Movie Review: Storm Warning

Storm Warning is a very simple tale of a couple that rents a boat for the day to go fishing. While they're out on the water they see a storm coming in, they get them selves lost looking for shelter, and they're forced ashore on a remote island. As they search the island for anyone that can help them, they stumble upon a remote farmhouse, upon further search the house is empty, but soon they find a shed in the back filled with Marijuana, and not long after a truck pulls up to the house.

If this all sounds familiar, it's because it is, but let's go further. A demented father, and his two sicko sons show up. Then the abuse of the couple begins, and in a quick turn of events the wife, Pia (Nadia Fares) turns from a crying wreck of a woman who is cowering in the corner to a strong take charge type of woman who exacts horrific revenge on their captures while the husband is down, and out from being beat up.

We've seen all this before several times throughout the years, but I will give props to the movie for having better acting, and directing then most of it's kind. The acting across the board was very good compared to other movies of its kind. The only problem I truly had was the very quick change of personality of Pia. It wasn't set-up long enough to have her make such a transformation, but overall the script was fine.

I've always liked Jamie Blanks as a director. I know Urban Legends wasn't a great success in terms of script, but it was a very well directed movie with tons of ambience. I even liked Valentine, which I know from reading some interviews that the studio gave Blanks a hard time, and made him make some cuts against his will, but it was still a good time, and well directed.

Storm Warning if nothing more is a very well directed movie, with beautiful scenery, and well executed mayhem. I have to even give Blanks even more props for actually keeping the camera still, and for his beautiful, slow tracking shots. In this day, and age of shaky cam madness, and quick cuts it's almost daring to let your camera still, and I know Blanks has said that John Carpenter was a big influence on him, and it shows.

Overall Storm Warning isn't groundbreaking, but it's a nice little entry in horror. It's not perfect, but it's well constructed, and has some nice tense scenes. It's a short movie at only 84 minutes, so in that regards it makes for quick viewing.

I would recommend only for horror fans.