STACK #146 Dec 2016

UNWELCOME TRAVELLERS Sometimes there's worse to worry about on a flight than a lack of leg room and bad airline food...

SNAKES ON A PLANE The title says it all. Venomous snakes dropping like oxygen masks is every passenger's worst nightmare. Luckily Sam Jackson is onboard to issue a quotable ultimatum.

and stereotypes provided Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker ample material for a brilliant spoof. Flying High (aka Airplane! ,1980) is not only one of the best airline satires, it's one of the greatest comedies ever made. Hilarity actually does ensue when a food poisoning outbreak aboard an L.A. to Chicago flight leaves the plane in the shaky hands of an

FURTHER VIEWING Now that you've experienced a good cross section of airline films, it's time to check out how other genres use air travel as a plot device. Just as airline films lend themselves to disaster movies, they're also a perfect match for the action blockbuster. Die Hard 2 (1990) finds Bruce

ZOMBIES ON A PLANE WorldWar Z

An outbreak of the living dead in mid-air can only end in disaster – even if Brad Pitt is on the same flight. This nightmare scenario is also used to lesser effect in the cheekily titled Flight of the Living Dead .

Willis in the wrong place at the wrong time (again), when terrorists take control of a Washington airport (during a snowstorm, of course) while his wife's plane is in a holding pattern above. And in Con Air (1997), it's Nicolas Cage who must save the day after a prison transport plane is commandeered by America's worst criminals. Psychopaths can be passengers too, and Wes Craven's gripping Red Eye (2005) reveals there are worse things than an obese person sitting beside you, as Rachel McAdams discovers when she's blackmailed by a villainous Cillian Murphy on an overnight flight from Dallas to Miami. It's not all doom and gloom when taking a commercial flight, however. The more mundane aspects of air travel are explored in Jason Reitman's endearing romantic drama Up in the Air (2009), which follows George Clooney's frequent flyer from one airport VIP lounge to the next in his job as an employment terminator. The recent success of Sully proves that airline movies are still capable of maintaining a commercial flight path, and filmmakers will continue to exploit our familiarity with – and fear of – flying, and dramatise true acts of aviation heroism for our entertainment. Albeit not our in-flight entertainment.

ex-fighter pilot (Robert Hayes) and an inflatable autopilot, while Leslie Nielsen reveals his flair for comic timing. An absolute must see, and better appreciated after you've watched an Airport movie or two. Things are more grave in Paul Greengrass's United 93 (2006), a nailbiting, real-time dramatisation of what occurred aboard the titular flight hijacked on 9/11 – the one which crashed into a field near Pennsylvania after the heroic passengers and crew challenged the terrorists. United 93 remains one of the best movies to cover the events of 9/11. The enormous responsibility of pilots is highlighted in Robert Zemeckis's Flight (2012) and Clint Eastwood's Sully (2016), in which both captains manage to avert disaster and

GHOSTS ON A PLANE Flight 7500 The death of a passenger on a red eye flight is troubling enough, but when it unleashes all manner of paranormal activity, it's time to ask if there's an exorcist onboard.

make emergency landings – Denzel

Washington flying his plane upside down and Tom Hanks making the famed water landing on the Hudson River, respectively. Sully is the better film, but both offer insights into the finer details of flight procedures in the subsequent investigations.

GREMLINS ON A PLANE Twilight Zone:The Movie

White-knuckle flyer John Lithgow experiences a "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" when he spots a gremlin perched on the wing. In this case, engine trouble isn't a result of poor maintenance.

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