Tornado Valley (or Twister Valley as it has also been called) is a strange film, depicting itself as a big disaster film but actually only has ten minutes of Tornado at the beginning and ten as the end. Low budget? Yep – but it tries hard in-between
Released: 2009
Runtime: 1hr 27 mins
The Premise
Two sisters lives are ruined thanks to a tornado.
The Disasters Faced
A couple of windy funnels, getting tinnitus from wind chimes and becoming a mute. Not always in that order.
The Execution
It’s not often I’ll say this but for once the child actors done good! In fact, they seem to out-act the adults sometimes as the story unfolds. A Tornado kills a mum in a family of four and fast-forwarding 25 years see’s the family completely fallen apart. One daughter has become a mute, the other has spent her life not committing to anyone and the father spends his days in the farm barn looking at pictures of what used to be. It’s handled well and eventually, it weaves itself together for a finale moment where everyone predictably rises to the challenge. In true ITV drama, there’s no real carnage, its all about the feeling. Everyone will declare undying love before the titles roll and suddenly it’s like the tornado at the end was the best thing ever. Yay! If you tune in for the emotion and not the carnage, you’ll get more out of it.
The Effects
The tornadoes are awful, moving at weird paces, not affecting anything outside of the very ground its stays on. There is no damage to wherever it has been except a house and tractor. It makes no sense whatsoever and is one of the poorest examples of effects in the genre.
Why It’s Worth Watching
Aside from being a relatively uninspired Twister clone, the soundtrack is nicely written and reminds me of the American Beauty soundtrack. Have a shot for every time the lead lady looks or acts superior to everyone else. The young actresses are good and Nora the unexplained hippy living in a caravan nearby is just bizarre. Who is she? Why is she in the film?!
Best Character
Nora (Ashley Michaels) of course! I have no idea why she is in the film but she has the best collection of lightbulbs on a tree ever.
Best Death
There’s only one and its ten minutes in. Bye bye mommy. Once again the cardinal sin of disaster movies – never help anyone – you’ll die!
Weirdest Moment
For me, its the logic lapses in the film. Apparently, you can survive a direct hit from a tornado by laying down in a bath. Out in the open. Or you can just lay down in a ditch and put your hands over your head. You don’t even have to hold onto anything. The tornado doesn’t even affect anything around it. Sigh…
Random Trivia
The tagline for the movie was “This movie will blow you away” – no.
Conclusion
Going for the emotional pull over the effects is fine, but when there are no effects and the story is tired and well-trodden, you need to have something else to give. Tornado Valley doesn’t and that’s why it doesn’t inspire nor particularly entertaining.
I Love Disaster Movies! 
Fire on Angeline Drive
What’s Funny is I really like the movie just cause if you pay attention to the meaning behind it all, it’s all about life. And there are secret messages hidden in the film, at least to me they are. Though I do agree that the graphics were not the best and that they could have had more tornado action in the movie itself, how ever, emotionally wise, I find it very entertaining. It’s kind of a happy medium tie for the pros and cons for me. lol
Ps- No I have no idea when the review was originally posted, how ever mine is posted on 5/1/16
I felt sorry for the tornado which actually had less interaction with the dominant characters than I thought would be the case.Poor tornado—just a weak prop in a film that kind of endeared you to the characters,but with little credence.