io9: disaster movies

Strip Roland Emmerich's 2012 Of Its Special Effects, And What Do You Get?

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:39:49 PDT

You've seen five slapsticky minutes of disaster-porn film 2012. You've even seen our 1970s exploitation version of the film. Now see Roland Emmerich's film denuded of special FX, with just the actors making "o" faces. [via Film Drunk]

252 Typhoon Survivors Buried In A Mall — How Long Until They Start To Steal?

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:33:00 PDT

If you're trapped in a mall at the end of the world, at least you can still get an Orange Julius — until all of the lights go out and people start to go all Lord of the Flies. The new Japanese natural disaster flick 252 takes place after the world's largest typhoon crashes through Tokyo. Buried beneath the rubble and muddy water are 252 survivors all trapped inside a mall. Now it's up to the rescue workers to get them out before they all start to lose air, and their minds. Click through for the trailer.

[252]

Transformers Meets Cloverfield, from the Director Of Hostel

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Hostel director Eli Roth is sick of doing torture-porn, and he's in the home stretch of writing a huge-budget PG-13 science fiction movie that he says is inspired by Transformers and Cloverfield. He isn't giving any details about the new project, except that it'll feature "mass-destruction" and pandemonium. (The other thing Cloverfield and Transformers have in common, of course, is the dreaded shaky-cam [TM].) Roth hasn't completely changed his tune, however: he'll still film some ultraviolent scenes, to include on an unrated DVD for his splattery fans. [FirstShowing]