This article originally ran in 2015 and has been updated to include additional movies because, well, the world is a disaster, and there are movies to match. We’re republishing it now with the newest movie, The Lost Bus .

What makes cinematic depictions of disaster so compelling — when they’re done right, that is — is the uneasy dance between plausibility and fantasy. We watch from the safety of our seats as horrible things happen to these characters, and we feel both the spine-tingling excitement of thinking, Yeah, this could totally happen , and the reassuring comfort of knowing that we ourselves are safe. So what happens when an actual, bona fide, honest-to-goodness disaster is unfolding in real life instead? For some of us, the onscreen versions will become unbearable. For others

See Full Page