A lo-fi disaster thriller obviously indebted to much more expensive inspiration survives the eye of the storm to seize a #1 streaming spot

There have been plenty of movies about dangerous and deadly tornadoes to hit screens both big and small over the years, so the best thing director Jamie Winterstern could do was wear his inspirations on the sleeve and confirm right off the bat that the shadow of Twister loomed large over Supercell.

In fairness, the filmmaker had a budget that was only a fraction of Jan de Bont’s classic to work with, but he certainly put it to good use. Critics may not have been overly kind looking at its mediocre 54 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but an 81 percent user average indicates that audiences were happy to go along for the ride.

Featuring one of Anne Heche’s final performances and a supporting turn from Alec Baldwin in the thick of the Rust tragedy, Supercell was quietly shuffled onto VOD earlier this summer to very little fanfare, only for the storm-chasing thriller to end up becoming one of the biggest hits on a major streaming service, after FlixPatrol named it as the number one most-watched title on the Hulu charts.

The fast-paced story finds a teenager desperate to follow in the footsteps of his late father and get into the family business of chasing down rogue storms, but his mother is naturally and very understandably opposed to the idea. Doing what all rebellious youngsters do, though, he partners up with his old man’s ex-business partner to get in bed with Baldwin’s reckless tour guide.

Wouldn’t you know it, things take a perilous plunge from there, not that Hulu subscribers seem to mind.