Chris Smith’s ‘Collapse’ the Scariest Movie of All Time?

A lot of what I’ve read coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival confirms the same opinion: Chris Smith’s Collapse is a terrifying, gut-wrenching, oh-god-no! type of film. But it’s neither slasher nor big-budget rendering of Armageddon. Rather, it’s a documentary focusing on cop-turned-reporter Michael Ruppert. What, you may ask, is so scary about that? Turns out Ruppert is something of Cassandra figure who predicted the sub-prime mortgage crisis with crazy accuracy a few years back. He’s got some other pretty frightening predictions too.

For one thing, Ruppert thinks the moment of peak oil (when the rate of oil production enters terminal decline) is basically upon us, and that, as a consequence, life as we know it is perilously close to an end. The future will be survivable, yes, but very, very unpleasant. This is not a new theory, of course, and Ruppert apparently gives signs during the interview of being perhaps a bit tetched. Nevertheless, few have come way from the film unmoved, and many have written about it as if somewhat shell-shocked. “He’s like Noam Chomsky as a gripping pundit of doom,” says Owen Gleiberman at Entertainment Weekly. “Even if you want to argue with him (and you will, since he’s predicting very bad things), you can’t dismiss what he’s saying.” Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere goes a step farther, stating, “After seeing Collapse I’m 95% convinced that we’re on the brink of Armageddon—that we’re truly and royally fucked.”

Yipes! Really? Having not yet seen Collapse, it’s hard to say just why Ruppert’s doomsday prophecy is so thoroughly convincing where others are not. The film looks to have a good shot at scoring a distribution deal, but those impatient to find out more right away can visit Ruppert’s website here.