Films have formulas and rules, but how well do films follow those formulas? Are the Disaster Film Rules accurate?
Ten films were tested:
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
- The Towering Inferno (1974)
- Airport 1975 (1974)
- Jaws (1975)
- Airplane! (1980)
- Daylight (1996)
- Dante's Peak (1997)
- Deep Impact (1998)
- The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
- Into the Storm (2014)
RULE #7 - Last Ditch Group
Heroes
There will often be a hand chosen group of experts and scientists who are the only ones who can go on a special mission to stop or solve the disaster. They will be woefully undertrainned and there will be conflict between the specialists and the miltiary/pilots.
- Main characters - Jaws; Airplane!; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into The Storm.
- Main character - Airport 1975; Daylight.
- External extras - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Dante's Peak.
Survivors
There will often be a final group of survivors, often gathered together from unrelated groups killed off one-by-one who will band together to survive. And argue about surviving.
- Small group - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Daylight.
- Everyone - Airport 1975; Airplane!; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into The Storm.
- None - Jaws
RULE #8 - Ridiculous Solutions
Outrun
There will be a successful attempt to outrun, out drive or out fly something that should easily catch up.
- Tsunami - Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into The Storm.
- Water - The Poseidon Adventure; Daylight.
- Wind - The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Lava - Dante's Peak.
- Fire - The Towering Inferno.
- Cold - The Day After Tomorrow.
- Shark/Sinking boat - Jaws.
- None - Airport 1975; Airplane!
A plan
In the end the hero will come up with a completely ridiculous solution (or have had it all along, it just hasn't been tested yet and is a foolhardy invention that no one believes will work) that has no chance of working in the real world. The sort of thing that only someone in a completely desperate situation would think up; someone like the survivor of a disaster or a writer with third act problems.
- Crazy plan - The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Airplane!; Deep Impact.
- Spur of the moment idea - Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Into the Storm.
- No real plan - The Day After Tomorrow.
Plan Source:
- Hero's plan - The Poseidon Adventure; Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact.
- Son's plan - Into the Storm.
- The authority's plan - The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Airplane!
Big & simple
The solution will be big, simple enough to explain to the audience and something that can be the FX highlight of the film.
Simplicity:
Simplicity:
- Simple - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Jaws; Airplane!; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
Size:
- Big - The Towering Inferno; Deep Impact.
- Bigish - Airport 1975; Jaws; Airplane!; Daylight; Dante's Peak.
- No - The Poseidon Adventure; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
Effects:
- FX - The Towering Inferno; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Some - Airport 1975; Jaws.
- No - The Poseidon Adventure; Airplane!
Critical fail
The device or whatever will have a final critical failure something that can only be fix by some unlikely fact or object inexplicably mentioned earlier in the film.
- Yes - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Jaws; Airplane!; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; Into the Storm.
Time
There will be competing countdowns - the impending major event of the disaster and the countdown to the fix. But there will always be enough time for a deep and meaningful discussion about the nature of love and sacrifice.
- Time sensitive - The Poseidon Adventure; Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact.
- Time senitive, limited timer - The Towering Inferno.
- Some time sensitivity - Airport 1975; Airplane!; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Almost too late - The Towering Inferno; Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact.
Instant
The solution will be something that is inexplicably instantaneous (apart from a few spot fires) and doesn't cause more death and destruction than the disaster itself, even if it should.
- Yes - The Poseidon Adventure; Jaws; Airplane!; Daylight; Deep Impact; Into the Storm.
- Quick - The Towering Inferno.
- Delayed - Airport 1975; Dante's Peak; The Day After Tomorrow.
Dangerous
The solution should involve the male lead needing to be too close and not being visible and - gasp, probably dead - until he steps out of the smoke.
- Very - Airport 1975; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Into the Storm.
- Some - The Towering Inferno; Airplane!
- Not - The Poseidon Adventure; Jaws; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow.
Explosive
If possible, it will involve a nuke.
- Nuke - Deep Impact.
- Explosion - The Towering Inferno; Jaws; Daylight.
- Not - The Poseidon Adventure; Airport 1975; Airplane!; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Natural explosion - Dante's Peak.
RULE #9 - Happily Ever After
Reunited & Together
The main couple will be reunited, emotionally and physically.
- Yes - The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Airplane!; The Day After Tomorrow.
- Get together - Daylight; Dante's Peak.
