A good cast composed of war and sci fi veterans (Ironside) and up and coming talent (Midkiff, Carter, Toersz, Jostyn, etc) is assembled in this medium-low budget disaster film. The plot completely lacks any scientific plausibility, but tries pretty hard to generate a modicum of believability and suspense anyway. Essentially, the air force has been developing a secret weapon capable of producing or controlling an incredibly violent storm. This weapon involves flying a large aircraft into a hurricane at high speed. Just as the project is shut down, a stealth meteor has a near miss with earth and stirs up a super-storm which will make the East coast of North America uninhabitable for hundreds of years, if not forever. Note that the 'black comet (sic)' is apparently undetected by our planet's multitude of astronomers because it is black!!!! I am not kidding. So, the pilot and scientist who lead the original Stormfury team are reluctantly recalled to reverse-engineer the storm. A few subplots are tossed in for seasoning. Essentially, the plot combines poor comprehension of a number of legitimate contemporary concerns with a variety of pop environmental paranoias and adds Michael Ironside.
The film is not quite as bad as "The Day After Tomorrow" but don't get me wrong - it's still pretty bad. The acting is mostly good. The directing, editing, effects and cinematography are adequate - though not particularly interesting. Philip Roth produced and directed, drawing on his very rapidly growing repertoire of mediocre low-budget action and sci fi films to good advantage. Roth knows how to crank 'em out and keep 'em under-budget. Given the idiocy of the story line, this would have been a far greater disaster under less competent management. The script is pretty flat and limits character development but keeps everything moving and doesn't lose focus.
Just out of curiosity I did a wee bit of research on DEJ Productions. You might want to follow in my tracks. The Company has an amazing productivity and has been responsible for a vast array of low-mid budget films which span many genres. Among their portfolio you might notice the 2005 Academy Award winner "Crash". No connection, just a fun and fruity factoid.
