committed: July 2011

Our First Look at the ACTUAL 2-Headed Shark!

So, although we're still without the majority of details on what is sure to be The Asylum's flagship film of 2011, 2-Headed Shark Attack, today we did get a first glimpse of the shark itself - that's right, there's an actual, physical shark model, not just CGI - as it sped off to an undisclosed location across the country where filming is set to begin shortly. Behold awesomocity:

That is the single raddest thing I have ever seen, and I want it. No details have been released by The Asylum as yet - aside from the film's director, the great and talented Christopher Ray (Almighty Thor, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus) - so that's all you get for now. But trust me on this, 2-Headed Shark Attack is destined to be the second greatest shark film of all time.

For now, follow the Asylum on Twitter or Facebook for more shark photos!

Details as soon as The Asylum makes them available...

3 Musketeers Gets A (RAD) Poster!

After Dragon Crusaders in September and A Haunting in Salem in October, the next scheduled release from The Asylum is their take on the action-packed classic 3 Musketeers, directed by Cole McKay (200MPH) from a script by Ed DeRuiter. There were some stills released a few weeks ago that showed this adaptation to be modern-set, a tried-and-tested story of brotherhood and justice set in the fast-paced and better-armed world of our own era. As such, a poster for such a film would need to be dynamic, explosive, thrilling and intriguing. Well, I don't know who the poster guy is over at The Asylum, but as usual, he nailed it:

That is AWESOME!

Fire? Check.
Guns? Check check check.
Karate? Check.
Fighter jets? Oh hell yeah check.

And that tagline: All For One and Guns For All...BRILLIANT!!!

I don't know for sure what Mr. McKay and Mr. DeRuiter have cooked up, but it looks to be an explosive good time. 3 Musketeers stars Heather Hemmens, XIN, Alan Rachins, Keith Allan, Michelle Boyd, and David Chokachi, and hits your DVD player October 25.

A Haunting in Salem - THE TRAILER

I've been trying to make it as a writer since I was 11 years old. That's going on 23 years, or more than 2,000 days of writing, waiting and hoping. Today is the first day I actually feel like a real writer. Behold, the first official trailer for A Haunting in Salem the film I totally wrote for The Asylum, available on DVD October 4th of this year. Shane Van Dyke directed, Bill Oberst Jr, Courtney Abbiati, Jenna Stone, Nicholas Harsin, Gerald Webb, Carey Van Dyke et al star, and The Asylum made it all happen.

I'm gonna go weep tears of joy for seven or eight hours while playing this on loop. I strongly suggest you do the same.

Official Dragon Crusaders Trailer is Here!

The next Asylum release, Dragon Crusaders, won't be on DVD until the end of September, but the trailer has arrived, and it looks pretty darn awesome. Great effects, thrilling score (by the incomparable Chris Ridenhour) and epic direction.

Mark Atkins (Battle of Los Angeles) is behind the pen and camera for this one, which automatically makes it must-see in my book. The film stars Dylan Jones, Cecily Fay, Karl Greenwood, Shinead Byrne, Simon Lloyd-Roberts and Tony Sams.

Check out the trailer above and watch with me when Dragon Crusaders drops on September 27th.

Barely Legal on DVD Today!!!

Today's the day, my fellow faithfully-committed, that the latest Asylum release hits the streets: Barely Legal, the studio's latest sex comedy from the pen of the uber-talented Naomi Selfman, the eye of Jose Montesinos and starring Jeneta St.Clair, Melissa Johnson and Lisa Younger.

You can scroll down a little ways for my notes on the film, or, if that's too strenuous, you can take my word for it that if you like sexy comedies, you will find a lot to treasure about Barely Legal: hot babes in lascivious situations wearing hardly anything.

And, as if that wasn't enough, the film's previews include the first teaser trailer for A Haunting in Salem, the horror film I wrote, Shane Van Dyke directed and a slew of actors lead by Bill Oberst Jr brought to life. The film was originally set to street in August, but has since been re-scheduled for October 4th, a far scarier time of year. More on that to come...

