Stonados

You know what you gonna get when you start to watch these D-Movies (even worst than a C-Movie, which is already worst than a B-Movie...) :

Bad acting; Bad screenplay; Bad dialogues; Bad visual effects; Bad story lines; Bad editing; and stupid children;

To summarize : Bad...Everything!

Well folks, this thing has it all AND WORST ! In fact, the only good thing about this dud is it's length : 88 minutes. Short enough you'll think but you'll find yourself wondering what else you could've achieve in 88 minutes...

Stonados is so bad that I would prefer to get a colonoscopy instead of having to watch it again...

Yup! That bad...

Dice997

Stonados (2013)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly but entertaining film from SyFy has Massacusettes coming under attack from tornadoes but these aren't your typical ones. No, these tornadoes have sucked up Plymouth Rock and now they are shooting large stones all over the state but even worse is that these stones blow up after a few seconds causing more damage. STONADOS is being called a rip-off of SHARKNADO but it should be noted that this film was made first and was set to air in April but due to the Boston Marathon bombing the station held its release. With that said, the film for the most part is pretty fun as director Jason Bourque manages to do a nice job at keeping the viewer entertained. I think it's always important not to let the action stop in a picture like this and the director doesn't let that happen and in fact it goes by pretty fast. The entire film has a very good pacing, which is a major plus and it also doesn't hurt that the entire thing isn't taken overly serious. The film offers up some better-than-you'd-expect performances from Paul Johansson, Thea Gill, Sebastian Spence, Jessica McLoud and William B. Davis. Another plus is that the special effects are slightly better-than-average but please don't go in expecting Oscar-winning work. The effects are all obviously fake but they're certainly much better than you normally see on SyFy. The one strange thing is that the gore level is at zero and I really don't recall there being a single drop of blood. I'm not saying this here is a bad thing but it's quite rare for one of these movies. Fans of the disaster genre should find enough here to keep them entertained just as long as they don't take it too serious or expect too much.

After the surprise success of Asylum's SHARKNADO, the current trend for these B-movie disaster/monster combos seems to be tornadoes mixed with something else. STONADOS has to be one of the silliest of these ideas, as it's a film where tornadoes are mixed with stones due to some ancient prophecy or some such. It's all nonsense anyway, because tons of people are killed when tornadoes lift debris off the ground and chuck it at them, so why bother with this whole stone angle?

Needless to say that this SyFy Channel production is pretty much devoid of any kind of originality or sense. It stars B-movie stalwart Sebastian Spence (CRASH SITE: A FAMILY IN DANGER) as a journalist who makes it his job to chase storms; inevitably he teams up with the usual group of officials/scientists/investigators to try to track down the menace before too many people are killed. William B. Davis (BEHEMOTH) also shows up as an old timer with a budgie in one of the film's many random sub-plots.

STONADOS is a mish-mash of disaster staples, all of them played out enthusiastically, if without much in the way of skill or discernible talent on the part of those involved. The CGI effects aren't quite bottom of the barrel stuff here, but they're still a far cry from those in THE AVENGERS, for instance. STONADOS is very much par for the course for this sub-genre.

'Stonados' are appearing near Boston, i.e. tornadoes which are throwing stones (or exploding ice cubes). A science teacher and a TV journalist try to warn the population and develop a theory what's causing the storm. Two kids are meanwhile not staying home as daddy told them, but they are going to a stadium that will have to be evacuated before the storm arrives.

The advantage of a disaster movie where they don't have to save the whole planet, but just one city, is that it can tell the story in a more personal way. This is basically a movie for the whole family about a guy who saves his two teenage kids. Nothing extraordinary, but watchable. The funniest moment is when the woman accuses the weather guy of a poor forecast and is immediately killed by a falling stone - clearly a meteorologist's vengeful fantasy. Miranda Frigon from 'Primeval: New World' was the only actor I recognized, she plays the police officer helping the scientist and falling in love with the journalist. Besides, I noticed one cliché that recently appeared a lot in disaster movies: if a camera operator tries to get close to the Dangerous Thing for a good shot, he is always killed. What is it with camera operators that script writers don't like? And where is the trade union when you need them?

Realistic and cool movie. Good actors and great screening.