Direct-to-video "Mockbusters" released by "The Asylum"

more detailed info:

http://www.vizyonmax.com/dosyalar/transmorphers.jpg
Transmorphers - A film about giant robots fighting humans which was released a week before the U.S. theatrical release of Michael Bay's Transformers on July 3, 2007. Despite a very similar title to the film based on the Transformers toy line, Transmorphers is more analogous to the Terminator universe, where after years of robots ruling Earth, the humans rise up in war.

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The Da Vinci Treasure - This project starring C. Thomas Howell and Lance Henriksen is an obvious rip-off of The Da Vinci Code, and was released four days after the other film's U.S. theatrical release on May 19th, 2006.

http://www.pfafilms.com/inglese/immagini/snakes.jpg
Snakes on a Train - This film was released three days before the U.S. theatrical release of Snakes on a Plane on August 18th, 2006. Aside from the "snakes terrorizing humans in an enclosed area" theme, the Asylum film bears no resemblance to the Samuel L. Jackson vehicle. This may be due to the fact that very little was known about the actual plot of the Snakes on a Plane feature until its release. Written by Eric Forsberg.

30,000 Leagues Under the Sea - A modern low budget version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

AVH: Alien vs. Hunter - This movie is most similar to the Alien vs. Predator franchise and has been timed to tie in with the theatrical release of the second movie in that series. The movie features aliens and 'hunters' (which bear a striking resemblance to Predators), two warring races who come to Earth. The poster is almost identical to that for the first Alien vs. Predator movie, featuring profiles of the two antagonists staring at each other and the movie's title in the middle, below an 'AVH' logo which resembles the 'AVP' logo of the Alien vs. Predator films.

I Am Omega - A futuristic thriller in which a lone man fights off hordes of creatures in a world ravaged by disease. I Am Omega has no official relation to the 1954 Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend or the Will Smith film of the same name. The Matheson novel is a copyrighted work that has only been licensed three times for film adaptations; the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price, the 1971 film The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston and the 2007 film I Am Legend starring Will Smith.

Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls - A loose adaptation of King Solomon's Mines, the title is meant to capitalize on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and billed as "from the story that inspired Indiana Jones."

War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave - directed by and starring C. Thomas Howell. Co-written by Eric Forsberg.

Sunday School Musical- Partnered with Faith Films and released on 2008-10-21, three days before the release of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

The Day the Earth Stopped- Released on 2008-12-09, three days before the release of the 2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still remake.

how the fuck is this legal

AVH: Alien vs. Hunter

HOW IS THIS NOT ABOUT FRED DRYER FIGHTING ALIENS

x-post

C Thomas Howell brings an air of legitimacy to any project he's involved in.

these look to have disappointingly higher production standards than I'd hoped

Seriously, I'm really really really pissed off that this thread has raised and then dashed my hopes for seeing Hunter and McCall track down an alien killer

The Asylum's practice of producing so-called "rip-off" movies was brought to light in July of 2006 on The Today Show on NBC, featuring perspectives on the matter by The Asylum co-founder David Michael Latt, a consumer advocate, and some people in a video store. Latt contended that he is running a business and is merely trying to get the largest audience possible to see his films (as most all filmmakers attempt to do), but also says his company puts their own spin on the tales. He also noted that The Asylum had released over 200 films, and claimed that only six were "studio tie-ins". The consumer advocate noted that, while it is very misleading and unfair to customers, it is perfectly legal and, from a business standpoint, very clever. Customers at the video store expressed bewilderment, as one who picked up a copy of Pirates of Treasure Island was prompted to ask, "Is Johnny Depp even in this?"

Director Leigh Scott (Dracula's Curse, Beast of Bray Road, Dragon, The 9/11 Commission Report) defended The Asylum's practice of doing cash-in films during the commentary for his film The Hitchhiker, stating that numerous books and TV specials come out around the same time as much-publicized films (such as The Da Vinci Code and Pirates of the Caribbean) covering the topics or eras covered in those films. Scott defends The Asylum, saying that it is also just doing what numerous other people are doing, but they are the only ones making feature length films.

Despite their reputation for making low budget, straight-to-DVD movies, The Asylum has enlisted the talents of several 'name' actors. Lance Henriksen has appeared in a number of major movies (including, ironically, Alien Vs. Predator, later the recipient of one of The Asylum's 'homages') as well as starring in Chris Carter's cult TV series Millennium and has appeared in several Asylum projects. Other well known actors include C. Thomas Howell, Bruce Boxleitner, Steve Railsback, Edward Furlong, Cerina Vincent, Greg Evigan, Mark Dacascos, Udo Kier, William Katt, Michael Gross, and Lorenzo Lamas.

So thats where Eddie Furlong is.

Has anyone seen any of these? I find myself wondering if the exploitative nature of them might actually allow for their directors to make something ... interesting and good.