New Asylum Title Announced!

Interesting thing popped up in the Coming Soon section of The Asylum's homepage Monday, a brand-spanking new title: 11/11/11.

This is not, I think, the project 11-11-11, being directed by the schlockmeister who culled together scraps for Saw 2, 3 and 4, but rather a wholly independent thriller(?) or horror(?) film that I'm willing to bet is based on the same numerological prophesy.

No details for this one other than the title, but I'd also be willing to bet this one streets the week of November 11, 2011, which would mean it would need to enter production toot suite.

More info as it becomes available!

observation notes: Barely Legal

As far as plotlines go, sex comedies aren't usually too high concept - typically it's just some dude trying to get laid. But in this latest release from The Asylum, this basic premise is tripled and given a gender twist in the form of three lovely young ladies and lifelong BFFs who make a vow to each lose their virginity on their shared 18th birthdays. The result is a funny, saucy, scintillating and titillating film that delivers everything it promises: sex, sex and sex.

The three leads - Jeneta St. Clair, Lisa Younger and Melissa Johnson - are relative newcomers with promising chops, each bringing a distinct personality to her virgin-in-longing: Johnson, "Sue," is the brainy conservative with just enough religious conviction to believe in saving herself, but enough religious repression to really need a bang; St. Clair, "Cheryl," is the film's control character, the good-girl-next-door ready to give her virginity to the fella she loves, making her also the film's emotional center; Younger, "Lexi," who is seriously the horniest, most promiscuous virgin in cinematic history, but not in a bad-girl way, more in a sinfully-curious way. Each actress pulls off her role with aplomb, but special kudos go to Younger for her comedic timing, Johnson for her endearing neuroses, and St. Clair for her immediate and constant likability.

The script, from Naomi Selfman (18 Year Old Virgin, #1 Cheerleader Camp, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Mega Python vs Gatoroid) is spot-on in terms of comedy and sexiness. Furthermore, while the female-centric romantic comedy is a tried and true genre, Ms. Selfman and The Asylum over the last few years have been mastering the female-centric sex comedy, a truly awesome thing. This might be about chicks, but dudes will find plenty to enjoy.

Decide for yourself this Tuesday when Barely Legal hits the streets on DVD. Oh yeah, and as an added bonus, dig the first teaser trailer for A Haunting in Salem, the film I wrote, in the DVD's previews. More on this to come...

inmate profile: Jose Montecinos

Continuing Committed's spotlight on the creative forces behind The Asylum's next release, the sex comedy Barely Legal (out next Tuesday!), it's time to turn our focus on the director of the film, Mr. Jose Montesinos.

Born in the beautiful city of San Francisco, Montesinos has been making movies since his teens, transforming himself into a writing-editing-directing-cinematographing(?) auteur and garnering a good amount of renown in the process: a music video he directed in 1998 earned an award from the prestigious American Film Institute, a short from 2002 made the top five of the Alice Short Film Competition; as for features, 2000's Number 35 received kudos from Sundance, the LA Film Festival and even awesome-as-hell director Darren Aronofsky. Plus, in 2009 he won the San Francisco Weekly Mastermind Grant based partly on the trailer for Hell's Kittens, a campy exploitation flick.

His other features include another comedy, Berta, and the crime drama Owned, which was selected for inclusion in the New York Latino Film Festival, the San Francisco Latino Film Festival and the Action of Film Festival, in which it was first runner-up for Best Dramatic Feature and was nominated for Outstanding Cast Performance.

Long and the short of it? Dude's got chops, and now he's bringing them to The Asylum, only the second time he's worked with them: he edited last year's uber-awesome Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, and also played a nuclear tech in the film as well.

