than anything. Eli says a voice is telling him to take the book west to a safe place, protecting it at all costs. Carnegie’s daughter Solara joins him because she is against her father’s evil reign, and wants to escape him.

The Road (2009)

The Road is another outstanding book to film movie. The book goes by the same name and is written by Cormac McCarthy. It follows a father and son through a post-apocalyptic landscape. The reason is never known to us and has led to many wild fan theories, from war to climate change. Whatever it was, the planet is completely voided of plant life and 99.9% of animal life. They are traveling toward the coast where they think there is a haven for survivors waiting for them.

Warning: These movies are not suitable for children under the age of 12 years old due to their graphic nature. Please screen the movie prior to allowing your children to watch it.