Editorials
‘Into the Storm’ – Appreciating the Found Footage Disaster Movie 10 Years Later
Our planet can be absolutely terrifying. From unpredictable earthquakes to monstrous storms, there’s really no shortage of ways in which our cosmic home can kill us. And yet, our species perseveres, with humanity going so far as to entertain itself by telling stories about how we can overcome – or at the very least survive – the fury of nature. In fact, these stories have become so prevalent in popular culture that disaster movies are known to be one of the most profitable genres in all of cinema, and while some audiences remain critical so-called “disaster-porn,” I’d argue that the best of these films are really about the endurance of the human spirit.
And if you’re planning on telling a story about people coming to terms with how fragile they are when confronted with nature, why not place the camera in the hands of your own main characters? I mean, a found footage natural disaster movie seems like a really obvious idea when you stop to think about it, with the down-to-earth point-of-view requiring a much smaller budget while also having the added benefit of placing viewers directly in the thick of things. With that in mind, why is it that the underrated 2014 thriller Into the Storm remains the only serious attempt at such a project?
A rare example of a found footage flick with no ties to the supernatural, this unusual disaster movie was the brainchild of producer Todd Garner, with his story being inspired by real survivor and storm-chaser footage that showcased the power of rogue winds from a decidedly modern (not to mention vulnerable) perspective. Hiring screenwriter John Swetnam to turn his idea into a fleshed-out screenplay, the two then proceeded to look for studios interested in funding their collaboration.
Eager to produce a large-scale summer blockbuster that didn’t require an effects budget comparable to a small country’s GDP, New Line Cinema ended up purchasing the rights to the duo’s then-untitled spec script and set the project up with a $50 million production budget. They then hired Final Destination 5 director Steven Quale to helm the picture due to his previous experience with VFX mayhem, with shooting taking place in Michigan as a rag-tag team of digital artists from several different companies worked together to bring these simulated tornados to life.
In the finished film, we follow an ensemble of high-schoolers and storm-chasers (with the cast featuring the likes of Richard Armitage, Matt Walsh, Arlen Escarpeta and even Sarah Wayne Callies) as the small town of Silverton, Oklahoma comes under siege by an unprecedently dangerous storm. As tornados proceed to wreak havoc in town, some folks race to save their loved ones while others aim to profit off the destruction, with the plot unfolding through shifting points of view ranging from hillbilly YouTubers to professional camera crews.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Much like Jaws when it comes to shark movies, any tornado-based thriller will inevitably wind up being compared to Jan de Bont’s Twister. And with a “definitive” take on the subject already in existence, the smartest thing a filmmaker can do to shake up the formula is change how this kind of story is presented.
This is precisely why I think Into the Storm deserves a lot more credit for daring to remix familiar genre beats in ways that make them feel fresh again. Not only does the more intimate perspective enhance the existing thrills of watching characters attempt to survive ridiculously powerful tornados, but it also makes everything feel that much more believable – and consequently scarier.
I mean, the original script was already based on Garner and Swetnam’s fascination with the ever-increasing amount of raw disaster footage available online (not to mention freak weather phenomena brought on by accelerated climate change), so it feels appropriate that the finished product uses its gritty aesthetic to bring audiences closer to the real horrors of a natural disaster.
The shifting points of view also help to paint a better picture of the chaos and its victims, as it’s much easier to empathize with people when you’re right there in the middle of things alongside the rather than observing them from far away like they’re the inhabitants of a Roland Emmerich-owned ant farm. And while the script admittedly doesn’t do a very good job of fleshing these characters out, a naturally charismatic cast mostly makes up for that.
Lastly, this wouldn’t be much of a disaster flick without a convincing disaster, so it’s fortunate that Into the Storm manages to extract the most out of its relatively “small” budget when it comes to special effects. The digitally recreated whirlwinds are impressive in their own right (especially the larger ones towards the end), but I really appreciate the filmmakers’ choice to invest in a number of practical sets to really sell the extent of the destruction.
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Having practically been raised by video stores and television, I grew up on a steady diet of popular disaster movies. And while I’ve always enjoyed these films, I was never particularly scared by them. The exaggerated spectacle almost always meant that the destruction felt more fun than terrifying, and that’s why I think the subdued thrills of Into the Storm make it worth a watch even though it occasionally stumbles over its own premise.