Bruce Boxleitner

Greg Evigan

Lorenzo Lamas

If these three are in a film together it may well be the best film ever made.

x-post to nabisco

I'd like to see:

Space Wars: The Empire Retaliates
I Am Cognizant of What You Were Up To Last Summer
The Class Of Rock

Custos: Cultural Learnings of Subtle Parodies of Other Movie Names for Make Benefit Glorious Message Board of ILX

I want the Dazed & Confused one to be called Party at the Moontower.

A guy I work with told me a few days ago he watched Snakes on a Train. I'll ask him if I can borrow it tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I saw Snakes On A Train a couple days before SoaP came out, and it was pretty amazing. Whoever was saying upthread that these didn't seem "low-budget" enough, you're completely OffTM; the ending sequence was some of the most incredibly bad CGI since, like, Lawnmower Man.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

great poll

i was the one who voted for snakes on a train!

Watching Allan Quatermain right now...holy crap. The music is slaying me.

This is only half a map!

PERUVIAN PANFLUTES

I want that map Quatermain!!!

How's the CGI?

Only thing so far was this part where a guy jumped his horse over a cliff. It was pretty terrible but not incredibly so. I don't know if this is going to be as big a bad special effects extravaganza as, like, AVH. We'll see.

Bruce Boxleitner

Greg Evigan

Lorenzo Lamas

If these three are in a film together it may well be the best film ever made.

― James Mitchell, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 6:38 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark

this thread only got 2 votes!!!

I watched a few minutes of 'I am Omega' this weekend. It had Marc Dacascos in it so I was hoping for some good head-kicking action. No dice, but there was some decent running around in an abandoned world dialogless stuff. Not enough to last past a commercial break, though.

Zone Horror in the UK seems to have a deal with The Asylum; they've run most of these. They're not as fun as I had hoped :(

Yeah I saw Snakes On A Train on Zone Horror! Now I know where they get this crap from.

I just saw the ICP/Juggalo Death Race knock-off (fittingly called Death Racers). Plenty of really cheap and really disgusting gore (limbs and heads hacked off, a head and the brain within it split wide open) and our "heroes" ICP blow up the world in order to remain true to their juggalos after they discover that they'd been had by the government.

I can't remember if I voted for Sunday School Musical or declined to vote out of anger that Alien vs. Hunter wasn't related to the TV show

one thing that i CAN say in defense of death racers is that i think that it is closer in spirit to the original death race 2000 (which, beloved cult film that it has become notwithstanding, was also a cheap-ass exploitation film like the stuff the asylum churns out) than the death race remake/reboot/whatever. i know that it would have to be by default, since the asylum has neither the budget nor the desire to make big-budget sensory overload schlock. but besides all that, death racers isn't as grim or humorless as the death race remake (which isn't a BAD film -- shit, it's more entertaining than anything else done by paul w.s. anderson's standards), which is kinda the POINT of a mockbuster (much less one based on an original film that was tongue-in-cheek to begin with).

plus, the asylum film has two scantily-clad chicks named vaginamyte -- some folks might like that.

i just watched a brand-new Asylum film -- dragonquest -- which, aside a cheesy subpar CGI battle scene and some truly wretched acting by Marc "Beastmaster" Singer (who mostly just mugs a lot and snarls out all of his dialogue) -- was a kind-of-OK dragons/fantasy flick. although the dialogue was dumb, the story made sense and was engaging plus the cinematography was late 80s/early 90s TV show OK (which is above-average for this studio). there isn't an obvious tie-in to any film out there that i know of, so i don't think that dragonquest is really a "mockbuster."

plus, you get to see some skin on this actress (jennifer dorogi, who appears in quite a few other Asylum films) -- nothing soft-core though (since this movie appears to be family-oriented and shit):

http://www.facebook.com/profile/pic.php?uid=AAAAAQAQCjqw-DGkoqyPtxfkfEFyFQAAAAlCB947spgjztXIsnjQ3_wc

I want that map Quatermain!!!

this was the most pointless of all Asylum mockbusters. aside from the title, the only tie-in (to either Indiana Jones or the Allan Quatermain movies) was the cave-in at the end (which seemed like an afterthought). and the only Asylum-esque touch (besides the shitty acting) was the head-ripper-offer that the Africans had.

http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=154

http://www.theasylum.cc/images/posters/terminators_large.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2vv9puv.jpg

upcoming attractions ... mega shark vs. giant octopus, starring lorenzo lamas and debbie gibson

"That car can go from zero to suck my dick in 0.2 seconds."

haw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN6r-XanZwc

Kevin406667 (6 days ago)

lol i love the song staaaaaallee by icp.. "Bitch you got a bif fuckin ass titties flashin like strobe lights!" lol best line of the song

you, latebloomer, have a work ethic to be desired :-)

Watching Allan Quatermain right now...holy crap.

Agreed on this and MY GOD is it ever dull as well.

Things I especially love:

* The completely terrible vocal recording throughout -- only about half the dialogue is legible no matter how loud the volume is.

* The Liam Neeson wannabe who is the star, who just seems to either brood badly or look harried whenever something happens.

* The fact that it appears to take place in the 1890s, 1930s and the present all at once.

Some legit gorgeous landscapes though. Probably because they were free of charge.