So do yourself a favor and check out the latest release from a master-in-the-making, Jose Montesinos, when Barely Legal drops on DVD this coming Tuesday.

inmate profile: Naomi Selfman

Continuing my pledge to spotlight the creative forces behind next week's release of the promisingly-raunchy Barely Legal, here's another inmate profile, though shrouded in a tad bit of mystery. Naomi Selfman, the scribe behind this impending laugh-riot, has written half a dozen films for The Asylum, yet there's virtually no information about her online. This picture is the best I could find, and I only found that when out of frustration I Googled "mystery woman." Could be that "Naomi Selfman" is a pen name for another writer, or it could be that Ms. Selfman is just a digitally private person? Either way, the only purported sighting of her is said to come in the making-of featurette for her first script for The Asylum, the horror film Evil Eyes, but I didn't have immediate access to that when I wrote this.

Whoever she is, Ms. Selfman has time and again illustrated her ability to work across genres - be it horror, comedy, sci-fi or creature features - and turn in compelling, convincing, empathetic and exciting stories every time out.

After Evil Eyes, Ms. Selfman took a four-year hiatus from screenwriting before contributing the story for the Faith Films epic 2012: Doomsday. Since then, it's been full-steam ahead for Ms. Selfman, writing five scripts in two years: the other raucous sex comedies 18 Year-Old Virgin and #1 Cheerleader Camp, the two biggest creature features of the last year, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, and of course, Barely Legal.

I've got a lot of favorites when it comes to The Asylum - that should be annoying obvious by now - and the work of Ms. Selfman is among them. As a writer (A Haunting in Salem, out 10/4/11), I'm envious of her versatility; as an Asylum freak, I'm excited every time her name pops up.

Get excited with me next Tuesday, when Barely Legal pops up on DVD.

A Haunting in Salem Pushed Back to October

Exclusive news here: I received word this morning from the fine folks at The Asylum that A Haunting in Salem - the film I wrote for them being directed by Shane Van Dyke and starring Bill Oberst Jr, Courtney Abbiati, Jenna Stone, Nicholas Harsin, Gerald Webb and Carey Van Dyke, among others - has been pushed back from its original release date of August 23rd, to OCTOBER 4, 2011.

I for one am a big fan of this move. October is the perfect spot to release this hair-raising, spine-tingling, blood-curdling horror masterpiece (if i can say so myself, which, as it's my blog, i totally can). Yes, there will be a lot of horror releases that month, but that's just an opportunity for the incredible work done by Van Dyke, his actors and crew, to outshine all the others. Are you sensing my confidence here? Yeah, that's because this movie (the brief teaser I've seen of it, at least) is AWESOME. Tell everybody. Twice.

And yeah, it means I have to wait a little longer to see my first script brought to life, but I've been waiting since I was about ten; after 23 years, 6 more weeks won't kill me.

After all, anticipation only heightens the pleasure. And the horror.

inmate profile(s): the ladies of Barely Legal

In honor of the next Asylum release, the sexy comedy Barely Legal, on DVD July 26th, Committed turns its spotlight on the films three heroines, Jeneta St. Clair, Melissa Johnson and Lisa Younger.

Jeneta St. Clair, "Cheryl" in the film, has only been working on film for a year or so, but already her IMDB dance card is booked full, with four other films currently in post-production, including Return of the Killer Shrews, a sequel of sort to the 1959 horror flick; John Schneider and Bruce Davison (Mega Fault, Titanic II) co-star.

Next up is Lisa Younger, aka "Lexi," another relative newcomer with a plethora of projects coming our way: Panman and Hide, both horror flicks, and the dramas Young Again and The Wrong Way.

And rounding out this nubile triumvirate of salacious hotties is Melissa Johnson, the film's "Sue," the most newcoming of these newcomers; Miss Johnson to date has only one other credit, though technically she was uncredited in it - the Robert Pattinson/Reece Witherspoon Depression-Circus hit(?) Water For Elephants, in which she was a Foxtrot Dancer.

