Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Cyclone Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 30, 2021

For his second film of 1978, director Rene Cardona Jr. gets away from the unsatisfying mysteries of “The Bermuda Triangle,” and tries to latch on to the disaster movie trend with “Cyclone.” Of course, he’s a little past the peak of the subgenre’s popularity during the 1970s, but Cardona Jr. comes armed with a small-scale overview of human suffering, taking a second bite of the Andes Mountain Disaster after overseeing 1976’s “Survive!” Instead of revisiting high-altitude danger, “Cyclone” visits the vastness of the ocean, tracking the physical exhaustion and thinning patience of characters lost at sea. Cardona Jr. doesn’t have enough cash for the Irwin Allen treatment, but he creates passable misery with the picture, which has some fine moments of agitation contained within a bizarrely long run time.

Vacations and the work day has begun for a collection of characters in Mexico, though weather reports detail an incoming cyclone most believe will pass as gently as possible. What actually occurs is mayhem, with bad weather pounding the area, leaving a glass-bottom boat filled with tourists, a fishing trawler, and a crashed airplane floating helplessly in the ocean, with survivors scrambling to survive for a few days before they expect rescue. When help doesn’t arrive, desperation sinks in, creating hostilities as simple people fight for usable water and food.

“Cyclone” devotes the first act to the titular storm. Cardona Jr. doesn’t have the filmmaking resources to really pack a punch, but he delivers a reasonably tense sequence of violence, with killer weather managing to flood boats and pull a plane out of the sky, resulting in three sets of survivors ending up helpless in the ocean. There’s plenty of stock footage used to create the illusion of area-wide catastrophe, but the material primarily focuses on the water, studying how initial panic turns into daily life for the characters, who are denied expected comforts once a fight for life begins.

The tourists are the most interesting group to follow in “Cyclone,” mixing children and adults of various temperaments. The script adds a pregnant woman and a dog named Christmas to the conflict, introducing additional problems facing the floaters as they try to ration water. The sea isn’t helping either, with sharks patrolling the waters, occasionally claiming lunch as characters fall out of their boats. “Cyclone” offers a few suspenseful moments along the way, but it primarily revels in growing hostilities among the survivors, and there’s the inherent ugliness of dwindling food sources. Fishing isn’t working, and hunger is driving them insane. This leaves two options, and one involves the semi-comical slaughter of Christmas (the casual look on the dog’s face when its being “killed” is a welcome sight in a particularly nasty scene), while cannibalism is eventually considered. These are tough decisions to make, giving the material some dramatic power to help break up lengthy shots of survivors sitting in boats with thousand-yard stares.

Cyclone Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For the English version of "Cyclone," the AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation has been sourced from a 35mm archival print. The material is in rough shape, with scratches, speckling, and blotches present. More persistent is damage at the right and left sides of the frame, which resemble blue lightning patterns, and this run throughout the viewing experience. Colors are excellent, capturing the blueness of the ocean and boat paint choices. More varied hues emerge with costuming and greenery. Detail is strong, surveying the gradual decline of the cast, with their ratty hair and tattered costumes. Facial surfaces offer rough stubble and decay. Ocean tours provide deep distances. Delineation is acceptable. Grain is film-like.

Cyclone Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 1.0 DTS-HD MA mix secures dialogue exchanges, working with dubbed emphasis to communicate panic and agony. Shouting matches aren't distortive. Scoring cues are repetitive, but deep synth for shark scenes and funkier surface music is appreciable, with decent instrumentation. Sound effects are acceptable, providing compelling chaos during the opening storm sequence.

Cyclone Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate Spanish Language Version (119:39) is offered.

• "The Eye of the Cyclone" (32:36, HD) is an interview with producer Angelo Iacono, who admits he was in a bad financial place when he moved from Italy to Mexico to keep producing movies. Meeting Rene Cardona Jr., Iacono was immediately impressed, with the pair going to work on "The Bermuda Triangle." During the shoot, an idea for a second film was proposed, with Cardona Jr. keeping the crew and some of the cast for another eight weeks to make "Cyclone." Special effects are detailed, including the plane used in the feature, which remains at the bottom of the ocean near Cozumel. Casting achievements are highlighted and the use of sharks is recalled. The graphic dog slaughtering scene is also analyzed. The interviewee offers warm memories of Cardona Jr., and admits that while "The Bermuda Triangle" made him very rich, "Cyclone" was a flop.

• "Surviving the Cyclone" (18:29, HD) is an interview with Rene Cardona III, who shares that "Cyclone" was the third film of three productions in 1977 for his father, with the U.S./Italy co-production setting up the material as "Survive II." Blending into the family business, Cardona III provides some memories from the shoot, also commenting on his father's filmmaking style. Casting is highlighted and editing is celebrated, with the interviewee learning much about the moviemaking process from Alfredo Rosas Priego. Cardona III examines his favorite scenes and remains surprised by the cult longevity of "Cyclone."

• "Beware of Sharks" (16:27, HD) is a video conference interview with actress Carroll Baker, who recalls her initial hiring, pulled off a beach in New York and set down on one in Cozumel. Baker mostly shares brief anecdotes about the "Cyclone" shoot, including co-star Lionel Stander's love of local marijuana and her own refusal to get into the ocean with a live shark, which had been dragged around for hours on a rope to tire it out. The interviewee generally remembers an easy shoot with limited makeup demands, and she plugs her current career as an author.

• Still Gallery (2:39) collects poster art, press kit pages, and film stills.

• A Trailer has not been included on this release.

Cyclone Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Cyclone" could easily lose 20 minutes from the run time, creating a more direct understanding of pressure on characters who can't bear to face their horrifying reality. Some activity on the mainland is followed, but the movie primarily sticks with the ocean survivors, tracking their mental disintegration as hope is lost and hunger pains are impossible to ignore. It's not a peppy picture, and it's not the epic Cardona Jr. aims to create, but "Cyclone" has intriguing darkness to help it compete in the marketplace, with a few lurid touches to hold attention. It's certainly the best film to come out of Cardona Jr.'s "Cozumel Trilogy" (which includes "The Bermuda Triangle" and "Tintorera: Tiger Shark"), with a more measured understanding of calamity and community unrest, with the director using what he learned on "Survive!" to deliver a slightly different overview of human endurance.