Character: Kaitlyn
Director: Steven Quale
Written by: John Swetnam
Release Date: August 8th 2014
Genre: Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller
Running Time: 89 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Budget: $50,000,000 (estimated)
Gross USA: $47,602,194
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $161,502,194
Cast: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh |
Filming Dates: 23 July 2012 – 28 September 2012

In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Links Imdb | Photos

Some of the news footage & radar images shown on the screens behind Allison in the storm chaser van, was actual news reports/footage from the ef5 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013.

Some people have questioned whether or not a strong tornado could actually lift an aircraft like a 747 as depicted in the movie. Tornadoes have been known to pick up railroad engines before. An SD40-2 locomotive which is an average sized locomotive weighs 368,000 lbs. An empty 747-400 weighs 393,000 lbs, so there is not that great of a weight difference. Also, the wings would make the 747 more aerodynamic than the dead weight of a locomotive. So theoretically it would be possible for a 747 to be picked up by a strong tornado.

Extras on set often broke out into song in between takes to raise the spirits of those who were wet/tired. A favorite amongst the extras was “Come Sail Away” by Styx.

Extras on set referred to Scott Lawrence as “Obama” due to his similar appearance and mannerisms to Barack Obama.

When watching the news in the hotel room right before the large hail storm begins, the “local” broadcast features anchorman Steve Garagiola and weatherman Chuck Gaidica. These two are the real anchorman and weatherman for WDIV (NBC affiliate Channel 4 in Detroit, Michigan), though the film clearly takes place in Oklahoma.

Wilhelm Scream: As the grate begins to bend out from the storm drain the man who is dragged out screams the Wilhelm scream.

Nathan Kress met his now wife, London on set of Into The Storm

The entire film takes place in about half a day.

Although it’s not mentioned by any character, a tornado is measured by its destructive force with the Fujita’s Scale. It was named after Tetsuya Fujita, who in 1971 in collaboration with Allan Pearson created a scale to differentiate a twister according the wind force: -F0: 60-117 km/h or 45- 72 mph (light damage). -F1: 117-181 km/h or 73-112 mph (moderate damage). -F2: 181-250 km/h or 113-157 mph (significant damage). -F3: 250-320 km/h or 158-206 mph (severe damage). -F4: 320-420 km/h or 207-260 mph (devastating damage). -F5: 420-510 km/h or 261-308 mph (incredible damage).

Nathan Kress (Trey) plays a videographer in both this movie and iCarly (2007).

When Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies) tries to get Donk (Kyle Davis) and Reevis (Jon Reep) to leave town, they reply that the town is deserted, like in a “zombie apocalypse”. Sarah Wayne Callies was a regular on The Walking Dead (2010), which deals about a zombie apocalypse.

The producers had to pay a large legal fee to Sean Casey in order to incorporate the observation turret onto the Titus. Sean Casey created the observation turret idea for TIV 1 and TIV 2 and thus holds all rights to it.

Walking Dead connections are Sarah Wayne Callies (Allison) who plays Lori Grimes in The Walking Dead (2010), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Kaitlyn) who plays Alicia in Fear the Walking Dead (2015), and Scott Lawrence who plays school principals in both this and “Fear the Walking Dead.”

In the special feature Titus: The Ultimate Storm Chasing Vehicle, Reed Timmer is interviewed rather than Sean Casey. Reed Timmer created Dominator 1, 2, and 3, all three vehicles bears no resemblance to the Titus. The Titus was inspired by TIV 2 which was created by Sean Casey.

Like the film Twister (1996), “Into the Storm” has footage in its official trailer that’s not used in the final film. During the trailer a helicopter smashes into a building before the people as they drive down the street.

There was quite a lot of improvisation on set.

When Allison is talking about post-Katrina storms, she mentions Los Angeles and Chicago. This could be in reference to both The Day After Tomorrow (2004), where Los Angeles is destroyed by tornadoes; and Category 6: Day of Destruction (2004), where Chicago is destroyed by tornadoes.