Storm Warning

Directed by Jamie Blanks, Storm Warning follows Rob (Robert Taylor) and Pia (Nadia Farès) as they’re terrorized by a family of marijuana-growing psychopaths during a weekend sailing excursion. Filmmaker Blanks, working from a screenplay by Everett De Roche, delivers a familiar yet mostly compelling thriller that improves steadily as it progresses, with the picture’s first half saddled with a handful of lulls and generally unable to make the engrossing, spellbinding impact for which Blanks is obviously striving – although, having said that, the director admittedly does an effective job of ratcheting up the tension on an impressively ongoing basis. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Blanks elicits strong work from his various actors, with Farès’ increasingly fearless performance ultimately standing as a clear highlight within the proceedings.) There’s little doubt, then, that Storm Warning‘s shift from decent-enough to flat-out spellbinding is triggered by an unexpectedly brutal second half, as Blanks offers up a take-no-prisoners, balls-to-the-wall third act that’s as violent and uncompromising as one might’ve hoped – with the inclusion of a few seriously (and entertainingly) cringeworthy moments, coupled with a completely satisfying finale, cementing the movie’s place as an above-average piece of work.

*** out of ****