Thunder Levin: An Interview by Kent Hill

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It was because of a whacky-clips-from-the-internet-show called The Soup that I first became aware of the glorious thing that is Sharknado.

Near the end of the show there played a short clip of Ian Ziering of all people, cutting himself free from the guts of a shark with a chainsaw. I was, I must say, smitten from the beginning. Then I saw that this instant phenomenon was showing for one night only at a local cinema. I was there with bells on – what a hot ticket.

It was dizzying, ditzy and deliciously good. I saw it again, soon after, on the Universal Channel which had a great programming night called Mockbuster Mondays, where it played along with its director’s, Anthony C. Ferrante, Two-Headed Shark Attack.

Sharksploitation was in full swing, and of course, based on the strength of the overwhelming popularity of the first, hot on its heels would come The Second One. They are up to 4 now, with a 5^th on the way. I had contacted Anthony during post-production on Sharknado 3 about writing the foreword for my anthology The Sequel: Straight 2 Video, which he graciously agreed to do. The book came out at the same time as Oh Hell No! – and coincidently, I too was well into my own third instalment Conquest of the Planet of the Tapes.

I reached out at that time to Sharknado scribe Thunder Levin to be a part of the filmmaker commentary which ran throughout the span of the Conquest. He, unfortunately, was busy at work on a script. In the weeks that followed there soon came an announcement on my news feed of Sharknado 4. “So that’s the script he was busy with,” I thought, smiling at the prospect.

At long last, and in the wake of The 4^th Awakens, I was finally able to sit and have a chat with this multi-talented gentleman, who did the hard yards in Hollywood for quite a number of years before he became part of the creative team that would bring to the world the perfect storm – seeing sharks and tornadoes come together in the coolest possible way.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Thunder Levin. Enough said…