Like I mentioned earlier, found footage seems naturally suited for telling large-scale stories through a believable lens, and in a post-9/11 world where every angle of every tragedy makes its way online, it makes sense that the scariest way of experiencing a movie about such events is through the eyes of the victims themselves.
We may have seen many of these story beats before (such as comedy relief characters underestimating the danger that they’re in or parents desperately racing to save their irresponsible children in a cautionary tale from hell), but it’s much easier to ignore clichés when the film does such a good job of establishing that doesn’t take place in an exaggerated hyper-reality where Dwayne Johnson will show up to save the day (even if certain characters end up being sucked into a flaming tornado that looks like it came straight out of Doom).
Hell, there’s one particularly horrific scene where an anti-tornado vehicle and its driver get lifted into the air so high that we can see the clear skies beyond the storm, and while this would have felt comical in any other context, the POV presentation turns this moment into a living nightmare as the camera begins to point down and the vehicle enters freefall.
That being said, I’ll be the first to admit that Into the Storm has some serious authenticity issues in the found footage department. From teleporting cameramen to impossible angles and serious continuity blunders (not to mention perfect audio quality in absurdly loud weather conditions), Quale’s lack of commitment to the format often ruins the immersion factor. That’s why I’ve come to appreciate this film as more of a blueprint for future found footage disaster flicks instead of as a great movie in its own right.
At the end of the day, Into the Storm doesn’t even come close to dethroning Twister as the definitive tornado movie, but it doesn’t really have to. Sometimes, a film’s willingness to experiment with familiar ideas is enough to warrant a second look, and I’m thoroughly convinced that found footage fatigue is largely responsible for the flick’s poor critical reception back in 2014. However, if you can overlook some overly-familiar tropes and logical inconsistencies, I still think this weird little disaster flick is worth tracking down.
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
With there being an overlap between wrestling fans and horror fans, it only made sense for WWE Studios to produce See No Evil. And much like The Rock’s Walking Tall and John Cena’s The Marine, this 2006 slasher was designed to jumpstart a popular wrestler’s crossover career; superstar Glenn “Kane” Jacobs stepped out of the ring and into a run-down hotel packed with easy prey. Director Gregory Dark and writer Dan Madigan delivered what the WWE had hoped to be the beginning of “a villain franchise in the vein of Jason, Freddy and Pinhead.” In hindsight, See No Evil and its unpunctual sequel failed to live up to expectations. Regardless of Jacob Goodnight’s inability to reach the heights of horror’s greatest icons, his films are not without their simple slasher pleasures.
See No Evil (previously titled Goodnight and Eye Scream Man) was a last gasp for a dying trend. After all, the Hollywood resurgence of big-screen slashers was on the decline by the mid-2000s. Even so, that first Jacob Goodnight offering is well aware of its genre surroundings: the squalid setting channels the many torturous playgrounds found in the Saw series and other adjacent splatter pics. Also, Gregory Dark’s first major feature — after mainly delivering erotic thrillers and music videos — borrows the mustardy, filthy and sweaty appearance of Platinum Dunes’ then-current horror output. So, visually speaking, See No Evil fits in quite well with its contemporaries.
Despite its mere setup — young offenders are picked off one by one as they clean up an old hotel — See No Evil is more ambitious than anticipated. Jacob Goodnight is, more or less, another unstoppable killing machine whose traumatic childhood drives him to torment and murder, but there is a process to his mayhem. In a sense, a purpose. Every new number in Goodnight’s body count is part of a survival ritual with no end in sight. A prior and poorly mended cranial injury, courtesy of Steven Vidler’s character, also influences the antagonist’s brutal streak. As with a lot of other films where a killer’s crimes are religious in nature, Goodnight is viscerally concerned with the act of sin and its meaning. And that signature of plucking out victims’ eyes is his way of protecting his soul.
Image: The cast of See No Evil enters the Blackwell Hotel.
