2011 Midway Wrap-Up and Projections

So basically, what I mean by that convoluted title is that the purpose of this post is to recap the films The Asylum has released thus far in 2011, as well as look ahead at the rest of their slate. I figure it being June, midway through the year, now was a good time to refresh our memories on the various projects of our favorite independent film studio.

By my count, there are 14 films being released by The Asylum this year, making 2011 - if I'm not mistaken - their most prolific year to date, in regards to original productions.

The Asylum started 2011 off with a bang, releasing two films in January. The first was their foray in child-centric filmmaking, Rachel Lee Goldenberg's fun family film The Princess and the Pony, and the second was the SyFy Saturday Night premiere of Mega Python vs Gatoroid from director Mary Lambert and scribe Naomi Selfman, and starring the year's favorite duo, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. From the disparaging themes of these two films, you just knew 2011 was going to be a fun year, and profitable: more than two million viewers tuned in for the latter's debut, and in the six months since its release, buzz has only been building. MPvG hits DVD at long last on June 21st, less than a month from now. I'm predicting a revival of enthusiasm for this one.

After laying low in February, The Asylum came back in March with another double release. Battle of Los Angeles from writer/director Mark Atkins we already new to expect - its SyFy Premiere had been announced months prior - but what really took the world by surprise was the sudden announcement of a "found footage" film being rushed to DVD. Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes is puported to be home video footage documenting the many, many exorcisms of a real German girl named Anneliese Michel who died in the 1970's. In a nice stroke of marketing, from the announcement of this film to the DVD release was no more than two weeks, further aiding the "found footage" effect.

April brought the high-octane street-racing film 200MPH from stuntman turned director Cole McKay. This film, in addition to providing us with 90 minutes of everything a man likes - fast cars, strip clubs, adversity and neon - also introduced the majority of us to the beauty that is AnnaMaria DeMara, who, if my Image Results Traffic counter is at all reliable, my readers are very enthusiastic about.

And that brings us to May, which saw yet another double-shot of Asylum releases, the Marvel tie-in Almighty Thor starring Cody Deal, Richard Grieco and Kevin Nash, and the martial-arts-espionage-actioner Ballistica with the great Paul Logan. Hell of a first half to the year, but that's nothing compared to what it looks like we're getting the rest of the year.

Things get going at the end of this month with the disaster epic 2012 Ice Age, starring Patrick Labyorteaux of "J.A.G." and Julie McCullough of "Growing Pains," then quickly heat in in July with the release of the sex comedy Barely Legal from the raunchy pen of Naomi Selfman, who also brought you the libidinous romps 18 Year Old Virgin and #1 Cheerleader Camp. The film concerns three young hotties aiming to lose their virginity the same weekend. Between that and the poster, what more do you need to know? 

Then there comes August, and the release of what I personally believe will be an instant classic (which I believe, of course, because I wrote the script), A Haunting in Salem. Shot in 3D by director Shane Van Dyke (Titanic 2, 6 Guns) and starring Bill Oberst Jr, Courtney Abbiati, Jenna Stone and NIcholas Harsin, all I'll tell you is that it's a bloody/haunted house/witchy kind of terror that plagues a sheriff's family in the infamous Massachusetts hamlet. The rest you'll have to see for yourself (and please, please, please see it for yourself, and for, like, a dozen other people, too)

And now we enter the vague zone, the realm of projects about which for the most part only a few things are known: Dragon Crusaders, the second Asylum film this year from Mark Atkins, drops in September, followed by the as-yet still unattributed or even really described 3 Musekteers tie-in likely streeting in October. The November rolls around and at long last Born Bad, a straight-up thriller from actor turned writer/director Jared Cohn, gets its release. The films stars Michael Welch as the ultimate bad boy who seduces the lovely Bonnie Dennison then terrorizes her folks, Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi. Personally, I'm really looking forward to this one. 


And as if all this wasn't more than enough, The Asylum plans to end the year, most likely, with the release of their third shark epic, the awesomely titled 2 Headed Shark Attack. No details to put out there on this one just yet, but with a title like that, what do you really need to know? It's gonna be awesome.


So there you have it, The Asylum's 2011 slate in a nutshell. It's been a rad year so far, but every indication is that the second half of the year is gonna be even better. God, this shit is rad.