New York Volcano

Matt (Costas Mandylor) works in the underground pipelines of New York City, with a lot of other brave men and women. Usually, when the ground trembles, it means that the subway is passing overhead. But, one day, disaster strikes. Hot steam shoots out of some pipes and kills three of his co-workers. What is going on? Unfortunately, a misguided scientist, Dr. Levering (Michael Ironside) has been working on a geothermal experiment, at a local politician's urging. Although Levering thinks he has his bases covered, the deep drilling breaks into a magma layer, complete with fire and steam. Soon, a gentleman in Queens, who is working on his lawn, gets incinerated with a blast of flames from a sewer hole. Into the mess comes Dr. Susan (Alexandra Paul). She is a geologist and Matt's ex-wife. The mayor has asked her to look into the strange goings on beneath the earth. Natually, the two former spouses butt heads a few times, although Matt respects Susan's opinion. Will they save the city from more disaster? This film has some intriguing concepts but just a so-so delivery. Also, it has some rather violent scenes of death and destruction and may not be for everyone. However, the acting is rather good and so are the effects. But, the story is sometimes hard to follow, the lines are typical and the direction a wee bit above average. If you are a fan of disaster or science fiction films, by all means, seek this one out. Despite its weaknesses, it beats reruns every time.

This movie should be banned and the editors/producers blacklisted; the use of 9/11 footage to represent the volcano is both offensive and unprofessional. I love the "no animals were harmed" line at the end; apparently it's okay to show 3700 people, some of whom I knew, dying, apparently.

There are at least three scenes I saw where 9/11 footage was used; if the special effects look fake, they're made for the movie; if they look real, well, that's our friends and family members dying.

BUT that's not why it should be banned. It should be banned because it's actually **lamer** than the usual schlock Sci-Fi puts out... not quite down to the level of "the Langoliers" or "Dragon King" but darn close. Somebody clearly watched "Volcano" and "24" while writing, filming, and editing this movie, since its obviously trying to emulate them. I can forgive the bad circa-1985 special effects; everything else is so bad it's not even funny to laugh at.

This is about a group of underground tunnel workers in NY who come across some molten lava while digging a new sewer. There's also a mad scientist who's conducting experiments in geo-thermal power which involves digging deep into the earth and using the heat to power a generator or something. That's what causes the volcano to start erupting. The woman who comes to investigate for the government just happens to be the ex-wife of the tunnel digger, and of course we run through the usual cliché of them disliking each other and then getting back together over the course of the movie. There's also a lot of time spent as some federal bureau comes in, shuts down the work of our heroes, and blames the whole thing on terrorists. Yes, someone has to stand in the way of our heroes doing what must be done, if for no other reason than that it's in the handbook of required clichés for disaster movies.

Overall, it's just insanely cheesy and silly, with lines like "They're screwing with the pressure of the Earth's crust". Another scene involves lava erupting out of a guy's house and killing 70 people, but the authorities are apparently too stupid to notice the lava (I would think it would be painfully obvious), so they think it was a terrorist bomb. I also got a kick out of how a wood frame house could contain molten lava - until the guy opens the door! The special effects are funny throughout the whole movie, it adds a certain B movie charm I suppose. I especially liked the part where a single pistol round is all that's required to reroute the lava from one tunnel to another. The acting is pretty spotty, the evil genius guy is prone to scenery chewing, and one of the female characters manages to pull off Mexican, Italian and Czechoslovakian accents over the course of her performance. The two main characters turn in good enough performances.

I say this is not too terrible - for a disaster movie - because there's no sappy melodrama involving kids, pregnant women, sanctimonious paramedics, or inner city gang members. There's no speech by the black or female president at the end saying "we should have listened to the environmentalists". And best of all, there's no little girl looking at a bunch of people covered in volcanic ash and saying "Look mommy, they're all the same color". Oddly enough, for a disaster movie, the "special" effects actually serve as a backdrop for the story, not the other way around. But still it's just so tiresomely predictable that it's hard to make it through to the end.

Have I seen worse than Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York? Yes I have. Is it good? No, in fact it is really bad, at least in my opinion. The only reason why I haven't rated it any lower is that the acting is a little above average, though nothing great, especially from Michael Ironside. Everything else however was a mess, I was shocked at how bad the camera work and music were. The camera work was very distracting, almost as though it was trying to show off how many camera techniques it could do rather than compliment everything else, and I felt very dizzy watching it. The music isn't much better, very overbearing, in-your-face and completely devoid of any subtlety. The script is cheesy and forced more times than not, the story was decent enough in concept was very predictable and suspense-less in execution and the characters are no more different than the stereotypes that are here, there and everywhere in SyFy's movies. All in all, a near-disaster of a movie, where both my eyes and ears were feeling sensitive by the end. 2/10 Bethany Cox

This is the worst type of filming I have ever seen in my entire life. The person who filmed it kept zooming the camera in and out like they were investigative reporters. If you feel you wish to watch this movie, I would strongly suggest saving yourself the 97mins of your life and do something more productive. My personal rating for terrible acting and garbage filming: one(1) out of ten(10).

I had to sign up just to make a comment regarding this movie because I definitely wasted my money and my time on it and here I am doing what I can to save others the time and grief. Good luck! sorry if you feel in any way this is spam but I don't feel to write anymore things in relation to this crap movie. If I get banned/blacklisted, at least it will be for a good cause to warn others before hand!