User reviews

While I'm not sure what constitutes a spoiler, I can tell you that 'Dark Storm' constitutes a really bad "Sci-fi original" mini-movie. Stephen Baldwin looks and acts terribly- as a protagonist, it is quite difficult to relate to him at all as his performance is beyond flat. The special effects are better than most made-for-TV movies but do little to capture the imagination. There are bad guy minions in this movie that look like ninjas and a fair amount of scenes in which the character's voice inflection is completely inappropriate, not to mention the fact that instead of at least attempting to fake scientific jargon, lots of questions are answered with, "I can't tell you that, it's classified," or "it's so complicated, you wouldn't understand." Try me...

It doesn't get much sillier than this for the serious sci-fi buff, but as low-expectation, old fashioned "Saturday afternoon matinée" diversion, it's entertaining enough.

A slightly overweight Stephen Baldwin, in a follow-up to an even sillier 2006 sci-fi opus, "Earth Storm" about using bombs to put a crumbling moon back together, invents a weapon using "dark matter" (apparently a more photogenic, controllable version of anti-matter) and generatable thunderstorms. Naturally, things go awry, foolish military men make stupid, ill-considered snap judgements causing even greater problems, traitors steal the weapon and (reaching the heights of "Marvel Comic silliness") Baldwin absorbs some of the "dark matter", making himself a self-generating (but only defensive for some reason - until the villain does it) weapon! The big screen Spiderman films made as much scientific sense (why can't screenwriters give us entertainment with stories JUST as exciting that gets the science right and doesn't insult our intelligence!?) but had more consistent characters and motivations.

If you can ignore the basically incredible weapon which is the McGuffin which gets the plot rolling, the piece is fun on its own terms - no worse than Disney's 1979 "Black Hole" (which famously made its title dark star a glowing whirlpool). The Disney had firmer scientific underpinnings but worse acting and special effects, so it's sort of a fair trade off.

The always engaging Rob LaBelle makes a fine scientific sidekick (who actually does most of the work - not to mention acting), and Gardiner Millar as the chief villain is solid - even when the special effects have him reenacting the last scenes of the first Indiana Jones film.

Undemanding fun, but keep your expectations low.

DARK STORM, a zero-budget TV movie from 2006 starring a down-on-his-luck Stephen Baldwin, has all the trappings of a dodgy disaster-cum-sci-fi movie: a scientist is accidentally exposed to dark matter and soon finds himself with the ability to control the elements.

About halfway through the running time, I somewhat incredulously realised that I was in fact watching a remake of a poverty row programmer called THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, starring an equally down-on-his-luck Lon Chaney Jr., about a guy who finds himself with the power to control electricity. The two plots aren't exact, but they're similar enough to suppose that the writer must have seen the old Chaney flick.

In any case, DARK STORM is a poor excuse for a film. Half of it is a silly sci-fi outing, with random balaclava-wearing goons going around hassling pretty female scientists and extras getting killed. The other half is a disaster movie, with dark matter storms destroying buildings in Seattle and Romania, of all places. One of the storms destroys a high rise in scenes uncomfortably reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks. Needless to say, the CGI effects are horrible and the acting equally bad, particularly from a slumming-it Baldwin, who really should know better...

I have to admit I watched it to the very end - barely -without falling asleep!

This is not a repulsive bad movie, but an annoying one! The acting is so universally horrible, I said to myself, "I could do a better job - where do I sign-up?" This thought entered my mind so often I started wondering how much these godforsaken actors where paid for their severe lack of skills! For them it must be a thrill to know you at least made it to DVD, even if you never made to the big screen! But for the rest of us watching Darkstorm it was terribly distracting!

The special effects were enjoyable and the fantasy element was interesting. It's a shame who ever directed and produced this film didn't pony-up some more bucks to get some real acting talent! This could have been a half way decent sci-fi/fantasy film!

I had to stay up with my young son last night and thought Dark Storm looked vaguely interesting compared to the other pap on offer.

No.

It was the aura of car crash TV that kept me watching. A fat Stephen Baldwin acting worse than my armchair does. My word, I've never seen anyone so bad in a film.

His scientist sidekick and the villain at least were professional and I could believe they were actors, but Mr. Baldwin gave the standout worst "acting performance" I have ever had the misfortune of sitting in front of. Whatever you do, do not waste an hour or two of your precious life on this utter shower of *&^%. Spend the time more fruitfully in staring at a blank wall, or cutting your toenails.

