Below are selected critical and other works on disaster movies. (Disclaimer: The Disaster Area will earn a commission on books purchased through Amazon links.)
Books
Broderick, Mick. Nuclear Movies: A Critical Analysis and Filmography of International Feature Length Films Dealing With Experimentation, Aliens, Terrorism, Holocaust and Other Disaster Scenarios, 1914-89. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, 1992. Basically what it says on the label. Of course, numerous relevant movies have been released in the years since publication, but definitive for its time.
Cornea, Christine and Rhys Owain Thomas, eds. Dramatising Disaster: Character, Event, Representation. Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. Collection of academic chapters on how disaster is portrayed in popular culture, some adapted from a 2011 conference on this topic in the U.K.
Feil, Ken. Dying for a Laugh: Disaster Movies and the Camp Imagination. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2006. Beginning in the 1970s, this book argues that contemporary camp culture has influenced and reformed the conventions of disaster movies. Feil also discusses the effects of 9/11 on the genre.
Gambin, Lee. Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film. Albany, GA: Midnight Marquee & BearManor Media, 2018. Gambin limits the focus of the book to the ecologically themed horror movies, which have a wide overlap with disaster movies.
Havert, Nik. The Golden Age of Disaster Cinema: A Guide to the Films, 1950-1979. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2019. Interviews with “actors, actresses, producers, stuntmen, special effects artists and others” involved with the genre over 30 of its biggest years.
Horn, Eva. The Future as Catastrophe: Imagining Disaster in the Modern Age. Valentine Pakis, transl. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018. Translated from the original German, Horn argues that our preoccupation with catastrophe reflects our desire to anticipate and control our future.
Kay, Glenn and Michael Rose. Disaster Movies: A Loud, Long, Explosive, Star-Studded Guide to Avalanches, Earthquakes, Floods, Meteors, Sinking Ships, Twisters, Viruses, Killer … Fallout, and Alien Attacks in the Cinema!!!! Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2006 and Mosaic Press, 2007. Humorous look at the genre by a fan critic, with a forward by Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Innovative rating system: Highly Recommended, Recommended, At Your Own Risk, Avoid At All Costs, and So Bad It’s Good.
Keane, Stephen. Disaster Movies: The Cinema of Catastrophe. New York: Wallflower Press, 2006. Academic treatise offering detailed analyses and discussions of balancing context vs. commercialism.
Law, John William. Disaster in the Sky – Behind the Scenes of the Airport Movies, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Aplomb Publishing, 2009. Brochure (22 pages) on the creation of the 1970s series.
Law, John William. Disaster on Film. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2009. Short look at the genre as a whole.
Pollard, Tom. Hollywood 9/11: Superheroes, Supervillains, and Super Disasters. Abigdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge, 2015. Not limited to disaster movies. Pollard discusses the changes in film in general after 9/11, arranging his analyses according to emotions: shock, grief, horror, rage, vengeance, terror, and paranoia.
Ritzenhoff, Karen A. and Angela Krewani, eds. The Apocalypse in Film: Dystopias, Disasters, and Other Visions about the End of the World. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015. Collection of academic essays discussing how disaster movies reflect our social anxieties.
Sanders, John. Studying Disaster Movies. New York: Auteur, 2009. Short look at the concepts behind and used in disaster movies, especially concerning real-life events.
Telek, Scott. Disaster Films! (Cinema de Merde Guides). Cinema de Merde, 2015. Short, irreverent book of reviews (including spoilers), part of a series that also includes Unwanted Sequels and Silly Serial Killers.
Articles
Sontag, Susan. The imagination of disaster. Commentary, October 1965.