Over the years, I’ve had (fictional) people as me, “Jon, what was the scariest movie you saw growing up?” Had to be something like Nightmare on Elm Street, or The Exorcist, or Polar Express*, right? Wrong. The most terrifying movie I saw growing up was this bad boy right here:
Nightmare fuel.
What’s weird is that I was never too afraid of thunderstorms as a kid. In fact, whenever we had a bad storm roll through Sheboygan in the middle of the night, I would actually go to my parents room to check on them and make sure they were okay.
…..just kidding I was petrified of severe weather as a kid. And yet, for some reason, I felt compelled to see this movie in the theater with a bunch of my friends. You know how they say you should face your fears? I would not recommend that. Wind chimes still give me chills.
A few things in no particular order in regards to the original:
- I wanted this Jeep in the worst way:
- I wanted this Helen Hunt in the worst way:

- Bill Paxton (RIP) was great in the original, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman should have honestly won an Oscar for his work in that movie. He played an unhinged storm chaser better than anyone I’ve ever seen. An absolute loose cannon in the best possible way.
Anyway, the good news is that I’m an adult now, and there’s no way a movie about tornados will scare me as much at 40 as it did at 12 years old. I’m pretty sure at least. Maybe. Probably (?).
*Tell me that’s not a horror movie. If you meet someone that watches that movie around Christmas in order to get the warm and fuzzies of that holiday season, then you need to distance yourself from that person as soon as possible.
PS: In the words of George Costanza, “I say this with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality,” but Glenn Powell is just a good looking human being. Maybe one of our best products as a species. Like if aliens came to Earth and demanded our two best looking people, we might well send them Glenn Powell and Gal Gadot and be done with it.




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