So then, although there isn't a lot of information out there about the three actresses anchoring The Asylum's next sex comedy, I choose to view this an as opportunity to catch three rising starlets along their meteoric ascent to fame and fortune. Plus, I like to think unknowns make the best actors (or writers, directors, etc.) - they're the hungriest. Watch Misses Johnson, Younger and St. Clair satiate their appetites July 26th when Barely Legal drops on DVD.

New Asylum Title Announced (Kinda)

So, in this post over on The Asylum site, producer/writer Paul Bales gives us a look at Asylum coverage from around the world, including this list of the so-called "Worst of Cannes" - the "worst" projects offered at the prestigious festival - on which a project they "haven't even made" made an appearance. And the title of that project? Brace yourself:

NAZIS AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH

Holy fucking shit, right?! If that's not the greatest title/premise for a movie, I don't know what is.

Furthermore, when I expressed my unbridled elation for such a project on The Asylum's comments board, Paul Bales himself replied to my reply saying not only is the project legit, but it springs from his very pen, the same pen that wrought Legion of the Dead, 2010 Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, MegaFault and 100 Million BC, among others.

No word what the plot may be, other than a brief mention of "mutant zombie Nazis threaten[ing] to overrun the world from their secret underground cavern," which could only be a reporter's speculation, but honestly, with a title as informative as that, as long as all the major elements are in play - Nazis, a secret world within the world, some kind of drill-car - this film will be one of the greatest things B-cinema ever conjured. Nazis. At the center of the Earth. C'mon, people, get excited!

observation notes: 100 Feet

This fine and spooky film comes to The Asylum courtesy of the great Eric Red, writer of the classic films Near Dark, Blue Steel and The Hitcher, as well as writer/director of Cohen and Tate, Body Parts and Bad Moon. He pulls double-duty on this film as well, a tale of ghostly vengeance.

A woman (Famke Janssen) who was trapped in an abusive marriage to a bully-cop (Michael Pare) managed to free herself by killing her husband. After a few years in jail, she is released to serve out the last year of her sentence under house arrest at her former home (hence an ankle-monitor that requires her to stay within the titular distance of the receiver). Problem is, the house is now haunted by the spirit of her deceased husband. And if she thought he was pissed before...

What follows is an atmospheric, intimate, intense and satisfying supernatural thriller. The story has a very classic feel - its scares relying more on suspense and pacing than shock and gore - while never feeling rehashed or stale, not for one second of one frame. It's a venerable cautionary tale refreshed for the modern era. And this is thanks to a taut script, expressive direction and stand-up performances across the board.

Famke Janssen (x-Men, Goldeneye) has always been, for my money, a pretty versatile actress, and here, as "Marnie" (a Hitchcock nod, I hope), she does nothing to dissuade this assumption; she runs an emotional gamut from cold apathy to fragile remorse, unbridled terror to fierce strength. Her performance gives this story the firm backbone it needs.

Bobby Canavale ("Third Watch," "Will & Grace," The Station Agent) plays the partner of Marnie's murdered husband, and also - spitefully on the department's part, I thought - the detective assigned to making sure she stays put. He's not a big fan of hers, as you would expect, and emotes a potent combination of condescension and indifference that as the film proceeds, evolves into a stern resolve masking a gentle, protective interior.

Michael Pare as the ghost of Marnie's husband is a purely physical performance. Aside from photographs, Pare "in person" is unrecognizable, and has no lines. But that does not detract in the slightest from what turns out to be a viscerally violent and powerful performance. When you're dealing with ghosts, pathos isn't always necessary; sometimes you can just have a scary, angry and dead son of a bitch intent on killing you - that's just how the paranormal cookie crumbles sometimes. Pare plays it simple and terrifying, and it rings true as pitch-perfect.

