While a slow walk through the exhibit, Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters, currently on view at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science through May 3, will answer many questions you might have about the unleashed power of volcanoes, twisters and earthquakes, chances are it will merely whet, rather than satisfy, your absorption in that which possesses the untamed, uncompromising capacity to squash you like a bug. And while the exhibit itself is a blast, with its hands-on create-your-own volcano pyrotechnics, hurricane-bent stop signs and tornado-surround room, it does leave you with that old lookie-loo fever -- the very reason that dozens of feature films over the years, from Steamboat Bill, Jr. to Volcano, all prominently emphasize natural disasters as the morbid objects of human fascination.
Well, at the DMNS, they understand. That's why in-house curator of astrobiology/scientific raconteur David Grinspoon and local film critic Howie Movshovitz are teaming up tonight to present Natural Disasters in Film, a discussion and presentation focusing on a long list of fright flicks and documentaries that drop you into the eye of your wildest natural-disaster nightmare. High adventure and catastrophe await you, beginning at 7 p.m. in the museum's Phipps IMAX Theater, 2001 Colorado Boulevard. To reserve tickets, $12 to $15, go to the DMNS website or call 303-322-7009.
For more ways to rock the night and kill the day, go to westword.com/calendar.
