Thunder Levin | |
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| Born | Thunder Levin New York City, U.S. |
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| Known for | Sharknado |
Thunder Levin is an American screenwriter and director, most famous for writing the first four Sharknado films. [1] [2] Levin's work was largely responsible for the resurgence of sharksploitation films. [3]
Levin was born and raised in New York City. His father Michael was an award-winning journalist, while his mother Glenis was an immigrant from Liverpool, England.
Levin graduated from Hunter College High School, and received his BFA in Film from NYU. [4]
Levin moved to Los Angeles at the age of 23. In the late 1980s he worked as a still photographer on three movies for the legendary film producer Roger Corman. [1]
Levin's feature-film directorial debut was the 2008 horror comedy Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! [5] [6] starring C. Thomas Howell. [5] [7] Levin subsequently wrote and directed multiple films for production company The Asylum, [8] including the 2012 science-fiction action film American Warships and the 2013 sci-fi film AE: Apocalypse Earth .
In 2013, Levin wrote the made-for-television disaster film Sharknado , about a tornado of shark-infested seawater. The film's debut on Syfy attracted nearly 1.37 million viewers and generated nearly 5,000 tweets a minute at its peak. [9] In 2014 Levin penned a sequel, Sharknado 2: The Second One , which pulled in 3.9 million viewers. [10] Levin subsequently wrote two more sequels, 2015's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and 2016's Sharknado: The 4th Awakens . Sharknado became a pop culture phenomenon, ultimately spawning five sequels, a video game, a book, a one-shot comic book, a documentary, and a mockumentary.
Levin insists there is a scientific basis for the "sharknado" phenomenon. [11]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Tidal Wave | 2019 | story by | [12] |
| The Last Sharknado: It's About Time | 2018 | based on characters created by | also appeared as "Bar Patron" [10] |
| Megalodon | 2018 | story by | |
| Geo-Disaster | 2017 | director, written by | |
| Sharknado 5: Global Swarming | 2017 | based on characters created by | |
| Creature Features | 2017 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Mind Blown | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: The 4th Awakens | 2016 | written by | |
| Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary |
| Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! | 2015 | written by | also appeared as "Mr. Benchley from The Post" |
| Infolist Pre Comic-Con Bash | 2015 | appeared as self | documentary short |
| Weekends with Alex Witt | 2014 | appeared as self | TV series |
| Sharknado 2: The Second One | 2014 | written by | |
| Sharknado | 2013 | written by | |
| From the Sea | 2013 | screenplay by | |
| AE: Apocalypse Earth | 2013 | director, written by | |
| American Warships | 2012 | director, writer | |
| 200 M.P.H. | 2011 | written by | |
| Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! | 2008 | director, written by, executive producer | |
| Venice Beach Sketches | 2002 | editor | |
| Soulmates aka Evil Lives | 1992 | director | |
| Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls | 1989 | still photographer | |
| Saturday the 14th Strikes Back | 1988 | still photographer | |
| Hydrosub: 2021 | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate / appeared as "Crewman" | video game |
| The Rescue of Pops Ghostly | 1987 | off-line assistant / production associate | video game |
I Am Legend is a 1954 post-apocalyptic horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson that was influential in the modern development of zombie and vampire literature and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease. The novel was a success and was adapted into the films The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007). It was also an inspiration for George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, who tells the story of his life to a reporter. Rice composed the novel shortly after the death of her young daughter Michelle, who served as an inspiration for the child-vampire character Claudia. Though initially the subject of mixed critical reception, the book was followed by many widely popular sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles. A film adaptation was released in 1994, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and a television series premiered in 2022. The novel has also been adapted as a comic three times.
Blade is a 1998 superhero film directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, it is the first installment of the Blade franchise. The film stars Wesley Snipes as the titular character with Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright in supporting roles. Blade is a Dhampir, a human with vampire strengths but not their weaknesses, who fights against vampires.
Maximillian Michael Brooks is an American actor and author. He is the son of comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He is a senior fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, New York.