Also turning in a notable performance as the grocery-delivery-boy-turned-love-interest-by-default Ed Westwick ("Gossip Girl," Son of Rambow, S. Darko), who I'm always surprised to remember is British.

Anyway, overall, I was pretty impressed with this one. In particular, the lighting was spot-on at creating the frightening ambiance the film required, and the visual effect - especially in regards to the ghost - I thought were quite effective. I'll admit to being a little wary upon learning Pare would be playing a ghost, but believe me, the visual effects team pulls it off with hella creepy aplomb. In addition to the digital stuff, the physical effects, the poltergeist-y stuff were also startling and convincing. Mr. Red set a good number of his scares during the daytime, which not only served as a nice change of pace from your typical horror films, but also allowed for some truly beautiful and effectively unsettling contrasts of light and shadow.

As for the script, it's a tough gig using only one setting, but Red makes the most of the space he's given himself, picking a labyrinthine brownstone inside the larger, metropolitan maze, and creating an atmosphere that is claustrophobic without being confining, limited in space but not in the potential of that space. And god bless him, as I took it, at least, there was a subtle tinge or two of Poe that just sweetened the pot.

So then my assessment, if you're interested, is that 100 Feet is a smart, action-packed horror-thriller that's well-told, well-paced, well-performed and all-around just well-executed. Another fine film from a fine writer/director. Highly recommended.

Your Second Chance to See BORN BAD Comes This Weekend!

In case you missed it this last Monday, The Asylum's latest production - Jared Cohn's Born Bad starring Michael Welch, Bonnie Dennison, Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi - will be airing again this weekend, Saturday night, to be exact, at 9pm on the Lifetime Network. If you like gritty psychological thrillers with enough sex and violence to really make you sit up and notice, then you'll love Born Bad. If you miss it this time, you might not get another chance until the film's November DVD release, and while the wait is worth every minute, do yourself a favor and carve out a little time this weekend for Born Bad,

In the meantime, get acquainted with the cast and crew of the film through my Inmate Profiles:

Michael Welch

Bonnie Dennison

Meredith Monroe & David Chokachi

Then, dig my exclusive interview with writer/director Jared Cohn.

And finally, to whet your appetite even more, check out my spoiler-free notes on the film.

Saturday. 9pm. Lifetime. Born Bad. Show The Asylum some love.

Asylum Should-Stars #10: TWILIGHT EDITION

That's right, for this tenth installment of my presumptuous and unsolicited recommendations of those actors I think should star in an Asylum movie, and in the wake of the success of the TV premiere of Born Bad, starring Twilighter Michael Welch, I've decided to dedicate this Should-Stars entirely to other Twilighters who should follow their talented co-star's lead and come play with the greatest studio around. Plus, I get to say Twilighter, which for some reason I like. I should warn you, however, that I've only seen the first of these movies, and only because I stayed at the Inn where they shot the prom scene and it was free in the room. That said, though, let's jump right in.

Name: Rachelle Lefevre

Twilight Role: "Victoria," but only in the first two films. This is the gal that overbooked her way out of the biggest franchise in recent Hollywood history.

Also Known For: A lot of ill-fated TV including FOX's "Life on a Stick" - that shopping-mall-hot-dog-stand thing - CBS' "Swingtown" - the swinger show - and ABC's "What About Brian" - an attempt to capitalize on Barry Watson's "7th Heaven" fame, which, oddly enough, didn't actually exist. Her most recent gig, that "Lost" meets "Grey's Anatomy" show "Off the Map," was just canceled. Meaning she's available?

Best Suited For: perky scientist roles, plucky independent women whose beauty limits them, and thus they overcompensate intellectually and withhold themselves emotionally. That is, until the right man comes along...

Name: Jackson Rathbone

Twilight Role: "Jasper," which I think - based on some of the photos I saw upon Googling him - is one of the vampires. Dude looks like a vampire. Or at least his hair does.

