27 reviews
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.
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 though this film was okay.i din't think it was great.it was a bit too slow for my taste.lots of drama,but not very much action until close to the end of the film.this movie was basically a dramatic film,with the payoff,if you can call it that,not until near the end.to me,the scenes of the dam bursting and the water flooding the town,were okay,but much too brief.the film itself is done okay,the acting is decent,but it just didn't do it for me,in the long run.think it had something to do with the fact that there was very little suspense or tension built through the whole movie.at least that's what i think.the other factor is that i had just recently watched '10.5' and its sequel '10.5:Apocalypse'.these are 2 big budget "event movies,which,in my opinion, are a very hard act to follow,in terms of special effects and scenes of destruction.as a result,i have to rate Killer Flood:the Day the Damn Broke at 4/10
- disdressed12
- Mar 11, 2007
- Permalink
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!
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!
- juliankennedy23
- Feb 24, 2005
- Permalink
Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. Pathetic in almost every way.
I threw the DVD straight in the bin - I didn't even think it was fair to give it to the local thrift shop.
The effects are beyond a joke. The dam control room looks like cardboard. The water looks way out of scale with the backgrounds - nothing works.
Then there is the limp plot - about as much depth as a Scooby Doo cartoon.
I couldn't wait for them all to drown.
I threw the DVD straight in the bin - I didn't even think it was fair to give it to the local thrift shop.
The effects are beyond a joke. The dam control room looks like cardboard. The water looks way out of scale with the backgrounds - nothing works.
Then there is the limp plot - about as much depth as a Scooby Doo cartoon.
I couldn't wait for them all to drown.
- brixtonman
- Apr 15, 2006
- Permalink
Killer Flood is a great vehicle for Joe Lando. There's action, love, and adventure, all of which are fun to watch him do.. I think the special effects were fine. I would love to see the progression of the characters from this story in future films.
Right... so you have a dam, tons of water (that seems to flow really really slowly) and a small town that happens to be right underneath the dams path of destruction. Throw in a profiteering glutton, an apparently mentally unstable and disgruntled architect and his son, and then to spice things up you add a weak plot and bad acting. All in all, when you have a look at this film from a paying customers point of view... I would feel extremely peeved off if this was a pay-per-view film. If you want a laugh... then you really need to watch this film.
- FrozenDreamer
- Sep 5, 2003
- Permalink
Even a awful 1 is to much for this film, everything form start to finish made you cringe. I don't think it would be possible to cram more overly clichéd moments, into one piece of mind numbingly numbingly waste of film.
Prisoner cell block H meets Thunderbirds, hell even Virgil's expressions were more life like than his son.
I haven't even finished watching this and I'm on here now.... Oh no, the cheesy clapping of 3 actors and a backdrop done by a child with adobe premiere. This truly is the end of my "I've started so I'll finish watching it" phase.
Oh joy, the credits have come to rescue me. (and relax)
Prisoner cell block H meets Thunderbirds, hell even Virgil's expressions were more life like than his son.
I haven't even finished watching this and I'm on here now.... Oh no, the cheesy clapping of 3 actors and a backdrop done by a child with adobe premiere. This truly is the end of my "I've started so I'll finish watching it" phase.
Oh joy, the credits have come to rescue me. (and relax)
I'm a sucker for disaster movies and I hadn't previously seen flooding tackled in the genre, but I still sat down to watch this 2003 film with low expectations given its made-for-TV nature. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a really cruddy movie, one which focuses on soap opera family drama over disaster and wastes all of its potential.
The film opens with a minor accident at a dam that sees a token black character drowned. From then on in, the film slows way down with its tale of a broken family and a dastardly developer who cares nothing for human lives. It quickly becomes apparent that the budget is the lowest of the low, because there are only two scenes of flooding and a couple of dodgy composite shots of a flooded city. The flooding scenes themselves are hilariously awful, achieved by miniature effects that wouldn't look amiss in a '70s flick but are woefully dated by modern standards. And don't get me started on the misnomer of a title – approximately two people die in the entire film, leaving this dull-as-floodwater outing extremely anti-climatic.
The film opens with a minor accident at a dam that sees a token black character drowned. From then on in, the film slows way down with its tale of a broken family and a dastardly developer who cares nothing for human lives. It quickly becomes apparent that the budget is the lowest of the low, because there are only two scenes of flooding and a couple of dodgy composite shots of a flooded city. The flooding scenes themselves are hilariously awful, achieved by miniature effects that wouldn't look amiss in a '70s flick but are woefully dated by modern standards. And don't get me started on the misnomer of a title – approximately two people die in the entire film, leaving this dull-as-floodwater outing extremely anti-climatic.
