Into the Storm is a 2014 American found footage disaster film directed by Steven Quale, written by John Swetnam, and starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Alycia Debnam-Carey, and Arlen Escarpeta.
Upon learning of a major line of developing storms, his team of chasers decide to head for the town of Silverton, Oklahoma, in hopes of filming tornadoes.
In the aftermath of the tornado, shaken students emerge from the damaged building to view the destruction, while vice-principal Gary Fuller sets out to rescue his eldest son Donnie, who went to an abandoned paper mill to help his friend Kaitlyn with a project; both were subsequently trapped when the tornado brought the building down on them.
As Pete's storm chase team stops in a small part of town, a tornado takes shape just as Gary and his younger son Trey arrive, destroying several buildings.
While en route, another round of tornadoes form and encircle Pete's team, destroying a residential neighborhood and a car lot in the process.
Trying to save lives, Pete hands over his research hard drives to Gary, then sacrifices himself by leaving the shelter to move Titus down to the storm grate, to use the vehicle to anchor the storm grate to the concrete face and has the others tie its towline to the crashed truck for support.
Obeying their father, Trey and Donnie record messages from the senior class for a time capsule to be opened in 25 years.
On October 28, 2011, Deadline reported that New Line Cinema bought the "found footage" natural disaster spec script written by John Swetnam, and that Todd Garner would be producing the film through his Broken Road Productions company.
[10] On July 11, 2012, Richard Armitage signed up to portray Gary Fuller, a widowed father who tries to rescue his son from the tornadoes.
[5] On July 13, Max Deacon joined the film's cast to play Donnie, an introverted teen with a crush on his high school's prettiest girl.
[21] The visual effects are provided by Digital Domain, Moving Picture Company, Cinesite, Method Studios, Prime Focus World, Scanline VFX and The Third Floor, Inc. and Supervised by Jay Barton, Guillaume Rocheron, Simon Stanley-Clamp, Nordin Rahhali, Bruce Woloshyn, Randy Goux, Chad Wiebe, Shawn Hull and Tracy L. Kettler with help from Hydraulx and Rhythm and Hues Studios.
The website's critical consensus reads, "Clumsily scripted and populated with forgettable characters, Into the Storm has little to offer beyond its admittedly thrilling special effects.
[25] Variety's Scott Foundas called the film "(a) feature-length VFX demo reel that makes one pine for the glory days of Jan de Bont".