Impending Doom

If you know me at all or have read this blog for any amount of time, you know I love scary movies. I love disaster movies. I love movies about zombies, vampires, disease, anything dystopian, anything superhero. There's one thing all of these movies have in common, and it's my favorite part of any movie with any of these themes. I don't have a specific term for it, and I refuse to Google and find out if there is a word for it already because I don't want to have it ruined or over explained for me. Maybe it's the "turn" or the "change" or the "build." I don't know. It doesn't matter.

What a cute baby DINOSAUR...I wonder if he will try to eat us.

What matters is that I love the moments in the movie before we end up in the new reality. I love when Peter Parker gets bitten by the spider and we see the inner workings of that venom. I love the first clues that people are becoming zombies. The moment the "little girl" is in the hallway and you realize she is not a little girl anymore. The rising tides and raging fires that start to threaten life as we know it. The shot of the spaceship/meteor/planet as it approaches earth and the scientist are just beginning to discuss the probability of it hitting. The tension of knowing that "life will find a way." The horror in those dreams before you realize that Freddy can only hurt you while you are sleeping. And though it would traumatize my dear friend Holly to know this...I even love the moments between Ursula and Ariel.
There is something about the impending doom that I love more than the actual doom. (I guess this would explain why I enjoyed Melancholia so much!)

I love a good earth from space shot...especially with a large smoking rock in it.

Once the doom (whatever it might be) actually hits in full force, the characters have adapted. They know that to kill a zombie you have to "double tap" it, or to use the new superpower you have to turn your wrist a certain way. But before that, the characters are thrown off. They are wobbly and carelessly experimental. They are unsure of themselves and desperate. They lose dignity and do things that they would never normally do. There is no polished response in those first moments of coming crisis. Only fear and confusion. The best and worst of humanity is represented as people on the screen help their fellow humans or just throw them out of the boat to create more room for themselves.

She was just this.

The great thing about these impending doom moments is that you get to live in both worlds. I mean, uh...you get to see the characters live in both worlds. There is that "life as we have always known it" world fighting it's way through, but everything around them, everything they have known, is changing and becoming something new, and most of the time, becoming something tragic. It's the calm before the storm.

Then this happened. (The Impending Doom moment.)

Yesterday was the 7 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I have friends who were there for the storm, friends who left, and friends who had to deal with the aftermath. As Isaac landed yesterday, I saw the tension on Facebook. The excitement of preparing for the tragedy that might occur, while clinging to the hope that things will be fine.

And then she became this.

We love the agony and the ecstasy. Without those moments of uncertainty and chaos, we wouldn't recognize the resolution.

I've given a variety of references here to a variety of genres and impending doom moments. But here are a few of my very favorite movies that nail the build up before all hell breaks loose.







1. Jurassic Park-Life Will Find A Way.
2. Titanic-I mean, the title alone let's you know what's coming. You gotta admit, that from the moment you hear "Iceberg ahead!" It's a wild ride!
3. Cloverfield-Who knew a monster movie could be done so well!
4. X-Men (Any of them)-It's just fun watching all of the various characters learn and finesse their "powers." And the X-Men movies have so many characters it's extra fun.
5. The Towering Inferno-This movie is responsible for my fear of fire, and justifiably so.
6. Die Hard-This entire movie is one big action packed build up to the confrontation between the terrorists and Bruce Willis.
7. Melancholia-I've discussed this one before, but the entire movie is impending doom.
8. Speed-That forever long repetitive shot of the elevator shaft during the opening credits with the haunting music is actually a really classic way to prepare you for what's ahead.
9. We Need To Talk About Kevin-Great writing. You know he needs to be discussed, but you only have clues as to why...
10. Unbreakable-Before M.Night was known for his twists, he did this movie and it is one of the best "superhero" movies out there. Not to mention, watching Willis and Jackson as they come to terms with each other is phenomenal.

What is your favorite movie that has a transition from life as it was to life as it will be?