And then we get into even weirder headspace with films like the one about the 9/11 plane that crashed into a field, which was incredibly disturbing even as a concept (I haven't watched it) - why would anyone make such a film? That's almost pure fiction with real people's names in there.

So a lot of these films / books are trying to be realistic. Some of them are trying to be sensationalist. And some of them (such as DW) don't bother to concern themselves with any kind of historical accuracy, just dive headlong into AU worlds.