Twister

Stupidity: Jo's dad builds a tornado shelter but uses a simple bathroom stall type lock for the door. How did he expect that to be strong enough?

wizard_of_gore

Stupidity: In the opening, it's surprising that Jo and her family have to actually go outside and run even a short distance to get to their cellar. Farm houses, especially in tornado prone areas like rural Oklahoma, would typically be built overtop of the cellar, which would be accessible from inside the house. Furthermore, Jo's cellar door seems to be secured with what seems to be little more than a latch much like those used for restroom stalls! Not very practical for a door intended to protect the interior from outdoor elements.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Their storm cellar is made of an old septic tank, which is very common to do. It's half buried into the ground so it provides maximum protection, unlike under the house because an F5 tornado would simply rip the entire house away, removing all the protection the cellar would have had. Also the door has several latches, not just one.

lionhead

A cellar under the house would likewise be buried into the ground, often more than halfway, so it would offer just as much protection, if not more. Looking at the scene again, the door has two latches, both the same size and woefully insufficient.

Factual error: When they are at Aunt Meg's the first time, they get word that a tornado has been spotted and somehow they already know its rating. Tornadoes get their ratings from the amount of damage they do. This is determined after the tornado is gone.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The scale back then was based on the size of the tornado, it's only more recently it is based on damage. So during the time of the movie, the scale was being used correctly for size not damage.

The Fujita scale was introduced in 1971 and was in use during the 90's when this film came out. The Fujita scale measured the damage caused by a tornado to man-made structures after ground or aerial surveys, it was not a measurement of tornado size (an F5 tornado is a tornado that's rated on the Fujita scale). It is true the Fujita scale was replaced by the enhanced Fujita scale in 2007, but that was only to align the ratings to the damage better, it did not change rating tornadoes from size to destructive powers.

Bishop73

More mistakes in Twister

Dusty: He's gonna rue the day he came up against The Extreme, baby. Bill, I'm talkin' imminent rueage.

More quotes from Twister

Trivia: According to the Special Effects documentary, the sound of the tornado was produced by recording a camel's moan and digitally slowing it down.

Jazetopher

More trivia for Twister

Question: After Jo's truck is destroyed and they have to use Bill's truck to load two of the Dorothys in, what do they do with the top that was over the bed of Bill's truck?

Tiffany

Chosen answer: I imagine they just left it at the house where they loaded the Dorothys. You only need a couple of wrenches to remove a camper top.

Grumpy Scot

They were not at a house.

Answer: It was most likely placed inside one of the other vehicles, the most likely being Dusty's "Barn Burner," which would've had ample space for it.

More questions & answers from Twister

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.