Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York (2006) (TV)

Director:

Robert Lee

Writer:

Sarah Watson (writer)

Release Date:

25 February 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Get ready for a hot time in the Big City.

Plot:

Illegal experimentation accidentally rips open a previously unknown hidden magma reserve directly under Manhattan!

Cast

Costas Mandylor	...	Matt
Michael Ironside	...	Levering
Alexandra Paul	...	Susan
Michael Boisvert	...	Ace
Eric Breker	...	RJ
Ron Selmour	...	Frank
Pascale Hutton	...	Karen
Zak Santiago	...	Jose
Robert Moloney	...	Jacob
Kaj-Erik Eriksen	...	Joey
Matthew Bennett	...	Agent Walters
Andrew Kavadas	...	Tommy
Kevin McNulty	...	Neil Kavanagh
William MacDonald	...	Site Director
Tom Heaton	...	Hal
William S. Taylor	...	Mayor (as William Taylor)
Claire Riley	...	Newscaster
Louis Chirillo	...	Paulie
Rob Morton	...	Home Owner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jimmy Martins	...	Policeman (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Lee

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sarah Watson		writer

Produced by
Jaye Gazeley	....	line producer
Harvey Kahn	....	executive producer
Harvey Kahn	....	producer
Robert Lee	....	producer
Fernando Szew	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Michael Richard Plowman

Cinematography by
Adam Sliwinski

Film Editing by
Bethany Handfield

Casting by
Lindsay Chag

Production Design by
Michael Nemirsky

Set Decoration by
George Neuman

Costume Design by
Andrea Desroches

Makeup Department
Sarah Bakker	....	special makeup effects artist
Vanessa Giles	....	key makeup artist
Rachel Jones	....	key hair stylist
Ryan Nicholson	....	prosthetic effects designer
Sande Rees	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Christina Bulbrook	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eunice Choi	....	third assistant director
Douglas Mitchell	....	first assistant director
Ivana Siska	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Evan Allen	....	props
Rich Priske	....	set dresser
Jordan Roberts	....	on-set dresser

Sound Department
Anke Bakker	....	sound supervisor
Kris Casavant	....	sound effects editor
David M. Cyr	....	sound mixer
Dave Hibbert	....	sound re-recording mixer
Gord Hillier	....	sound re-recording mixer
Graeme Hughes	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andre Iwanchuk	....	adr editor
Andre Iwanchuk	....	dialogue editor
Tony Kucenski	....	adr engineer
Philip J. MacCormick	....	boom operator
Glen Noseworthy	....	adr mixer
Todd R. Mason	....	foley editor (uncredited)
Todd R. Mason	....	sound effects recordist (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Mark Rasmussen	....	visual effects supervisor

Stunts
Brett Armstrong	....	stunt coordinator
Gerald Paetz	....	stunt double: Costas Mandylor

Camera and Electrical Department
Dan Basaraba	....	dolly grip
Bill Baxter	....	gaffer
Simon Bayley	....	lamp operator
John Brown	....	lamp operator
Raimey Casiro	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera
James M. Jackson	....	lamp operator
Martin Kostian	....	grip
Todd MacLand	....	best boy electric
Lee Mills	....	lamp operator
Craig Perell	....	grip
Levi Woods	....	trainee assistant camera
Darek Wyszynski	....	first assistant camera

Casting Department
Larkin MacKenzie-Ast	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Karen Anshelm	....	truck costumer

Transportation Department
John Sorenson	....	driver: cast

Other crew
Christina Bulbrook	....	production coordinator
Cathy Fullerton	....	production assistant
David S. Fullerton	....	assistant location manager
Warren Dean Fulton	....	set key production assistant
Nancy Heller	....	assistant accountant
Reggie Hubble	....	production office assistant
Tracy Lai	....	laboratory technician
Hyla Nicholson	....	production office assistant
Svatia Sakarova	....	accountant
Shane B. Scott	....	script supervisor
Denise Szabo	....	craft service
Denise Szabo	....	first aid

Production Companies

• Front Street Productions
• Lava Lane Productions Ltd.

Distributors

• Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2007) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Marvista Entertainment (2005) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sci-Fi Channel, The (2005) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Core: Boiling Point (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Front Street Productions

Movie Connections:

References Volcano (1997)

Unrelenting camera jiggle, unending underscore, dead-ear dialog...DZ:ViNW has it ALL!

Someone should write a book on how to make a Sci-Fi original movie. And Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York could be chapter one.

First question to the film makers: there were two fairly good Hollywood volcano movies in the 1990s. They weren't classic suspense / disaster films, but they had some ripping moments, good popcorn stuff. Did you really decide to make DZ:ViNW inferior to those films in every category? I mean, it must have been a conscious decision because that is the end product. It succeeds on not a single level.

Second question: since you have no inkling of how to build suspense, can't you admit that to yourself and give yourself an education; couldn't you at least hunker down with a dozen Hitchcock films and study how a master does it? He doesn't hit you over the head with LOTS of shouting of inanities ("It's going to blow," "We've got to get out of here," etc.) or have music hitting EVERY SINGLE MOMENT with some scene-to-scene scoring? Music is a spice, not the whole meal. DZ:ViNW's use of music is like chewing gritty pepper.

Did I mention "hitting"? My eyeballs were hit and hit and hit again with the most "look at me" use of photographic annoyances extant. Jiggle zoom in. Jiggle zoom out. Jiggle pan. Jiggle. Jiggle. Jiggle. And do it all every single second. It doesn't look like hand-held, either. It looks like the camera was attached to a rock polisher, a cake mixer, a pile driver – whatever was handy that could make the viewer queasy, annoyed, and distracted. So much for mounting tension.

And the poor actors (actually some pretty good actors). This brings me to question three: why not make it a silent picture since you have no ear for dialogue or how people actually speak and act in dramatic situations? Seriously, the best actors in the world can't make lead look like diamonds. Of course, caring about these actors in their roles is a joke. No matter how close they are to searing death, no matter how precarious their emotional circumstances, I could only chuckle.

To summarize: DZ:VINW is really no worse, no better than the other under-shoe feculence of the Sci-Fi Channel (not counting it's rather good series, Stargate and Battlestar).

I'm sure the film makers are nice people and will do good work elsewhere. But there's something about the Sci-Fi Channel that contractually forces talent to make dreck.