I am always at a loss of words why so many terrible films are made...this film is no exception. In every single way, this is an embarrassment. Don't get me wrong I love good ol' fashioned GOOD Sci-Fi. (Alien, Aliens, Matrix Trilogy, so on and so forth) But this is embarrassing. The plot is terrible in the worst way, all the characters are cardboard cut-outs, and I would rather watch a High school student film than this piece of garbage. I don't know if the people involved are really trying, or it is all just one big inside joke, or if they get some kind of tax break for bringing in business. I remember when Stephen Baldwin was part of a great film called "The Usual Suspects." I always wonder when actors turn to films they must know are bad going in, and yet still are part of them! I can't imagine that he is paid very well doing this, or maybe the shooting schedule is so short it is worth the money, or if they even care that this So called "Movie" will permanently be on his resume forever. I thought "Bio-Dome" was bad, but at least it was bad in a good way. There is no excuse for this ludicrous waste of space. I shouldn't have watched it, and through most of the movie I felt bad for all of the actors involved. I know they have talent. Hell the General was the great bad guy (The Cigarette Smoking Man in the X-files for many years) and yet he chose to do this ridiculous obviously cheap film anyway. I don't know if it is just the paycheck, or the promise of a theatrical release, or good special effects, or if they just want to keep on working that makes these people do this. Please everyone who reads this (hopefully you don't bother the "Movie" is that bad) why don't you stick yourself w/needles under your fingernails instead; it's less painful. I know that here on IMDb they rate on a scale to 10, but I prefer out of 4 stars. I would give it 1/4 of one star it is that bad, and I only give it that because Stephen Baldwin was so good in "The Usual Suspects" and his brother Alec is so good on the show "30 Rock." Avoid at all costs, you will be glad you did.

Here are some things that are a better use of your time than watching this film:

Cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush.... Reciting Neil Diamond lyrics.... Vaccuuming your entire home twice.... Watching dust collect on your coffee table.... Sitting at your doctor's waiting room just for practice.... Calling an elderly female relative.... Listening to static on your radio.... Watching flies mate.... Doing any paper mache project.... Blowing bubbles.

I admit that I could not watch this one to the end, and I've made it all the way through some really bad Sci Fi Originals. This one lacks substance at every turn, with characters having about as much personality as a doorknob. It made little sense to me, not because of a complicated storyline, but because I could not bear to pay much attention to it. This film is brutal in its boredom, and you would be wise to stay away!

eugh, this is not a very good film. There is simply nothing 'A'-grade about it; indeed even the 'A' that should have been on the back of Stephen Baldwin's 'R nge Rover' came out in sympathy, it seems.

Now I will own up to having watched some absolute stinkers in my time, and I've even derived some amusement from them; provided my expectations are set low enough ahead of time, any morsel of quality on offer is much appreciated.

But here, pickings are so thin that I found myself mulling over various inconsequential details, like why it is that the bad guy wears more lipstick than most of the female actors, why it is that some of the 'scientists' wear their obligatory white coats even when they are not at work, and why it is I kept thinking of 'Mr Potato Head' at intervals throughout the film.

Those steeped in this genre will doubtless be familiar with such equally whiffy titles as 'Stonehenge Apocalypse' in which various elements of this film are seemingly later recycled.

If you must watch this film, I suggest that you lower your expectations as much as you can manage, get your chums round with a few beers, and play a game where you drink some beer every time you see or hear some nonsense. Bring plenty of beer.

Remember folks, "it isn't so much a science, as a new way of life..."

Another CGI offering which leaves you wondering when the industry will produce decent material. But hey - you're an actor you do the thing & pick up the cheque! The problem with ' made in a computer film ' is that it shows! For me technology nerd be tempered with story quality,too much ' cheap thrills ' ate sought nowadays. The actors have done better than the piffle in this offering,from Steve Baldwin to ' the smoking man ' - but there are many such heavy on the tech - low on content films at present.

The most that can be said is these allow you to throw the main breaker to your brain & watch in a stupor,you won't miss much!

This is a run-of-the-mill disaster movie with all the standard disaster characters, and they do all the standard disaster things from denial to you love the storm better than me. The one exception is that no ridiculous valley girl is walking into the middle of the disaster and saying "All you care about is the world. What about me?"

This time it stretches the imagination when you must believe a "Dark Matter" fable. Of course, it gets out of hand by accident or design, or both. Now, who will save us (if possible), and how?