- Leofwine_draca
- Nov 9, 2011
- Permalink
- jmcmillan-1
- Mar 18, 2007
- Permalink
Doug Campbell and Peter Beckwith teamed up to create the film called " Killer Flood: The day the Dam broke." Although there is much which is missing from the film, namely top Hollywood actors, it still does a good job of entertaining an audience. On seeing this movie, one is reminded that many Disaster films have preceded it with much higher qualities than this one. The story begins with David A. Powell (Joe Lando) a former architect who was fired for incompetence, returns home to check on a former pet project of his. Upon arriving, an employee is killed and a city council is convened. Present is the Assistant mayor Natalie Powell (Michele Greene), the Sheriff (D.K Kelly) and Mr. Walker (Bruce Boxleitner) the banker. At the Dam, a series of cracks appear to produce concern that the entire structure is about to collapse. Although, Powell is convinced that his Dam was not constructed as per his specs, he is ordered off the premises, because the banker is just about to concluded a million dollar deal. At the same time, Powell is told he is no longer welcomes as part of his former family, as his wife and son (Matthew Ewald) are convinced they is not interested in the reason he left them. The movie is sub-standard in production and the poor special effects add Little to help convince an audience to stay. However, there are some scenes and some good acting which create excitement and drama which does keep interest in the film. All in all, it's noteworthy to stay till its conclusion and some merit should be given, for the great effort and the dog. Perhaps if the same effort had been given to the dam, the architect would not have been fired. Nevertheless, the movie is recommended. ****
- thinker1691
- Nov 4, 2013
- Permalink
This movie doesn't even have the saving grace of being so bad that its good. It is truly appalling. Its closer to a tongue-in-cheek parody than a disaster movie, but alas they were serious. Made for TV, but not worthy of even that. It contains every cliché and cheesy plot moment you can imagine. Oh will he save the town from the flood? Will his wife admit that she still loves him? Will they escape before the flood drowns them? I cant explain how bad this is. Awful predictable plot that makes you wince it is so cheesy. Bad Effects (although to be fair I have seen worse super-imposed bubbling water). Bad script. Woeful acting. Hideous. So bad in fact that you probably should get drunk and watch it.
I think that "Killer Flood" was a very good family movie, those are not easy to find these days. Doug Campbell did a good job directing and Michelle Greene was her usual good self. Bravo to movies the whole family can watch together
Now there are some good disaster movies, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno to name a few. But Killer Flood is not one of them, in fact for my tastes it was very poor not just of its genre but of film in general. In all honesty, the special effects are really quite terrible even for a made for TV movie. They are very unimaginative in scope and how they are incorporated in certain scenes. And as for the look of them things aren't that much better either, for my liking they do look rather cheap.
The scenery is decent enough, but the photography and editing doesn't do it justice. The photography is of very uneven quality, it is serviceable in some of the scenes that don't contain any effects, but then in those with them it comes across as hackneyed. Particularly in the conclusion, which I personally did not very thrilling because quite a lot of the rest of the movie was uninteresting, the editing is choppy. Eric Allaman's music was okay at first, but I soon forgot about it.
The acting is really quite bad, yes this is including Joe Lando. But they do have several things that hamper them other than the effects. They do have to play characters that you don't know much about or don't care about, and they also have a very weak and clichéd script, a story that is predictable and sluggishly paced and filled with what feels like lame rehashes and plodding direction. When I did first hear of this film, the first thing that came into my head was "what a terrible cash-in title". But I watched Killer Flood anyway but I have seen some movies that have bad titles but are surprisingly good movies. Killer Flood however manages not only to have a bad title but also to be a very poorly put together movie.
All in all, very poor and maybe worth seeing to revel in its awfulness but for everything else I'd say skip it. 1/10 Bethany Cox
The scenery is decent enough, but the photography and editing doesn't do it justice. The photography is of very uneven quality, it is serviceable in some of the scenes that don't contain any effects, but then in those with them it comes across as hackneyed. Particularly in the conclusion, which I personally did not very thrilling because quite a lot of the rest of the movie was uninteresting, the editing is choppy. Eric Allaman's music was okay at first, but I soon forgot about it.
The acting is really quite bad, yes this is including Joe Lando. But they do have several things that hamper them other than the effects. They do have to play characters that you don't know much about or don't care about, and they also have a very weak and clichéd script, a story that is predictable and sluggishly paced and filled with what feels like lame rehashes and plodding direction. When I did first hear of this film, the first thing that came into my head was "what a terrible cash-in title". But I watched Killer Flood anyway but I have seen some movies that have bad titles but are surprisingly good movies. Killer Flood however manages not only to have a bad title but also to be a very poorly put together movie.