Also Known For: S. Darko, The Last Airbender (aka the original Avatar) and a bunch of stuff even I have never heard of, meaning this guy's ready for a starring vehicle, but not ready enough for the A-list. Let The Asylum give him a boost!

Best Suited For: I'm seeing a gaunt and frenetic serial killer,or a good man struggling with an evil presence within himself, something that highlights how freaky this dude seems to be, and his manic hair.

Name: Ashley Greene

Twilight Role: "Alice Cullen," definitely a vampire. A very, very, very bewitching vampire.

Also Known For: there's a lot on her IMDB profile, relatively speaking, but politely facing it, this is all she's known for. And being really very hot.

Best Suited For: being on camera. There are two ways to go here: one, the typical heroine, a scientist or sheriff or cop of some sort, or two, the femme fatale, the vixen with a pistol in her garter, the manipulative seductress with a violent secret.

observation notes: Born Bad

Though Born Bad won't be on DVD until November, for those of us lucky enough to have Lifetime, the film made its World Premiere last night on the network.

Now, if you've read my notes before, you know I don't like to give away any spoilers; I'm not a journalist, I'm a fan, my point isn't to critique the film, it's to extol its virtues and make you want to see it even more than no doubt you already do. Therefore, I stay away from spoilers. This will be especially true in the case of Born Bad, as you're gonna have to wait a few months to get your hands on it. So the below impressions are general, and give nothing away whatsoever other than the basic plot.

Let's get that plot out of the way: when a family moves to a new town, their sweet teenage daughter (Bonnie Dennison), falls for the WRONG guy (Twilight and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane''s Michael Welch), a psychopathic drifter with homicidal proclivities, resulting in a nightmare for her parents ("Baywatch"s David Chokachi and "Dawson's Creek"s Meredith Monroe). Ah, dating.

What we have here is a good, old-fashioned thriller - no monsters or creatures or anything paranormal at all, just a fascinating and frightening look at the depths of depravity to which can sink the most terrifying beast known to man: man. Jared Cohn's script paints a terrifying portrait of a family already at a crossroads in crisis. It's an all-too believable scenario which could conceivably befall any American family, allowing the horror it generates to resonate that much deeper.

But a script is only as good as the actors who bring it to life, so in this case, it's damn good. Michael Welch as "Denny" is fierce, and not in a co-opted Project Runway sense, but in the Webster's dictionary sense: "a) violently hostile or aggressive in temperament; b) given to fighting or killing." I mentioned in my profile of Mr. Welch that in the fine, fine film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane in which he played a similar type of character, that his brutally frightening potential hadn't yet been fully-tapped - it has been now. Welch electrifies every second he's on screen, deftly balancing the suave seductor and focused sociopath every good serial killer needs be. Dude rocked it, for real.

Bonnie Dennison ("Guiding Light") as doe-eyed daughter "Bonnie" manages a fine balancing act of her own, convincingly naive while never helpless. I'll admit to not being familiar with Ms. Dennison before this, but I thought she was right for the role of a good-girl just bad enough to get in major trouble; when her name turns up on DVD boxes in the future - as it's sure to do - I'll definitely check them out.

Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi as the parents at the center of this whirlwind also excelled, and in roles I for one wasn't used to seeing them play: Chokachi as the concerned parent almost helpless in the face of primal terror, and Monroe as an unsuspectingly powerful matriarch. So for me, at least, both really showed their range, and I liked what I saw. Aces.

Other cast standouts include Donnabella Mortel as "Dana," Gerald Webb (Battle of Los Angeles, 2012 Ice Age) as "Nate" and Bill Oberst Jr. (Princess and the Pony, upcoming A Haunting in Salem[!!!]) as "Gary." Sure, I could tell you more about the characters they play, but that might stray into the territory of spoilers. Or it might not. Either way, I'll say no more.

