Review by Peter Syslo
STORM WARNING (2007 Australia ) is a DVD release on the Dimension Extreme label. At first, I was skeptical of this film because the director was also at the helm of URBAN LEGEND and I feared that STORM WARNING would fall into that same “pop horror” category (which sometimes can be watered-down and unfulfilling). Truthfully, I don't think that URBAN LEGEND is a bad film and I hate to sound like an “any mainstream horror sucks, it must be independent” kind of guy, but sometimes the mainstream stuff just doesn’t deliver. This is especially relevant because about 30 minutes into STORM WARNING, the film seemed very reminiscent of other “stranger in a strange land” types of horror films and it started to lose me. However, I am glad that I stuck around because the film really started to pick up steam at the halfway mark and the last half-hour of it (surprisingly) became a fulfilling – and gory - experience.
STORM WARNING is directed by Jamie Blanks and is written by Everett DeRoche. The film stars Nadia Fares, Robert Taylor, David Lyons, Matthew Wilkinson, and John Brumpton.
The film is about a married couple, Pia and Rob (Fares & Taylor), who go sailing one afternoon. Realizing that a storm is coming, Rob tries to get back to shore but he winds up getting lost. Unfortunately, he has to bring the boat to a sandy inlet that is a long way from the original dock. This place is really off the beaten path and the two stumble upon a farm house that looks deserted. After going inside and looking for inhabitants, Rob accidentally comes across a massive amount of marijuana plants that are growing in the house. Before long, Rob and Pia are discovered by the owners of the home and let's just say that they receive a less-than-warm welcome. Two young men and their father live there and they are a crazy, unreasonable, dysfunctional type of family. The two guys toy with the married couple, beating up Rob and dominating his beautiful wife, Pia. The toying quickly becomes torture when the couple is locked in a barn and it is made quite clear that the young men intend to rape Pia and cause further harm to Rob. If that isn't enough to deal with, the father wakes up and things get further out-of-hand. As the film concludes, it becomes a question of survival as the Rob and Pia are forced to fight against their captors, possibly dying in the process.
This film took me by surprise, because the first half-hour of it does move very slowly and I thought that it was going to be like the many horror films of this past decade, which consist of: two or more people stuck in an unfamiliar place; psychotic local yokels that will capture, torture, and murder them; and a do-or-die survival situation. It has become a very familiar format and I admit it has become a little tired at this point. The SAW films still manage to do it well, and you have a varying amount of foreign films that do it well, but (like any other subgenre) survival horror has been overused. Not only that, but most of these survival horror films take place (generally speaking) in two or three rooms and most of the action comes from the cast interaction, dialogue, and the peril of the situation. It's not an easy task to make a survival horror film that is interesting and engaging. But, I think that STORM WARNING is very effective in its latter portion and it did put its own signature spin on a tired idea.
The picture is very straightforward and easy to digest: a man and woman are held captive by three lunatics and they have to fight in order to survive. The first half-hour is pretty much filled up with the usual dialogue between the bumbling husband (who is castrated by his own lack of knowledge) and the street-wise, resourceful wife. Also, in that time span, you have the usual banter between the crazy guys who seem to “get-off” on intimidating and toying with their victims. One thing that does start to make the film different (and moves it into exploitation territory) is that the two guys take a liking to Pia and want to have their way with her. Also, she becomes the strong one (a feisty prey) after the two guys quickly sideline Rob with a beating or two and a broken leg. They start to order Pia around while threatening further violence to Rob – she complies, reluctantly, and things start moving along. At the point when Rob and Pia make a failed attempt to escape and are thrown in the barn, things become even more interesting (the whole film is a slow, but steady build to the last half-hour). Finally, when the father wakes up, the film actually wakes up too and it becomes a really gory test of survival, which has an exploitative edge to it.
I just want to spend a little time on the last portion of the film because it really is the heart of it all. I was really surprised at how gory it became. There are general things up until that point (like a leg being broken) but when the film finally takes off, there are several gore-laden moments that include: a character caught in hooks and metal wires (ala HELLRAISER) with the face being gradually torn; a modified jar lid that acts as rape protection – that's all I'll say about that one, you have to see it in action; a dog mutilating human bodies; and a few other interesting ways to injure a human. It's not just all about the gore at this point, but it certainly puts strong punctuation on the scenes, which the film definitely needed. The only thing that the married couple did wrong was to unwittingly discover the marijuana and accidentally cause the plants to be ruined. You do feel for the couple and you do want to see vengeance and vindication. But, believe me, they are certainly not afraid to show you things and it is a fitting way to deal with an insane situation.
Gnawing through the flesh: The last half-hour of STORM WARNING is a great ending and it is a nice climax to the slow, tedious build-up. The effects are excellent; the blood and carnage are imaginative yet realistic-looking. The set design, locations, and cinematography are all very good even though there is nothing all that original about the farmhouse and the surrounding area. Overall, the acting is pretty good, with the highlights being Nadia Fares (as the hot Pia who fights back and protects her wounded husband) and John Brumpton, who plays “Poppy” (the depraved, misogynistic, and abusive father). If you like survival horror, such as the SAW films, HOSTEL films, WOLF CREEK , BROKEN, FRONTIER(S), etc. then you may like it. It was a decent flick, it is worth giving it a chance, and I give it a 7/10.