Volcano - Hölle auf Erden

With a title like Nature Unleashed Volcano and watching the first few minutes of the movie, you'd think you're in store for a volcano-chasing action movie as in Twisters with a chatty flirty perilous couple getting themselves into trouble all over the place.

But things take a sharp turn quite quickly, and volcano photographer Russell returns to his deceased wife's Italy hometown to research her childhood.

Eerily enchanted by a mysterious mute girl vaguely similar in appearance with his deceased wife, Russell makes inquiries with the locals. The head of monastery tells Russell in no uncertain terms to stay clear of devilish girl Angela.

So what does Russell do? THE EXACT OPPOSITE. He becomes literally obsessed with the girl, chasing her all over town, following her into the most potentially comprising quarters - mind you, she's a minor or not much older than a minor - and there he is grabbing her by the shoulders in the depth of a cave.

Of course, Russell continues to ignore everyone's warnings, and the more bizarre Angela acts, oddly, the more Russell is drawn toward her and her cryptic drawings.

For a stretch of the movie, the movie goes full-on The Exorcist. The title frankly does the movie little justice. The movie would have more aptly been titled "The Devil's Prophet" or "The Devil's Volcano."

To the movie's credit, there is a substantial amount of credible action and effects, as well as a large cast of extras, many of whom were falling to the ground on fire - all surprisingly engaging for a movie seemingly of such low budget.

Evocative of Obsession (1976) in many respects, you do wonder if there's a huge twist to be had, or whether Angela and her mom actually were struck by lightning or perhaps there was some foul play from the monastery. But no. Perhaps that would have been too clever.

In the end, frankly, it's a little hard to believe Russell didn't scoop adorable misunderstood Angela up and "take her back to the States" where he could "give her the beautiful life she deserves"...considering how he literally risked his life multiple times to keep her out of harm's way.

That aftermath would have made for an interesting movie.

Well, remember those stupid flicks from the seventies and early eighties? When the special effects fire didn't really look like fire and whenever something looked real it was obvious that it wasn't taken at the same place? IT'S BACK! This movie makes the 80's version of king kong look like the 2000's version of king kong, and I'm not joking! People get hit by flaming rocks and only bounce back a little (seen only from behind) and so on. But then there's the plot. It's even worse! I won't even truly comment on it, I will just warn you, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME ON EARTH! It's really one of the worst ever, and I LIKE B-movies!

Any volcano movie would have lava that would decimate anything touched. But The Volcano Disaster says "No!" to that. The lava in here is completely natural and not just shows real lava repeatedly, but also shows very runny sentient lava with almost a mind of it's own. And no movie would give someone the power to control a volcano's rage. You've never saw lava better than this. The fear of volcanoes is back. When a girl is forced given the power of her mother's volcanic spirit which erupts into life soon after the danger limit has exceeded, a young Italian volcanologist suspects disaster when a dormant volcano shows signs of reactivation and must save the town before danger exceeds past the limit. Join Chris William Martin on his quest to save the town from his deceased wife who now wants revenge on the town that saw her as an outcast. Lava has never been this hot so don't miss the action. You'll thank the director for this action packed movie with a sentient volcano, but watch your house. You may just find lava living underneath it. Who knew volcanoes were sentient? No one. You'll have a blast. Just don't let that blast be your bathroom sink or you'll have a meltdown.

Well... uh... oh. The first half is very boring, the second half is... just absurd. It looks like "The Exorcist vs. Eruption of St Helens". Or something like action version of German love movies. Or something like that. Unbelievable characters, poor effects... I have been especially shocked by something that looked like very bad science mixed with mysticism or devil possession or whatever it has been. I just don't get this, I think you shall not mix something real (like volcano) with something like possession. Well, there may be some warnings, but this... this has been just pathetic. What a waste of time, what a waste of my recorder's HDD space (just joking, I have erased this mess already).

Most of the movie is some guy visiting his late wife's home town in Italy. Apparently, she has been trying to contact him from beyond the grave, and some wide eyed pixie in the town is receiving her psychic broadcasts. But, like always in these "Message from Beyond" stories, the message is always incoherent. The medium the dead wife chooses: some girl who has never spoken since surviving a near-death experience. And she paints pictures like a little kid's exercises with finger paint. Sound like Dragonfly? It is, but even cheesier.

The old cliché of a town in danger with an obnoxious leader is used, of course. A priest is the bad guy du jour who ignores constant prophecies of doom, and thinks the girl needs an afternoon at the exorcism salon. You'll see random images that in the end prove to be meaningless, lots of confused people skulking around, and an evacuation sequence that looks like a kindergarten playground at recess.

Some of the actors really try (the priest and the mute girl are actually pretty good in their roles), but are caught up in a looping plot that never goes anywhere. Mercifully, nature's fury is eventually unleashed, making everything else that happened pretty much pointless. For a boring weekend afternoon only.