Post-apocalyptic wastelands, with the added presence of some great evil – zombie, FBI task force, deadly pandemic – are terrifying, yes, but reality makes a nice pillow to lay your fears on. That’s why the most terrifying disasters to watch are the ones that are already in motion.
In 2004, Austrian filmmaker Hubert Sauper brought us Darwin’s Nightmare, a documentary of the eco-disaster in Tanzania brought on by the Nile perch, a predatory fish bred there to sell in Western Europe. The species has wiped out most of the marine life in the area, devastating the country’s economy and ecosystem. The starving men and women have no choice but to feed off of the carcasses discarded from the fisheries.