Overall, then, what you have here is a chilling psychological thriller that rings all too true and hits way too close to home, just as all great films of this sort should do. Cohn, who also directed, has crafted a film of frightening intimacy, one that draws you into both sides of this maniacal struggle and and squeezes your heart from the first frame to the last, thanks especially to the barrage of fine performances anchored by that of Michael Welch. He's up there with Mega Shark in my pantheon of greatest Asylum villains.

No word yet if Lifetime will be rerunning this one any time soon (I'll keep you posted, no worries), but even if you have to wait until November and the film's DVD release, trust me: it'll be worth every second.

Born Bad Gets a Promo! Film Airs Monday Night!

The latest Asylum offering, Born Bad, may not be on DVD until November, but this coming Monday, July 11th at 8pm on the Lifetime Network, it's getting its World Premiere, and the network just put out the first promo, a.k.a. our very first look at Michael Welch, Bonnie Dennison, Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi, the stars of Born Bad. Dig this clip, then tune in Monday night, 8pm, Lifetime, for the real deal.

inmate profile(s): Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi

Committed continues shining its spotlight on the creative forces behind The Asylum's Born Bad, airing on the Lifetime network Monday, July 11th at 9p.m. In our sights this time? Actors Meredith Monroe and David Chokachi, who play the parental figures to Bonnie Dennison's bad-boy-lovestruck-teen.

Meredith Monroe, a native Texan, got her start in the industry through print advertising, even appearing on five book covers in the "Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys" series, but her breakthrough came in 1998 when she signed on to the hottest teen-drama of its day, "Dawson's Creek." On DC (which is totally what we called it in college. that's right, i watched Dawson's Creek in college, often reeeeeeally high.) Ms. Monroe played the charmingly-cute insane girl next door Andie McPhee for three seasons before graduating to more mature pastures. Since DC, Ms. Monroe has appeared in a score of television shows - including "The Division," "Joan of Arcadia," "CSI: Miami," "House," "Bones," "Californication" and most recently a 13-episode stint on "Criminal MInds" - as well as television and theatrical films, most notable among them two films as Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder, the steamy psycho-thriller New Best Friend with Mia Kershner, indie comedy Wake and now Born Bad. I don't watch a whole lot of network TV - not a pretentious thing, a time thing; truthfully all I watch as it airs are "Breaking Bad," "Dexter," "Oddities" and now "Workaholics" - so I'll admit it's been a while since I've seen Ms. Monroe in something, so I for one am very much looking forward to seeing how she's matured as an actress.

Playing opposite Ms. Monroe is the very capable and unfairly handsome David Chokachi, who most of us will first remember from a little global phenomenon they call "Baywatch," on which Mr. Chokachi played rugged surfer-boy lifeguard Cody Madison for 89 tubular episodes. From there Chokachi opted for something a little more dramatic and appeared on the full-run of the "Witchblade" TV series with Yancy Butler. After that show's demise, Chokachi stayed busy with television before landing another series gig, this time on TeenNick's surfer drama "Beyond the Break." Most recently, Chokachi had a small role in Soul Surfer, the flick about the little chick who gets her arm bitten off by a shark but keeps surfing, a.k.a. the only little chick I'm comfortable admitting is braver than me. He can next be seen in The Asylum's 3 Musketeers, out this October.

So there you have it, a look into the careers of two of Born Bad's principle cast member, the lovely and alluring Meredith Monroe, and the bronze Adonis that is David Chokachi. Tune in Monday, July 11th at 9p.m. to watch these two beautiful people act their asses off in Jared Cohn's Born Bad.

outside the walls: July DVD Releases

I recognize that not all great films are made exclusively by The Asylum and that, in fact, there's a whole world of film outside these walls, some of which might actually interest Asylum fans - when they're not watching or re-watching Asylum films, of course. And, being as I'm only looking out for your viewing well-being, here's a peek at some other DVD releases this month which might satiate you between Asylum releases. But remember, as always, Sweet n' Low ain't sugar.

JULY 5th