Robbie Rist is an American actor. He is known for playing Cousin Oliver in The Brady Bunch, Martin in Grady and "Little John" in Big John, Little John. Rist is also known for voicing assorted characters in television shows, games and movies, including Stuffy, the overly-proud stuffed dragon in Doc McStuffins, Whiz in Kidd Video, Star in Balto, Maroda in Final Fantasy X, Choji Akimichi in Naruto, and Michelangelo in the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), and Casey Jones (2011). Additionally, he and director Anthony C. Ferrante provided music for the Sharknado film and the theme song for the Sharknado franchise. He played Ted & Georgia Baxter's adopted son David on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The Asylum is an American independent film production and distribution company that focuses on low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and scripts very similar to those of current blockbusters in order to lure customers. These titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press. Its titles are distributed by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, GT Media, and as of 2015, Cinedigm.
Simon David Kinberg is a British-born American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the 20th Century Fox X-Men film franchise, and has also written such films as Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. He has served as a producer on others including Cinderella and The Martian, the latter which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His production company Genre Films had a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox. Kinberg made his directorial debut in the 2019 X-Men film Dark Phoenix from a script he also wrote.
A zombie is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magical practices in religions like Vodou. Modern media depictions of the reanimation of the dead often do not involve magic but rather science fictional methods such as carriers, fungi, radiation, mental diseases, vectors, pathogens, parasites, scientific accidents, etc.
X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. 20th Century Fox obtained the film rights to the team and other related characters in 1994 for $2,600,000. After numerous drafts, Bryan Singer was hired to direct the first film, released in 2000, and its sequel, X2 (2003), while the third installment of the original trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), was directed by Brett Ratner.
A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as action, comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this article does not include films devoted to these types of undead.
Seth Grahame-Smith is an American writer and film producer, best known as the author of The New York Times best-selling novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, both of which have been adapted as feature films. Grahame-Smith is also the co-creator, head writer and executive producer of The Hard Times of RJ Berger, a scripted television comedy appearing on MTV. In collaboration with David Katzenberg, his partner in Katzsmith Productions, Grahame-Smith is currently developing a number of projects for television and film.
The fifth and final season of the television series Angel, the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, premiered on October 1, 2003 on The WB and concluded its 22-episode season and its television run on May 19, 2004. The season aired on Wednesdays at 9:00 pm ET. This is the only season of Angel to air following the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
David A. Prior was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Prior started his career with the horror film Sledgehammer (1983), and the action film Killzone (1985). Shortly after, he co-founded Action International Pictures (AIP), his first directorial effort with this enterprise were Deadly Prey, Aerobicide, and Mankillers released in 1987. Subsequently, Prior made action films until the late 1990s.
Josh Boone is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars (2014), based on the novel of the same name. Boone also wrote and directed the romantic comedy Stuck in Love (2012) and the superhero horror film The New Mutants (2020). In 2020, he directed the first and last episode of the miniseries The Stand.
Sharknado is a 2013 American made-for-television science fiction comedy disaster film directed by Anthony C. Ferrante. It tells about a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and deposits them in Los Angeles. It is the first installment in the Sharknado film series. It first aired on the Syfy channel on July 11, 2013, and stars Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, and John Heard. It was also given a one-night-only special midnight theatrical screening via Regal Cinemas and Fathom Events, where it earned $200,000 from 200 screenings. The over-the-top premise and theatrics of the film quickly earned it a cult following.
Dave Green is an American film and music video director. He is well known for directing several music videos and short films, especially working with Miles Fisher. He made his directorial debut with the 2014 film Earth to Echo, and then directed the 2016 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. He is set to direct Coyote vs. Acme for Warner Bros.
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is a 2015 American made-for-television science fiction action comedy disaster film and the third installment in the Sharknado film series, following Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One. The film was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante with Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, and Mark McGrath reprising their roles from the previous installments. Also joining the cast are David Hasselhoff, Bo Derek, Ryan Newman, and Jack Griffo.
Jared Michael Cohn is an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He has directed films such as Buddy Hutchins, Atlantic Rim, and Born Bad, among others, and has directed multiple films for The Asylum.
Sharknado is a series of six American made-for-television science fiction action comedy horror disaster films released by Syfy between 2013 and 2018. It has since been expanded into video games and comics, including a spin-off film, Sharknado: Heart of Sharkness, that was released in 2015. The first two films received mixed to positive reviews from critics, while the others received negative reviews.
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