Twister's Revenge!

There seem to be only two reactions by reviewers: Gaaaaaaah! (thus its overall 2 rating) and Yay! (burp). I watched it sober, with a few intermissions while doing other things, and found it a good slapstick comedy with acting quite adequate for what it was trying to accomplish. But then Curley Howard is one of my three or four favorite actors. The female lead had a fairly easy role: mostly one of being gagged, bound, and tied to a chair next to a ticking bomb. She also was quite adequate. The monster truck was more than adequate: it was noble, inspiring,overcoming all obstacles; sadly, its eventual tank opponent lacked personality. Delightfully, indeed considerately, all characters, both primary and minor, survived explosions, the houses they occupied being flattened, and numerous other deadly experiences with no worse effects than soiled clothing and temporary confusion. None of the characters, including the tank, could shoot accurately, but this is typical of such movies … unlike the "blood and gore all over the floor, and me without my spoon" ones. The sound on my copy was dreadful, but I've been having trouble with sound on my laptop anyway, so this may not have been the fault of my very inexpensive DVD. Would I watch this again? No, but the once was fun.

Twister's Revenge is one of the most hilarious movies I have ever seen. Absolutely full of bad acting and bad filming. I grew up in Wisconsin, in the very area where all of Bill Rebane's crazy movies were filmed. I have even been to his main location many times as he is my cousin's grandfather and they lived next door to each other when my cousin and I were little kids growing up. I know quite of a few of the extra actors in this zany film about a monster truck with artificial intelligence. Yes, it's a bad movie, but has fantastic value as comic relief when you just don't feel like thinking. I actually have an original tape somewhere. If you're into cheesy plots, half naked women and bad guys with that are definitely not the brightest crayons in the Crayola box, then this movies is for you!

Here's another movie courtesy of Bill Rebane, director of such other cinematic gems as Monster-A-Go-Go and Giant Spider Invasion. In the movie Twister's Revenge we have a talking monster truck which takes on three 2nd grade drop-outs. When the 2nd grade drop-outs fail in their plan to take the truck, they decide to take the pretty lady computer programmer as a hostage instead. Endles footage of a giant truck roaming around the countryside is featured, with it occasionally running over other vehicles and smashing through hillbilly homes and outhouses. Toward the end we are treated to a showdown between the truck ("Twister") and a US Army tank loaded with ammo which happens to be parked off-base for some unexplained reason.

Perhaps if you are seven years old then this movie might be entertaining, but otherwise forget it.

One thing is certain; you probably have not seen this film. I'm not saying it is low budget, but Bill Rebane was director, cinematographer, writer, production designer, editor, producer, camera department member; everything but actor. In fact, most of the actors were probably friends and family. That's OK if you are making a drive-in movie.

Three good old boys, who are five beers short of a six pack, are trying to steal a monster truck - a talking monster truck. Why do people fine this exciting? Watching some big truck run over crushed cars is about as thrilling as watching NASCAR - round and round we go. Whee! Anyway, these boys are dumber than dirt. But, they weren't the only colorful characters in this movie. The patrons of a local biker bar reminded me of that bar in Star Wars.

As expected over 75% of the movie was chase scenes: through the town, through the woods, and through the junkyard with a tank! Lots of shotgun blasting and explosions, but no one ever gets hurt.

This had to be a big hit down in Alabama and Mississippi.

Bill Rebane's an erratic director, eh? I loved the low budget daftness of The Giant Spider Invasion and thought The Game was interesting, if a little dull. My copy of the Alpha Incident is sadly faulty but what I've seen of Demons of Ludlow was pretty impressive. Here, with Twister's Revenge, Rebane takes on comedy, mixes a little Knight Rider in there, adds a bit of Benny Hill and comes up with a film whose enjoyment will depend on the viewer's forgiving nature. Either that or you'll hate it right away.

Twister is a monster truck with a very expensive computer on board, and three hicks want to steal it and sell it. Easier said than done, as the hicks aren't very bright and Twister is very smart. After several failed attempts the hicks get touch, capture the fiancé of Twister's owner, and set off with a bazooka to get the truck. Many buildings explode or get destroyed, cars are crushed, and much slapstick ensues.

Is it good though? I don't know. It's always good to see what folks can do with a low budget, so you've got to give Rebane his credit there, but on the other hand your enjoyment for this film is all down to your tolerance for slapstick. And B-movies. And bad actors.