Think Storm Goretti was bad? TOM OGG selects some big-screen storms – from films both good and bad – all of which make last week’s weather seem like little more than a mild gust of wind
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
IN which the aptly surnamed Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) is swept away from her Kansas farm by a tornado and deposited in a garish and bizarre land populated by strange characters. Akin to going on a boozy night out in St Helier and then waking up in Sark with a hangover.
The Wizard of Oz might well be 87 years old, yet – as with so many visuals in the film – the tornado effects remain genuinely impressive, and certainly look more convincing than the average computer-generated whirlwind as seen in 21st century films.
The effect was created using a combination of compressed air hoses, rear-projection, full-sized sets and, most importantly, a gigantic 35ft rotating muslin cloth. Simples.
Twister (1996)
Not to be confused with the plastic mat-based family-friendly party game of the same name, Twister is the other good Jan De Bont film outside of Speed.
Admittedly, some of the tornado effects have aged better than others, but the film benefits from lively performances by a talented cast – including a few great character actors who died far too young (Bill Paxton, Philip Seymour Hoffman) – as well as a handful of top-notch action scenes, including the memorable moment in which a twister marauds its way through a drive-in cinema midway through a screening of The Shining and tears the screen to shreds as Jack Nicholson hacks a bathroom door to pieces with an axe. And, of course, no film featuring a flying cow could ever be bad.
A belated sequel, Twisters, was released in 2024 and received very positive reviews from critics, which is surprising because it was a pile of absolute crap.
The Perfect Storm (2000)
Confession: I’m not really a fan of Wolfgang Petersen’s action-drama which tells of a commercial fishing vessel lost at sea amidst the “1991 Perfect Storm”. The film somehow manages to strike a note of gooey melodramatic sentimentality even as all of its major characters are killed.
I’ll never forget watching The Perfect Storm at the cinema upon release in 2000 and half the auditorium bursting into laughter as Mark Wahlberg’s soon-to-be-dead Bobby delivered a cheesy monologue in voiceover, which does seem quite distasteful in hindsight given that the film is based on real-life people and events.
Still, Mother Nature belatedly sought revenge this week because I woke up on Friday morning to discover my garden fence had been blown to pieces.
Sharknado (2013)
At least The Perfect Storm was unintentionally a bit rubbish, which is forgiveable. Sharknado is deliberately, purposefully, knowingly awful, and if there is one type of film I can’t stand it’s films that aim for “wilfully bad in a lazy faux-ironic way”.
Directed by Anthony C Ferrante, Sharknado – which, as its title suggests, is all about a big tornado filled with man-eating great white sharks – is often described as “so bad it’s good” but in truth it’s just plain bad, with shockingly poor CGI effects and even worse acting.
That the late John Heard – one of the most acclaimed and promising character actors in 1980s cinema (his performance in 1981’s Cutter’s Way offers some of the best big-screen acting you will ever see) – ended his career slumming it in garbage like this is a crime against humanity. He was a lot more than just Kevin McCallister’s dad in Home Alone, you know.
There followed a whole series of Sharknado films, among them Sharknado: The Fourth Awakens and Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, all with the same cynical tone and third-rate effects.
Take Shelter (2011, below)
An absolutely cracking psychological thriller boasting great performances from Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, with Shannon playing Curtis LaForche, a married father-of-one who grows increasingly convinced that a devastating storm is making its way towards his rural Ohio home, and Chastain playing his long-suffering wife Samantha, who believes her hubbie is suffering from undiagnosed mental illness and delusions.
Directed by Jeff Nichols (who also made the marvellous Mud, 2012), Take Shelter toys with your perceptions throughout its two-hour running time, before ending in a manner that leads you to re-evaluate everything that has transpired over the preceding 120 minutes. Give it a watch.
