13 Weather Horror Movies Inducing a Climate of Fear
Who’s really in control here?
Mother Nature has a way of making us feel small and insignificant.
This planet’s on a whole other level and when that storm hits, it’s a reminder of just how frightening weather can be. Which makes weather a great bad guy for horror stories.
But sometimes the weather itself isn’t the terrifying part. Sometimes it’s the anticipation alone that causes our skin to crawl and tension to rise. And in horror, weather can hide things … awful things.
In these thirteen weather-based horror movies, Mother Nature reminds us just who’s in control.
Contents
1. Take Shelter (2011)
Take Shelter is a drama horror movie in which the anticipation of the weather – a supernatural storm – is the major part of the story.
Curtis begins to have strange dreams and hallucinations about black, oily rain, swarms of menacing birds, and being harmed by people close to him. Worried that he may have inherited his mother’s mental illness, he starts to obsessively work on the storm shelter in his backyard. His life and relationships begin to spiral out of control when no one believes him when he warns them about the storm that is coming.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.3 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 81% audience score | Amazon: 3.8 out of 5
2. Snowpiercer (2013)
“Fight your way to the front”
Snowpiercer is a South Korean apocalypse horror movie in which the weather – a global-warming-induced ice age – is the setting.
Seventeen years after a failed attempt at stopping global warming caused a new ice age, the last remnants of humanity circle the globe on the Snowpiercer train. The lower-class passengers at the rear of the train decide to rebel against the elite at the front and battle their way from one section of the train to the next.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.1 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 73% audience score | Amazon: 4.3 out of 5
3. The Mist (2007)
“Fear changes everything”
The Mist is a thriller cosmic horror movie, based on a Stephen King novella, in which the weather – a mist following a severe storm – brings and hides the threat.
Following a severe storm, a thick mist advances over the lake and envelops the town of Bridgton, Maine. A group of locals are trapped in the supermarket when they realize the mist contains a number of species of bloodthirsty creatures.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.1 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 65% audience score | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
4. The Fog (1980)
“Bolt Your Doors. Lock Your Windows. There’s Something in the Fog!”
The Fog is a thriller horror movie in which the weather – fog – brings and hides the threat.
A small Californian coastal town is preparing for its centennial celebrations when a strange, glowing fog sweeps in. The fog brings with it the ghosts of shipwrecked mariners seeking revenge for something that happened one hundred years ago.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.8 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 64% audience score | Amazon: 4.7 out of 5
5. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
“Where will you be?”
The Day After Tomorrow is a survival horror movie in which the weather – climate-change-induced superstorms – is the threat.
Climate change causes three superstorms to form over Canada, Scotland, and Siberia. The force of the storms is so strong that the effects will plunge the entire Northern Hemisphere into a new Ice Age. Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist, travels from Washington, D.C. to New York City to reach his son who is trapped in the cross-hairs of one of the storms.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.4 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 50% audience score | Amazon: 4.7 out of 5
6. Frozen (2010)
“No one knows you’re up there”
Frozen (not the Disney movie) is an action horror movie in which the weather – blizzard – is the cause of the problem.
Three snowboarders don’t have enough money to buy chairlift tickets, so they bribe a worker to let them ride. At the end of the day, after they’ve gone up for one last pass, there is a communication error and the lift stops, stranding the trio on the chairlift near the top of the mountain. When they see that the lights of the ski resort have been turned off, they need to make a choice: leave the chairlift or freeze to death.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.2 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 46% audience score | Amazon: 4.3 out of 5
7. Crawl (2019)
“They were here first”
Crawl is a big-animal action horror movie in which the weather – a hurricane – brings the monsters.
As a hurricane hits Florida, Haley searches for her missing father. She finds him severely injured and the two are trapped as the floodwaters rise. Soon they discover a threat greater than the strengthening storm: a pack of gigantic, hungry alligators.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.1 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 75% audience score | Amazon: 4.2 out of 5
8. Split Second (1992)
“He’s seen the future … Now he has to kill it. He’ll need bigger guns.”
Split Second is a dystopian horror movie in which the weather – global-warming-induced flooding – is the setting.
Global warming has melted the ice caps, causing serious flooding around the world. London is under several feet of water and a seemingly-unstoppable alien creature is killing people A veteran policeman has to work with a rookie to bring down the killer.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.0 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 56% audience score | Amazon: 4.4 out of 5
9. Burning Bright (2010)
“His feeding. Your frenzy.”
Burning Bright is a big-animal horror movie in which the weather – a hurricane – traps the goods guys in with the bad.
During a hurricane, a young woman and her autistic brother are trapped inside their house with a starving tiger.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.8 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 47% audience score | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
10. 2012 (2009)
“We were warned”
2012 is an apocalypse horror movie in which the weather – solar storms – causes the apocalypse.
Earth is being bombarded with radiation from solar storms and a geophysical team discovers the earth’s core is heating up and the crust is becoming unstable. While the world’s leaders race to build spaceships to escape the earth, a writer struggles to save his family.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.8 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 47% audience score | Amazon: 4.6 out of 5
11. Blind Sun (2015)
Blind Sun is a mystery horror movie in which the weather – a heatwave – causes the issues.
A seaside resort in Greece is under the effects of a major heatwave. Water is rare and violence simmers just below the surface. An immigrant guards a French family’s villa while they’re away, until he’s stopped by a policeman for an ID check.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.7 out of 10
12. Craters of the Moon (2013)
Craters of the Moon is a survival horror movie in which the weather – a blizzard – causes the problems.
A young couple on a cross-country road trip lose their way in a blizzard and wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere. As the days pass, their relationship slowly deteriorates under the pressures of starvation, hypothermia, and wolves.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.7 out of 10 | Amazon: 3.7 out of 5
13. Geostorm (2017)
“Somethings were never meant to be controlled”
Geostorm is an action horror movie in which the weather – the climate – threatens to destroy Earth.
When catastrophic climate change endangers the Earth, world governments unite and create a worldwide net of satellites armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. After three years of successful protection, something starts to go wrong. Two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program’s malfunction before a worldwide geostorm can engulf the planet.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.3 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 35% audience score | Amazon: 4.4 out of 5
Published: 15 November 2022
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