Stonados (2013)

I laughed when I first heard about this film, I knew right away I had to watch it. I don't know if Stonados was meant to be a ripoff or homage to Sharknado since there are so many connections that can be made between the two films, one big noticeable connection is the ending where a vehicle with explosives is driven into the tornado to destroy it. Ripoff or not this film is amusing like Sharknado though in my opinion Stonados is slightly better in overall quality.The idea of tornadoes of throwing large stones sounds interesting, but it sounds more interesting you add in the part where the stones explodes, that's where your expectations goes up even more.In the end I've enjoyed this film, it's fun tongue-in-cheek entertainment.

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.

Okay, I have no idea what "Sharknado" is, but I looked it up and this movie technically came out before Sharknado, it was only held back from being released because of a problem going on in Boston (where this movie takes place), so now that that's out of the way and reviewers stop thinking that this movie is a rip-off, here's what I think of Stonados.Stonados isn't some major-motion picture spectacular box office hit, it's a Sy-Fy TV movie from Vancouver. It doesn't have the best script or dialogue. To be honest though, I really liked it. I'm so glad that Stonados didn't bring in the enviro-hippie propaganda garbage by saying that the disaster was caused by global warming and pollution. The story was interesting and the acting wasn't bad, in fact William B. Davis (playing the role of Ben the lighthouse keeper) is my favorite actor and I've seen him in other movies and as the Cigarette Smoking Man in The X-Files, he and every other actor in this movie did an excellent job, given what they had to work with. The soundtrack wasn't bad and the special effects were a little lame but not as bad as in Dark Storm (2006) or Chernobyl Diaries (2012). If there's any two disaster movies you want to avoid, it's those ones, not Stonados.I do have to point out one thing; the intro scene is HILARIOUS! The tour guide lady getting sucked up into the tornado and the hysterical screaming of the old man standing next to her wasn't meant to be funny, but I ended up laughing, so did my little brother. Speaking of my little brother, he's 11, and this movie was totally safe for him to watch, so if you're looking for a horror movie for your kids with no nudity, no gore, etc. this one is a good choice. I think the worst word in it was "damn".

Right from the very beginning you know what you are getting yourself into here and knowing what you are going to get. I mean, with a title like "Stonados", isn't it rather obvious? And only on the SyFy Channel would something like this see the light of day."Stonados" is most definitely not amongst the top notch of disaster movies. Far from it, actually. Why? Well, the storyline itself was just rubbish, there was no motivation, no properly coherent red thread throughout the movie. It all just seemed like a bunch of randomness put together and it turned out as this movie.The dialogue in the movie was just plain bad. The actors and actresses didn't really have much to work with here. The storyline was against them, the dialogue was against them, and of course, the CGI effects were against them.The actors and actresses themselves were actually doing good enough jobs with their limited material they had to work with. So thumbs up for that at least.The entire movie just seems pointless and not very entertaining. If you enjoy disaster movies, then there are far better ones available, and amongst those even some also aired from the SyFy Channel.