Cyclone (1978)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

René Cardona Jr.

Writers:

René Cardona Jr. (writer)
Carlos Valdemar (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1978 (Mexico)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

If the storm doesn't kill you... the sharks will! Who will survive?

Plot:

An airplane goes down in the ocean during a storm and a few survivors find refuge on a small tour boat...

Plot Keywords:

Shark Attack | One Word Title | Independent Film

Cast

Arthur Kennedy	...	The Priest
Carroll Baker	...	Sheila
Lionel Stander	...	Taylor
Andrés García	...	Andrés
Hugo Stiglitz	...	Pilot
Mário 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
Alejandro Ciangherotti		(as Alejandro Chianguerotti)
Estela Piquer
Mário Arévalo	...	Carmelo
Alberto Arvizu
Roberto Schlosser
Federico Falcón
Edith González	...	Tiersa
Fernando Palavicini
Mike Moroff	...	Mickey (as Miguel Burceaga)
Guadalupe Barrera
Manuel Berrio
Gerardo Zepeda		(as Gerardo Cepeda)
Oliverio Maciel
Erika Carlsson	...	Tanya
Leo Villanueva
Miguel Ángel Gómez
Martha Fuentes
Angélica Fernández
Patricia Vidal
Gerardo Castell
Jose Manuel Perez
Yolanda Ponce

Directed by
René Cardona Jr.

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
René Cardona Jr.		writer
Carlos Valdemar		writer

Original Music by
Riz Ortolani

Cinematography by
León Sánchez

Film Editing by
Alfredo Rosas Priego

Other crew
David C. Hayes	....	liner notes

Production Companies

• Corporación Nacional Cinematográfica (CONACINE)
• Productora Filmica Real

Distributors

• 905 Entertainment
• Alpha Video Distributors
• CMV Laservision (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• K & C Video (Australia) (video)
• Synapse Films (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Screen Time Images  film restoration

Also Known As:

Ciclón (Mexico)
Terror Storm (USA) (video title)
Tornado

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

100 min | USA:118 min (international version)

Country:

Mexico | USA | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (DVD rating) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Company:

Corporación Nacional Cinematográfica (CONACINE)

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.