Badmovies.org Forum

Posted a while back about disaster movie cliches, so I thought I'd revisit that with a tighter focus.  We've been on a tornado movie kick lately, with the following recent viewings:

TWISTER
INTO THE STORM
F6: TWISTER (aka CHRISTMAS TWISTER)
DEVIL WINDS

We'll add some others soon, too.

Between these and some other recent viewings, such as DAY AFTER TOMORROW, we are seeing the trends in 'weather disaster movie cliches.'  Thought it was a joke at first, but really, it now strikes me as some sort of "rule."

"If you want to write a weather related disaster movie, the following must be at least mentioned or included:"

• The Jet Stream
• Global Warming / Climate Change
• Hook Echo on radar (at least if a tornado movie)
• Super storm, or some similar superlative descriptor
• Past or present marital problem(s) for the 'hero'
• Storm chaser(s) / meteorologist(s) must have uncanny ability to 'sense' storms / tornadoes
• Corporate greed elements must be present
• Golf ball (or bigger) sized hail
• "They had no warning!"
• A dog (usual, but not required)
• Early 20's, teen or even pre-teen does something heroic; maybe more than one (usual but not always)
• At least one main or secondary character gets trapped / pinned
• At least one automobile must get airborn
• At least one main character is 'driven' by past event wherein a family member was lost in tornado/storm
• At least one scene where main characters hide from tornado under a bridge or in a small tunnel

Any I missed?

There you go.  Wanna write a tornado movie?  That's the formula...or at least a big chunk of it.

I'm not real big on disaster movies, but from the ones I have seen you always need:

Ex-husband and ex-wife have to work together, going through the usual friction and first and finding the inevitable true love at the end.

Resentful kid has to have a heart-to-heart with dad to pad out the runtime.

The term "F5" must be spoken, followed by an appropriate period of awe-struck silence from everyone in the room.

The storm sounds and sometimes even acts more like an animal then a weather phenomenon.   

Yeah, like a shark for instance. :teddyr:
Actually all those cliches fit in very nicely with the SHARKNADO movies.

a bit of quick snogging, during a 3 minute lull in the MegaStorm (TM)

Flying cows.
I love to see cattle airborn.
Back in the 70's,disaster films were all the rage-I seen most of them at the Strand-EARTHQUAKE,the AIRPORT movies,the POSIDEN ADVENTURE,the TOWERING INFERNO,but oddly,most were not of the Mother Nature type.

But check out CYCLONE (1978) by Rene Cardona Jr.-the genuis who gave us NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES and NIGHT OF 1000 CATS!

I remember some movie where there was an earthquake and the crack in the ground was actually following a train around trying to swallow it up  :bouncegiggle:

FIRE FROM BELOW (http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,143991.0.html) had smart "lithium fire" that chased people, boats and cars.  Literally...it was part of the storyline that the lithium compound they were mining could "develop intelligence."