All in all, very poor and maybe worth seeing to revel in its awfulness but for everything else I'd say skip it. 1/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- May 26, 2011
- Permalink
when i first saw this movie i was literally rolling around on the floor laughing (especially when they were getting chased by the water, and when the guy drove through peoples gardens, i mean would it hurt to drive around the washing line?) the special effects! this movie clearly didn't have a big budget. either that or the guy left his toddler in charge of the controls. the water coming out of the damn looked like a close up of a can of beer that had fizzed up. what were the actors thinking? did they actually believe that it was a good movie? or did they just really need the money? not that they would've earned a lot. when i first saw this, i was like 'god, how old is this?' when i looked on the info about it and saw that it was made in 2003, i thought my TV was broken.
this really is a disaster movie, in more ways than one.
this really is a disaster movie, in more ways than one.
- helenjaras
- Aug 16, 2006
- Permalink
Why can't there be better TV movies made I was at a loose end today and watched this film on a satellite channel in the UK. What a terrible waste of my time it was . Poor sets, Poor acting & Oh my god what a terrible flood . Blimey that woman can even outrun a torrent of water too!.
I really wish that people would make TV movies using better effects, better or at least more believable plots & far better acting. Killer Flood is well up there with poor acting. A few bits of ham couldn't act any worse.
1 final thing I really agree with the comment about the dog, but I believe it would of already scarpered in real life!
I really wish that people would make TV movies using better effects, better or at least more believable plots & far better acting. Killer Flood is well up there with poor acting. A few bits of ham couldn't act any worse.
1 final thing I really agree with the comment about the dog, but I believe it would of already scarpered in real life!
- lebanese-kid
- Dec 29, 2006
- Permalink
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.
- Fieldsp341
- Nov 30, 2005
- Permalink
This is first and foremost a formula, grade B, made for TV catastrophe movie. If you approach it with that in mind, I think you just might enjoy it. Heavy snow load, torrential rain in the mountains, and a faulty dam. You've seen it all before - but it almost always works. This one stars Bruce Boxleitner as the corrupt engineer. He is very good at it. I haven't seen him in anything remarkable since "The Scarecrow and Mrs. King" and I missed him. This is hardly a step up, but he does a credible job. Michele Greene is adequate as the town's interim mayor who has to believe in her disgraced ex-husband's prediction that the dam will fail or risk the fate of all the town's residents.
A couple of those made for TV plot gaps. First, there seems to be only 2 people running this huge dam. Next, when there is a minor breech, they both leave the nuclear reactor size console to run down and investigate. Who the hell is watching the store? Finally, the kid who plays the intern, and looks like he's about 12 years old, plays a major role in trying to prevent the inevitable catastrophe. In real life, no one would pay any attention to him.
That all said, it's still an entertaining movie. If you're depressed, neurotic, or terminally ill, it's a great way to escape.
A couple of those made for TV plot gaps. First, there seems to be only 2 people running this huge dam. Next, when there is a minor breech, they both leave the nuclear reactor size console to run down and investigate. Who the hell is watching the store? Finally, the kid who plays the intern, and looks like he's about 12 years old, plays a major role in trying to prevent the inevitable catastrophe. In real life, no one would pay any attention to him.
That all said, it's still an entertaining movie. If you're depressed, neurotic, or terminally ill, it's a great way to escape.
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!!
Quite honestly, I do not understand what some of the reviewers here are watching that they give such a negative review. I wish I could see the movie they would create that would satisfy them. Having said that, I thought this was a pretty good disaster film for a TV presentation. True, the formula was familiar--the couple separated, the prerequisite teen at odds with a parent, the evil money maker. But focusing on a dam is a little different and locating it in a city that usually is not the usual big metropolis was enough to make this worth watching. This movie did not really require a lot of special effects and for those looking for mass death and destruction, they will be disappointed. Certainly a better production than some of the reviewers would lead you to believe.
- stuart-wise
- Feb 23, 2023
- Permalink
This is a well directed well acted disaster movie. The script keeps the interest up right from beginning to end. This may not have the special effects budget of other like movies but that does'nt stop it packing a real punch. When it comes to casting this movies leaves the likes of Day After Tomorrow in the shade. Bruce Boxleitner is super as the baddie, this actor does'nt put a foot wrong and if this is anything to go by is very underrated. Michele Greene is top notch as the mayor and watch out for Mathew Ewald as her son. The term the next James Dean is often used loosely but it can be used confidently in relation to this young actor. This kid is going to go far. Finally Joshua J Masters puts in a lovely performance as the Deputy Sheriff. Do'nt miss it!