Killer Flood: The Day the Dam Broke

This is one of those made-for-TV B movies that is so awful it kind of endears.

Bad acting, predictable script and cheesy special effects that were pretty much some of the cheapest tat seen make you have to keep watching to see if it gets any better.

It doesn't!

Got to watch this last night after recording it a few days ago. Quite a good show I must say, even though the plot is shallow and predictable. The visual effects were quite impressive for a made-for-TV movie. The stars were not very popular except for one, who I last saw him in prime-time series many years ago on local station. There were moments of adrenalin pumping on certain scenes that kept us glued to our seats. The view of the dam overlooking the town below was breathtaking. There was a movie a few years ago which depicted a killer flood too, but can't remember the title. They were more of night scenes than day scenes, which was quite forgettable, so Killer Flood is better. Overall, a good attempt. Two thumbs up!!

I might be easy to please but I found this to be an okay film. Being a fan of the 'Disaster film' I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the special effects. However let us be honest the plot as with most disaster movies is thus. One person sees the disaster coming and the rest do not. His/her personal life is a mess but the disaster does bring the family closer together. I know their are some of you that are reaching for the sick bag, but hey that is the formula for disaster movies so get used to it. At least in this movie we did not have the cute children caught up in the disaster. I am probably a romantic so if the right guy gets the girl and the bad guy gets his just desserts then I am happy and that was I got with this film. The important question? Is this film good enough for my DVD collection ( that is assuming it was available)? yes but only at a real bargain price.

There's nothing wrong with this film, if it had been made 20 years before. As a late '70's early '80's disaster film it would be pretty average for a member of the genre. However, coming in 2003 it's simply obviously dated, full of clichés, bad acting, terrible special effects, has an obvious and hackneyed plot, and is barely worth watching.

There's the Baddie developer, who broke all the rules, secretly stashed a lot of money, blamed the architect - who was too stupid to notice that he wasn't to blame - spent all the money from a contract before it had been signed, has everybody in the town in his pocket (except for the ex-wife of the architect). Phew! I'm sure there are more clichés about the character, but my fingers are getting tired.

There's the hero architect, who comes back to defend his reputation, try to make it up with his estranged son and wife, does everything he can to save the town, finds redemption, doesn't die. Yada, yada, yada.

When the water flows through the town it's obviously a bucket of water superimposed on shots of the town, or a cup of water and some models.

As I said, if this film had been made before 1985 it would have been a lot more acceptable. To have made a film of such low quality in the 21st Century is a travesty.

I suppose I SHOULD include a -spoiler warning-.

First off, I lived in Rutland for nine years (taking care of an elderly parent).

It's really an awful town. Calling it the vermin infested crotch of New England would not be too unkind.

So with every Edgewood/Porchlight film that destroyed Rutland shown on PAX-TV, I was cheering.

But this film, Jeebus! There's no place anywhere NEAR Rutland where you could put a dam, OR the reservoir that would back up behind the dam.

This is the kind of film that Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have brutally eviscerated. The effects were pathetic, as was the story and acting.

All in all, just don't even bother.

And to the gentleman in the U.K., really, you should have broken the disk in half before you binned it. There's a slight chance the dustman might have spotted it, thought to himself, "My lucky day! A free movie!" brought it home, viewed it, and then, realizing he was that much closer to the grave, bitterly regretting losing that 90 minutes of his life, 90 minutes he will never get back and has now sworn vengeance upon the person who binned that DVD.

Yeah, it's THAT BAD!