Marvista Entertainment / SyFy

Starring MyAnna Buring, Richard Burgi, Juliet Aubrey

Directed by Matt Codd

Rating: 12

Runtime: 89 mins

Reviewed by Guy Adams

Some studios or production companies bring an expectation with them. “Oh,” you say, “this is a Hammer movie?” Or “This is from Ealing Studios?” Or “A Merchant Ivory picture? I’ll set my lace buffers to maximum.” You have a good idea, going in, what sort of movie you’re going to get and whether or not you’re likely to enjoy it. The same will happen when I say who produced Super Eruption. “A SyFy Original Movie?” your face falls and you reach for the vodka, “I don’t have to watch it all, do I?”

Is it as bad as all that? Well, no. This is a cut above the usual ‘Him From Gentle Ben Battles A Space Cod’ brain-spit. A slight cut.

It’s about a volcanic eruption in YellowstonePark. And a slightly weird time paradox subplot (which lifts it to be honest, and eradicates the pre-title sequence from reality which is fortunate as I wanted to do the same). It features Her From Primeval being an angst-ridden scientist and Him From Desperate Housewives being an extremely dependable piece of wood in a ranger’s uniform. There is lava. And a goodly quantity of smoke. There is also some acting.

It’s fine. After an opening twenty minutes when, like a taste air-lock, my sensibilities were shifted, the rest of the movie passed painlessly enough. It’s not good but it’s not impossible to watch. Am I damning this with ambivalence? Probably. There’s just a world of difference between an enjoyable bad movie and one that shuffles past you, shrugs, then keeps walking with a sigh. Super Eruption? Average Spurt.