Wat as disaster piled on disaster. Feel free to kibitz. Watch a second time to find the evil signs you missed.

This movie is not a blockbuster by any stretch, the acting, especially from Balwin was uninspiring and flat, the 'science' was almost non existent and some of the props\outfits looked like they were taken from the local op shop.

On the plus side, it was reasonably fast paced with passable CGI effects for the budget, there was some character development and there was some good support acting.

Overall just below a pass, but certainly watchable as a light thriller, don't expect too much and if you're a sci-fi fan like me, just ignore all the holes in the premise of harnessing Dark Matter...

If this film was going to win an award it would surely be in "The Most Annoying Hairstyle in a Movie" category. An overweight Stephen Baldwin's hair certainly annoyed me from the very start of this film. Anyway, this movie is about some scientists who have discovered something code named "Eruptor", which is a device that supercharges Dark Matter and uses it to change the molecular structure of it's target, thereby eradicating it. Simples! Mr Baldwin sort of ambles through his role as the main man to save the world, helped by his trusted friend and his loyal wife. The special effects are decent and although it is all nonsense, it is worth a watch just to see Mr.Baldwin's hair.

A movie starring a lesser Baldwin (Stephen, they're all 'lesser' to Alec since he's been around the longest) who spends the whole film looking vaguely pissed off, or as if he's trying to do mental arithmetic (like Joey, Matt LeBlanc, in Friends, was advised to do to show emotion), an expression that probably originates from his manful struggle to spout scientific gobbledegook like 'I've never seen so much dark matter in one place' as if it actually meant something.

He plays that disaster movie cliché, the one sensible person in the possibly (inevitably) catastrophic scenario battling whatever constitutes the powers that be (the mayor/the government/the corporation/the other scientists), questioning their refusal to act in the face of this certain calamity, usually for reasons of the bottom line, insisting that the town/beach/world be evacuated while there's still time (time is always of the essence) because there's going to be a tidal wave/earthquake/tornado/shark attack/solar flare/alien invasion (delete as appropriate).

He will probably be the one to deliver possibly the most used line in any horror/thriller/scifi movie: 'Let's get the hell outta here!' as if anyone would contemplate staying put while the sky falls in.

To top it all, he's absorbed some 'dark matter' himself, as you do, been electrocuted then struck by lightning. No wonder he looks a little peeved.

The plot is nonsensical but the film's a trip. See the image on the front of the box - that's the expression Stephen Baldwin wears throughout. Perplexed. Or maybe that's just his 'intelligent scientist' face.

PLEASE OUR LIVES ARE SHORT !!! DON'T WASTE EVEN A NANOSECOND WATCHING THIS MOVIE

"Dark Storm" is a 2006 science fiction television movie directed by Jason Bourque. Here's a review of the film:

In "Dark Storm," the Earth's climate has reached a crisis point, and scientists are desperately searching for a solution to save the planet. When Dr. Daniel Graystone (Stephen Baldwin) discovers a way to control the weather using a device called the Helios Project, it seems like a breakthrough that could change the course of humanity. However, as the project progresses, it becomes clear that there are darker forces at play.

The film follows Dr. Graystone and his team as they work to perfect the Helios Project while facing opposition from corporate interests and government agencies. As they delve deeper into the technology, they uncover a conspiracy that threatens not only their lives but also the fate of the entire world.

Stephen Baldwin delivers a solid performance as Dr. Graystone, portraying him as a dedicated scientist driven by a desire to save the planet. The supporting cast, including Rob LaBelle as Dr. Jack Hoffman and Gardiner Millar as Senator Tom Gordon, adds depth to the story and keeps the plot moving forward.

"Dark Storm" offers a mix of action, suspense, and science fiction elements, making it an engaging watch for fans of the genre. The special effects, while not groundbreaking, effectively convey the chaos unleashed by the weather-altering technology and help to create a sense of urgency throughout the film.

While "Dark Storm" may not break new ground in terms of its premise or execution, it provides an entertaining and thought-provoking exploration of the potential consequences of tampering with nature. As the characters grapple with ethical dilemmas and face off against powerful adversaries, the film raises important questions about the limits of scientific progress and the importance of safeguarding the environment.

Overall, "Dark Storm" is a solid sci-fi thriller that delivers plenty of excitement and intrigue. It's a compelling story that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the final credits roll.