- Not emotionally separated - Jaws.
- No main couple - The Poseidon Adventure; Deep Impact; Into the Storm.
Vindicated
There will be an acknowledgement that the leading man was right all along.
- Yes - The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno; Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- N/A - Airport 1975; Airplane!
Retribution
There will be an acceptance that this disaster was almost divine retribution for the actions of humans, especially to try to defy nature.
- Yes - The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Partial - The Towering Inferno; Jaws.
- None - The Poseidon Adventure; Airport 1975; Airplane!; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact.
Lesson
This will be a lesson not to ignore the danger sign/build skyscrapers so high/cut costs/live in a hurricane zone. Mankind will remember this and learn from its mistakes.
- Explictly stated - The Towering Inferno; Dante's Peak; The Day After Tomorrow.
- Different lesson - The Poseidon Adventure; Airplane!; Daylight; Deep Impact; Into the Storm.
- None - Airport 1975; Jaws.
Or not...
Except will it? Will man ever really learn?
- Probably not - The Towering Inferno; Dante's Peak; The Day After Tomorrow.
- Personal lession - The Poseidon Adventure; Airplane!; Daylight; Deep Impact; Into the Storm.
- None to learn from - Airport 1975; Jaws
Sunrise
It will be sunrise if they've struggled all night, or sunset if they've struggled all day. It's a time of change and is beautiful.
- Day time - Deep Impact;
- Next Day - The Poseidon Adventure; Airplane!; Daylight;
- Still night - The Poseidon Adventure;
- All morning - Airport 1975
- Faux night - Dante's Peak; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
- Unknown - Jaws
Beautiful
The whole scene will be some how beautiful. Wisps of smoke, small fires and rescue personal wandering around and everything. Like a romance, it will all somehow be beautiful.
- Yes - Jaws;
- A little - The Poseidon Adventure; Airport 1975
- Messy - The Towering Inferno; Airplane!;
RULE #10 - Sequels
Sequels
There will be few sequels as a second unbelievable disaster would be just unbelievable.
- A sequel & sequels - Airport 1975
- Sequels - The Poseidon Adventure; Jaws; Airplane!
- None - The Towering Inferno; Daylight; Dante's Peak; Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
Remakes
There may be some remakes or trips to the same well of ideas.
- Has remakes - The Poseidon Adventure.
- A remake - Airplane!
- Similar films simultaneously - Dante's Peak; Deep Impact.
- None - The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Jaws; Daylight; The Day After Tomorrow; Into the Storm.
More Deaths
Over the time the death count will increase.
Total
- Country/Planet - Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow.
- Town/region - Dante's Peak; Into the Storm.
- Limited (100s) - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Daylight.
- A few - Airport 1975; Jaws.
- None - Airplane!
Named/Storied
- 4 - 10 - The Poseidon Adventure;
- 6 - The Towering Inferno;
- 4 - Jaws; Daylight; Dante's Peak
- 3 - Airport 1975;
- 0 - Airplane!
More Effects
Over the time the size of the area effected will increase: one building or vessel, one town... one side of the US... the entire planet...
- The Poseidon Adventure - Ship model, flooding, explosions, titling set.
- The Towering Inferno - Tower model, fire, flooding, explosions. Helicopter crash.
- Airport 1975 - Planes.
- Jaws - Bad shark
- Airplane! - Plane crashing into terminal.
- Daylight - Car chase, Explosions, tunnel collapse, flooding, etc.
- Dante's Peak - Volcanos, ash, more ash. Helicopter crash.
- The Poseidon Adventure - Obvious models, stuntmen.
- The Towering Inferno - Obvious models, stuntmen.
- Airport 1975 - Rear projection, large sections of fake plane.
- Jaws - Bad shark.
Area
- Building or vehicle - The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Airport 1975; Airplane; Daylight;
- Local area - Jaws (ocean only); Dante's Peak; Into the Storm.
- Most of planet - Deep Impact; The Day After Tomorrow.
More Formulaic
Over time the films will follow the formula more.
- The formula is all over the place. Early films are made by the same people so have a formula, while later ones follow the genre formula that develops. The films also are hindered by the type of disaster chosen which limits the abilities to follow formula. A big change was moving away from the existing separated couple to the first meeting that Hollywood seems to love.
~ DUG.
Also do the poll about my various blogs.
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