Under pressure: Dante's Peak(1997)

Back in 1997 two disaster movies featuring volcanoes(and their eruptions) were released to theaters. One was Volcano, a film in which a volcano erupts underneath Los Angeles, California. I enjoyed this movie, especially the sequences where firefighters and other civil defense personnel must fight the devastating lava flow that burns through the city.



The other movie, and my favorite of the two I'm referring to, is Dante's Peak, released by Universal and directed by Roger Donaldson. In this film a vulcanologist(played by Pierce Brosnan) is dispatched to the small, cozy town of Dante's Peak, located in Washington state to investigate recent rumblings from the towns' resident and mostly dormant volcano. The town of Dante's Peak, we learn in this film, has been voted the second most desirable place to live in the United States. The vulcanologist sets about investigating the town's volcano and sees ominous signs that the volcano may be on the verge of an eruption. The vulcanologist, "Harry Dalton" must overcome the town's skeptical reception to his fears about the volcano as well as those of his boss(played by Charles Hallahan). Of course the volcano eventually erupts and all hell breaks loose as the town, and other adjacent surroundings, are wiped out by fires, floods and one awesome looking pyroclastic cloud.


House warming: a lava flow incinerates a lodge in the film DANTE'S PEAK

If you're a disaster movie fan(like me) and haven't seen either of these two films I definitely recommend watching them on DVD, especially Dante's Peak. Both movies are available on DVD and Blu Ray. To see the DVD of Dante's Peak for sale at Amazon click the DVD cover art image above or the title of this blog entry.