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6 Degrees Entertainment

Apocalypse 4 in 1 Collection' [2-Disc]
(Tracey Gold, Edward Furlong, Bug Hall, Stacy Keach, Ethan Phillips, Danny Trejo, et al / 2-DVD / NR / 2019 / Mill Creek Entertainment)

Overview: It's a storm of epic proportions when 4 apocalyptic disaster movies come together in one cataclysmic collection.

DVD Verdict: 'Arachnoquake' (2012, NR) - Edward Furlong, Tracey Gold, Bug Hall, Dane Rhodes, and Ethan Phillips. An earthquake in New Orleans opens up a series of fissures around the city. A family discovers there is a greater danger at hand: a species of giant fire-breathing spiders has evolved deep underground, and the seismic activity has awoken them from hibernation and allowed them to cause mayhem on the surface.

An uncommon earthquake strikes New Orleans and leaves some huge cracks in the earth. City officials must be on vacation, because these holes are unattended.

Or, it's possible city workers have been attacked by a side effect of the earthquake, while arriving with their orange cones and yellow "caution" tape.

These would be an increasing army of creepy, cartoon-like spiders. These creatures start out smaller than an egg, but they get bigger as the movie progresses.

Fire seems to stop them dead in their tracks, but they also emit fire of their own. Very soon, the city of New Orleans is crawling with spiders.

In fact, they must be stopped, before they suck the life out of everyone in the cast!

As far as cheap SyFy TV movies go, this one isn't too bad. Knowing how this sort of assignment works, director Griff Furst dispenses with mystery and suspense and goes for silliness and excitement.

He earns opening points with an interesting usage of eggs and a truck's mirror. Young women in tight denim shorts are a recurring image. While not scientifically sound ("queen" spider?), the story uses a standard structure. Leading actor Bug Hall (as Paul) is attractive and athletic.

He jumps around like a super-hero and "Bug" is a great name for a Syfy leading man. He also acts very convincing in the opening, as a still slightly buzzed young man leaving a "one night stand" sex pick-up.

While not billed first, Mr. Hall is definitely the star of 'Arachnoquake'. Two billed above Hall in the credits are Tracey Gold as an asthmatic zoology schoolteacher and Edward Furlong as a school bus driver.

This must be because Ms. Gold and Mr. Furlong were considered bigger stars. Others in the cast have more fun. Arguably, Hall's main co-star is Olivia Hardt (as Petra).

In the tight denim shorts contest, she comes in second. This story should have been improved by combining the two buses into one group. Everyone could have fit quite comfortably in Hall's tour bus.

Also, it's strange that nobody in the crew knew much about spiders. Granted, they don't breathe fire, either though, so hey-ho!

'Ghostquake' (2013, NR) - Danny Trejo, Charisma Carpenter, and M.C. Gainey. Teenagers become trapped in their high-school by the ghost of a former principal, who has returned from the dead seeking revenge.

The evil spirit's grandson and the mysterious janitor must fight to save the students from a sinister fate.

Given this is a SyFy Channel movie, the movie already have odds stacked against it! But every now and then these original SyFy Channel movies do surprise.

However, I will say that 'Ghostquake' (aka 'Haunted High') wasn't a surprise. Not even with a nice ensemble of actors and actresses as the movie has.

The story is about an evil headmaster who returns from beyond the grave to wreck havoc, torment and kill students at the high school. And it is up to the janitor and the students to put an end to the vile spirit and his entourage of ghostly followers.

It was so difficult to buy into the whole concept of the movie, because the storyline was so badly constructed and even worse brought to life on the screen.

The ghosts were a little bit too real - too manifested in the flesh - to appear believable as ghosts or supernatural entities. And the death scenes were, most of the time, laughable.

There wasn't really a scare or thrilling moment throughout the entire movie, I'm sad to say - unless you consider seeing Danny Trejo for the first time in the movie as a thrill!

But, and with all that said, for fans of the lower budget horror movies, then there is a good handful of familiar faces to be seen here. At least thumbs up for this ensemble of actors and actresses.

'Miami Magma' (2011, NR) - Rachel Hunter, Cleavant Derricks, and Brad Douriff. This one follows prodigy vulcanologist Antoinette Vitrini and her sister Emily as they attempt to blow the whistle on an illegal oil drilling scheme before it sets off the eruption of a super-volcano directly beneath Miami.

'Miami Magma' (aka 'World On Fire') was a fun movie to watch, chock full of action, dumb ass science, but not bad at all, I'm happy to report!

' Certainly it's not awful science, more like "implausible" for even if one supposed there might be a volcano in Miami the special effects were not in accordance with what one might expect a true volcano to do.

Also, I found the final scene of the movie startling! If it's what I think it was, then it was the final, most implausible special effect of all!

On the other hand, if it were plausible, then it wouldn't be much of a movie, more like a docudrama perhaps!

The characters were what made the movie interesting, though even there it seemed that people were acting in contradiction to one another. I mean, one minute a character is acting moral and wants to do the right thing, the next, they are willing to throw everything they just said out the window for a cut of the proceeds!

Another character has a history of being dishonest, then suddenly they have a conscience. A young woman is flaunting herself then suddenly she becomes mature! But hey, I guess it was the inconsistencies that amused me more than anything.

'Weather Wars' (2011, NR) - Jason London, Wes Brown, Erin Cahill, and Stacy Keach. The two estranged sons of a once-renowned scientist discover all their father's enemies have died in freak weather accidents.

They discover he has developed a means to control the weather and must stop him from destroying Washington.

'Weather Wars' (aka 'Storm War') is sadly a massive piece of junk that comes to us courtesy of the SyFy Channel!

The title of this one is a misnomer, as for a disaster flick there's remarkably little disaster. There are a couple of cool special effects sequences in which a glowing ball of energy wreaks havoc, but - and I guess it was because of budgetary constraints - the template for 'Weather Wars' is more of a police thriller.

The storyline sees a shameless Stacy Keach playing a mega-villain, a former government employee who's lost his career and who decides to take revenge on those responsible.

The only people with the power to stop him are his own sons, who must team up to track him down while they themselves are being pursued by the authorities.

It's all very silly and lackluster, with an almost entire lack of the kind of suspense that this thriller demands.

The script is terrible and the calibre of the cast is particularly poor; Jason London's wooden hero is the best on offer here but others, like token pretty female Erin Cahill, are completely awful.

Watching the hammy Keach chewing the scenery isn't much better. No, 'Weather Wars' is a film which fails to live up to that promising title, and one which is even worse than the average Asylum disaster flick, sorry! These are all Widescreen Presentations (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

www.MillCreekEnt.com





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