Cyclone (1978)

An airplane goes down in the ocean during a storm and a few survivors find refuge on a small tour boat. Swept out to sea, these people slowly starve to death in the hot sun with barely any ... See full summary »

Director:

René Cardona Jr.

Writers:

René Cardona Jr., Carlos Valdemar

Stars:

Arthur Kennedy, Carroll Baker, Lionel Stander

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arthur Kennedy	...	The Priest
Carroll Baker	...	Sheila
Lionel Stander	...	Taylor
Andrés García	...	Andrés
Hugo Stiglitz	...	Pilot
Mario Almada	...	Pitorro
Olga Karlatos	...	Monica
Stefania D'Amario	...	Linda, the stewardess (as Stefania D. Mario)
Milton Rodríguez
René Cardona III	...	Thomas (as Al Coster)
Carlos East
Ricardo Carrión
René Cardona	...	(as Rene Cardona Mr.)
Jorge Victoria
Ricardo Noriega

Storyline

An airplane goes down in the ocean during a storm and a few survivors find refuge on a small tour boat. Swept out to sea, these people slowly starve to death in the hot sun with barely any food or clean water. With no place to turn, the boat survivors resort to cannibalism to stay alive...that is ..until the rescue planes come to pick them up and the man eating sharks decide its time to eat as well.

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Plot Keywords:

shark | dog killed | dog | shark attack | one word title | 

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Taglines:

The Violent Storm Was Only the Beginning ... The Sharks Would Be the Merciless End!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and violent/disturbing images

Details

Country:

Mexico USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 1978 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Terror Storm

Filming Locations:

Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corporación Nacional Cinematográfica (CONACINE), Productora Filmica Real

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 118 min (international)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Fisher King (1991)

User Reviews

A whirlwind of boredom

René Cardona Jr made the overlong, boring and trashy shark flick Tintorerra a year before he went to make this overlong, boring and trashy disaster/survival flick with sharks thrown in. I can only imagine that the director was a real big fan of Steven Spielberg's Jaws as this is his second shark flick where sharks are not the main focus, and by rights don't actual have a real part to play in the story. I am thankful to say that he has ditched the soap opera elements of Tintorerra in favour of some more exploitative survival style elements, and it's slightly more interesting; although really the film is a mess and far to boring to entertain. The plot focuses on an airplane full of people that crashes during a storm. The survivors get themselves onto a small boat and are swept out to sea, but it's not long before hunger starts setting in, and this in turn sets off arguments between the survivors as they realise that they have to eat...something. However, their hunger isn't the only thing they are under threat from, as there's sharks in the vicinity too.

The plot actually sounded like it might lead to something decent, and I dare say it would have done in the hands of a decent director. However, René Cardona Jr is obviously not one of those and he manages to turn the whole thing on its head and ensures that nothing about the film is likable. The idea of people being forced into cannibalism is interesting; but the characters are boring and the overall atmosphere is far too impressive for the film to be enjoyable at the same time. There are some real unpleasant scenes in the film, and while this might have pleased some people; they are not done very well at all and a scene that sees a man kill a dog, for example, looks incredibly fake and stupid. The location used is just about the only successful element; as we see the people baking in the hot sun and this helps to get their desperate situation across. Anyone going into this film is liable to be extremely disappointed as there are no sharks at all for most of the film (excluding some stock footage) and they don't appear until the last ten minutes. By then, it would have taken something really special to create some excitement, but predictably; we are only served more disappointment.