Deepwater Horizon and why we can't get enough of disaster films

By Paul Byrnes
Updated September 26 2016 - 9:13am, first published September 25 2016 - 12:15am
Mark Wahlberg (centre) during the filming of real-life oil rig disaster movie <i>Deepwater Horizon</i>. Photo: Lionsgate
Mark Wahlberg (centre) during the filming of real-life oil rig disaster movie <i>Deepwater Horizon</i>. Photo: Lionsgate
<i>The Towering Inferno</i> is the disaster movie that has it all, from star power to remarkably enduring special effects. Photo: 20th Century Fox
<i>The Towering Inferno</i> is the disaster movie that has it all, from star power to remarkably enduring special effects. Photo: 20th Century Fox
<i>The Day After Tomorrow</i> belongs to the sub-genre of climate change catastrophe movie. Photo: Supplied
<i>The Day After Tomorrow</i> belongs to the sub-genre of climate change catastrophe movie. Photo: Supplied
The John Hillcoat-directed <i>The Road</i> is a fine exemplar of the post-apocalyptic dystopia movie. Photo: Supplied
The John Hillcoat-directed <i>The Road</i> is a fine exemplar of the post-apocalyptic dystopia movie. Photo: Supplied
Jennifer Lawrence takes the totalitarian nightmare movie into new, feminine territory in <i>The Hunger Games</i>. Photo: Louise Schwartzkoff
Jennifer Lawrence takes the totalitarian nightmare movie into new, feminine territory in <i>The Hunger Games</i>. Photo: Louise Schwartzkoff
The combination of real-life disaster, fictional love story and eye-popping special effects helped <i>Titanic</i> sail into movie history. Photo: Merie Weismiller Wallace
The combination of real-life disaster, fictional love story and eye-popping special effects helped <i>Titanic</i> sail into movie history. Photo: Merie Weismiller Wallace
Mark Wahlberg (centre) during the filming of real-life oil rig disaster movie <i>Deepwater Horizon</i>. Photo: Lionsgate
Mark Wahlberg (centre) during the filming of real-life oil rig disaster movie <i>Deepwater Horizon</i>. Photo: Lionsgate

We can thank God for the disaster movie. In His Old Testament wrath lie the blueprints of the form – the stories that have put millions in the Hollywood Bank of Death and Destruction. Where would the movies be without the Great Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the Gospel of Luke, 21:11: "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines and pestilences; And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

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