Survival is on the mind of just about every character in See No Evil, even before they are thrown into a life-or-death situation. Goodnight is processing his inhumane upbringing in the only way he can, whereas many of his latest victims have committed various crimes in order to get by in life. The details of these offenses, ranging from petty to severe, can be found in the film’s novelization. This more thorough media tie-in, also penned by Madigan, clarified the rap sheets of Christine (Christina Vidal), Kira (Samantha Noble), Michael (Luke Pegler) and their fellow delinquents. Readers are presented a grim history for most everyone, including Vidler’s character, Officer Frank Williams, who lost both an arm and a partner during his first encounter with the God’s Hand Killer all those years ago. The younger cast is most concerned with their immediate wellbeing, but Williams struggles to make peace with past regrets and mistakes.
While the first See No Evil film makes a beeline for its ending, the literary counterpart takes time to flesh out the main characters and expound on scenes (crucial or otherwise). The task requires nearly a third of the book before the inmates and their supervisors even reach the Blackwell Hotel. Yet once they are inside the death trap, the author continues to profile the fodder. Foremost is Christine and Kira’s lock-up romance born out of loyalty and a mutual desire for security against their enemies behind bars. And unlike in the film, their sapphic relationship is confirmed. Meanwhile, Michael’s misogyny and bigotry are unmistakable in the novelization; his racial tension with the story’s one Black character, Tye (Michael J. Pagan), was omitted from the film along with the repeated sexual exploitation of Kira. These written depictions make their on-screen parallels appear relatively upright. That being said, by making certain characters so prickly and repulsive in the novelization, their rare heroic moments have more of an impact.
Madigan’s book offers greater insight into Goodnight’s disturbed mind and harrowing early years. As a boy, his mother regularly doled out barbaric punishments, including pouring boiling water onto his “dangling bits” if he ever “sinned.” The routine maltreatment in which Goodnight endured makes him somewhat sympathetic in the novelization. Also missing from the film is an entire character: a back-alley doctor named Miles Bennell. It was he who patched up Goodnight after Williams’ desperate but well-aimed bullet made contact in the story’s introduction. Over time, this drunkard’s sloppy surgery led to the purulent, maggot-infested head wound that, undoubtedly, impaired the hulking villain’s cognitive functions and fueled his violent delusions.
Image: Dan Madigan’s novelization for See No Evil.
An additional and underlying evil in the novelization, the Blackwell’s original owner, is revealed through random flashbacks. The author described the hotel’s namesake, Langley Blackwell, as a deviant who took sick pleasure in defiling others (personally or vicariously). His vile deeds left a dark stain on the Blackwell, which makes it a perfect home for someone like Jacob Goodnight. This notion is not so apparent in the film, and the tie-in adaptation says it in a roundabout way, but the building is haunted by its past. While literal ghosts do not roam these corridors, Blackwell’s lingering depravity courses through every square inch of this ill-reputed establishment and influences those who stay too long.
The selling point of See No Evil back then was undeniably Kane. However, fans might have been disappointed to see the wrestler in a lurking and taciturn role. The focus on unpleasant, paper-thin “teenagers” probably did not help opinions, either. Nevertheless, the first film is a watchable and, at times, well-made straggler found in the first slasher revival’s death throes. A modest budget made the decent production values possible, and the director’s history with music videos allowed the film a shred of style. For meatier characterization and a harder demonstration of the story’s dog-eat-dog theme, though, the novelization is worth seeking out.
Jen and Sylvia Soska, collectively The Soska Sisters, were put in charge of 2014’s See No Evil 2. This direct continuation arrived just in time for Halloween, which is fitting considering its obvious inspiration. In place of the nearly deserted hospital in Halloween II is an unlucky morgue receiving all the bodies from the Blackwell massacre. Familiar face Danielle Harris played the ostensible final girl, a coroner whose surprise birthday party is crashed by the resurrected God’s Hand Killer. In an effort to deliver uncomplicated thrills, the Soskas toned down the previous film’s heavy mythos and religious trauma, as well as threw in characters worth rooting for. This sequel, while more straightforward than innovative, pulls no punches and even goes out on a dark note.
The chances of seeing another See No Evil with Kane attached are low, especially now with Glenn Jacobs focusing on a political career. Yet there is no telling if Jacob Goodnight is actually gone, or if he is just playing dead.
Image: Katharine Isabelle and Lee Majdouba’s characters don’t notice Kane’s Jacob Goodnight character is behind them in See No Evil 2.
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