When all of a sudden, from out of nowhere...

I love disaster movies. I've been watching disaster movies ever since I saw The Poseidon Adventure nearly 20 years ago. I don't claim to be an expert on the genre, just a fan. To be honest, I don't think I can still with 100% certainty define what a disaster movie is, but here is my best effort.

What is a disaster movie? Well, obviously, it's a movie based around something bad happening. That something bad is usually a natural event, but can dive into the realm of human error, and even mechanical failure in the right situations. Most disaster movies will focus on a small group of people, and their attempt at escaping whatever disaster is befalling them at that time. Or the group of people have to try and keep some kind of disaster from taking place. That's the easy part. What is a little more difficult is explaining why I don't see certain movies as disaster movies.

First and foremost, in my definition, a disaster movie is a fiction movie. So that eliminates movies specifically about the Titanic, 9/11, the Hindenburg and movies of that ilk. Second of all, disaster movies have to at least some foot grounded in the real world. Meaning that alien attack movies are out of the genre (in my mind at least). So yeah, I don't really buy into aliens attacking the Earth anytime soon. Third, some aspect of the disaster has to actually take place. I don't mind if the heroes save the Earth from the giant asteroid, but at least one city has to go down in flames.

Now, having said all that, at some point I most likely will review a movie that doesn't fit my definition. Let's face facts, I love seeing aliens blow things up as much as the next guy, it just means those kinds of movies aren't going to be a focus for this blog. Also, I am going to occasionally spend some time looking at disasters in other media. So, if I come across a book, board game, music video, or video game that I think embodies the disaster movie spirit...I'll talk about it.

So, welcome to my disaster movie blog. Next time, I believe I'll start with my first, and still my favorite: The Poseidon Adventure.