''Ice Twisters'' is a Canadian-American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, offensive (military), military/terrorism, terrorist att ...

that was directed by Steven R. Monroe and aired on Syfy on November 14, 2009.

Plot

A research team, including Joanne (

Camille Sullivan Camille Sullivan (born July 6, 1975) is a Canadian actress. Among her notable television appearances are ''Rookie Blue'', ''Da Vinci's Inquest'', ''Intelligence'' and '' Shattered''. She won a Leo Award for her role in '' Normal''. She was also no ...

), Damon (

Alex Zahara Alex Zahara is a Canadian television, film and voice actor. Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, he was involved with theatre while still in school, performing in a stage version of '' MASH''. He later taught the "Acting for Teens" class at the Van ...

), Gary ( Ryan Kennedy) and Phil (Nicholas Carella), deploy small

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

s from a C130 Hercules, to interfere with a storm. At first the group celebrate a good result; however, a large storm begins to develop. Meanwhile, Charlie (

Mark Moses Mark Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Paul Young in the ABC comedy-drama '' Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2011) and as Herman "Duck" Phillips in the AMC period drama '' Mad Men'' (2007–2 ...

), an ex-scientist, is in town to promote his new book, with his assistant Nora (

Chelan Simmons Chelan Lauren Simmons (born October 29, 1982) is a Canadian actress and former professional model. She is known for her role as Ashley Freund in '' Final Destination 3'' (2006), Helen Shyres in '' Carrie'' (2002), '' Good Luck Chuck'' (2007), a ...

) in the (fictional) town of Harrisford, Oregon. As Charlie does a book signing at a local book shop, the storm hits the town. Charlie and Nora narrowly escape death; however, the storm kills many others. Just outside town, a young couple Eric (

Kaj-Erik Eriksen Kaj-Erik Eriksen (born 15 February 1979) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his roles as David Scali in ''The Commish'', Danny Farrell in the television series ''The 4400'', and Jeremy Peters in the television series ''Boston Public''. Pers ...

) and Ashley (

Luisa D'Oliveira Luisa D'Oliveira (born October 6, 1986) is a Canadian actress who has had roles in '' 50/50'' (2011), '' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'' (2010) and '' Cracked'' (2013). She is also known for her role as Emori in The CW’s ...

) are traveling to meet with Charlie as part of their university course. Eric notices a strange weather pattern, but Ashley takes no notice, as she is in a rush to get to the book signing. In town, Nora is taken to hospital for injuries while Charlie meets up with his old friend Joanne (

) and also Damon (

), who have rushed to the scene after their computers detected the storm. Joanne wishes to stop the program and so orders Damon to phone their backer Frank (

Robert Moloney Robert Moloney is a Canadian actor, best known for playing Professor ''Alistair Gryffen'' in the TV series '' K-9''. Life and career Moloney was trained at the Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia where he took the theatre Arts progr ...

). However, Frank tells Damon he will not stop the experiment until it has been completed and so allows the small UAVs to continue flying. Meanwhile, another storm freezes a farmer. Charlie, Joanne and Damon rush to the scene where they discover one of the UAVs that has crashed. Joanne tells Charlie about the experiment. Nora then phones Charlie. She is leaving town for the TV show Charlie has an appearance on later that day. Meanwhile, Eric and Ashley arrive at the book signing to discover it has finished and begin to leave town. Charlie, Joanne and Damon travel back to their experiment site, where they meet up with Gary and Phil. Charlie comes up with a theory of how the UAVs are causing the storms, and Damon tells Joanne Frank has not aborted the experiment. Angrily, Joanne phones Frank to warn him, but Frank rejects her calls. As Eric and Ashley leave town, a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

forms. Nora's car is hit by a train

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

sucked up by the storm. After the tornado disappears, Eric and Ashley walk back to town. At the experiment site, another tornado hits. The group flee but Phil is killed. They go to a nearby hotel where they discover Frank has blocked them from deactivating the UAVs. Eric and Ashley break into a building where they decide to change their presentation to the freak weather after Eric caught it on camera. The group come across wreckage where they discover Nora's body. A furious Joanne blames Damon for not making Frank finish the experiment. As Charlie mourns Nora's death, another storm hits, forcing the group to flee. After a plane that Frank sent into the sky crashes, he wishes to deactivate the UAVs; however, Bill (Dion Johnstone) informs him they are not responding. The group travel to the same building Eric and Ashley are at, and Gary begins to try and deactivate the UAVs. They realize the storms will reach populated areas very soon and warn Frank, who allows the UAVs to be destroyed. However, the storm continues to grow despite the UAVs having been destroyed. While Eric and Ashley send out signals to warn people, Charlie, Joanne and Damon rush to the university to use its

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

to punch a hole in the

ozone layer The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the a ...

to extinguish the storms, while the ice twister strikes

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. While arriving, Damon is killed by large

hailstone Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

s. Meanwhile, Gary manages to connect to a satellite in

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

. The plan works and the storms are extinguished. Eric and Ashley help Charlie and Joanne put Frank in prison for manipulating the team into creating a weapon.

Cast

as Charlie Price *

as Joanne Dyson *

as Damon Jarwell * Ryan Kennedy as Gary *

as Eric *

Luisa d'Oliveira Luisa D'Oliveira (born October 6, 1986) is a Canadian actress who has had roles in '' 50/50'' (2011), '' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'' (2010) and '' Cracked'' (2013). She is also known for her role as Emori in The CW’s ...

as Ashley *

as Nora Elman *

as Frank O'Neil * Dion Johnstone as Bill * Nicholas Carella as Phil * Ingrid Mila Torrance as Dra. Austin * Jeremy Radick as Book Geek * Garvin Cross as Farmer Oullette * Rob Hayter as Guard

Home media release

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by First Look Home Entertainment on April 13, 2010.

References

External links

* * {{Steven R. Monroe Syfy original films 2009 television films 2009 films 2000s disaster films 2009 science fiction films English-language Canadian films Canadian disaster films American science fiction television films American disaster films Canadian science fiction television films CineTel Films films Disaster television films Films about tornadoes Films set in the 21st century Films set in Oregon Films directed by Steven R. Monroe 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films