Born Bad Coming to DVD 11/8/2011 - Next Week!!!

Though it had it's world premiere on the Lifetime network back in March - a first for The Asylum - Jared Cohn's taut, edgy thriller Born Bad hasn't hit DVD as of yet, meaning - I'm willing to bet - that most if not all of you have yet to see it. I saw it on Lifetime. I've been hooked on the network ever since. They got some real crazy shit going on there. Have you seen "Dance Moms?" I digress.

The wait is over, is my point, because a mere 6 days from now, Born Bad will be released to the world on DVD!

Furthermore, this will be the "Uncut" version, a.k.a. the scarier, steamier, bloodier version of this brutally charming film. 

In celebration of this, I'll be re-posting some things I put out during Born Bad's premiere, including my exclusive interview with the film's writer/director Jared Cohn tomorrow, and Friday my spoiler-free notes on the film.

A tale of young love gone violently wrong, Born Bad stars Bonnie Dennison ("Guiding Light") as a beautiful teen in a lonely new town, Michael Welch (Twilight, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) as the predatory lothario who steals her heart, and David Chokachi ("Baywatch," 3 Musketeers) and Meredith Monroe ("Dawson's Creek") as the rightfully-concerned dad and step-mom.

For more details, check out the trailer, the IMDB page and the Asylum page. And of course, keep coming back here the rest of the week for extended Born Bad coverage.

inmate profile: Michael Welch

With 2012 Ice Age now on DVD (and hopefully in your hot little hands), it's time to turn the Committed spotlight towards the studio's next production, Born Bad. Now, I should elaborate: Born Bad won't be on DVD until November, and technically the studio's next DVD release is Barely Legal at the end of July (and don't worry, I'll get to that), but Born Bad gets its world premiere on the Lifetime network on July 11th at 9 p.m., marking the studio's first appearance on Television for Women, and also marking the first time I will have watched the network non-ironically. This is a big, talented cast helmed by writer/director Jared Cohn, and I'm going to get to all of them, including an exclusive interview w/ Cohn himself, but today I thought we'd start with the film's lead, the man playing the man who was presumably born bad, one hell of an actor and one hell of a coup for The Asylum, one Michael Welch.

Welch is no newcomer to the film industry. Beginning his career at age 10 - his first role was as "Young Niles" on an episode of Frasier; too awesome - Welch has appeared in 20+ films and has had guest spots or starring roles on a plethora of TV shoes, most notably "Joan of Arcadia" - that "girl-can-talk-to-god-oh-wait-maybe-it's-lyme-disease" show with the exquisite Mary Steenburgen and the delightful Amber Tamblyn - on which he played younger brother "Luke" for the show's two seasons. 

And, of course, it should be noted that the dude has a significant role - "Mike Newton" -  in the world's largest film franchise at the moment, the Twilight thing. 

But for me - having not seen a lot of his two notable works - it's Welch's other films that made him a standout to me, including The United States of Leland, Day of the Dead and, most so, the incredible, wonderful, amazing and criminally-unseen horror-thriller from Johnathan Levine, director of The Wackness and upcoming 50/50: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is just badass-filmmaking, rife with talent -  Welch, Amber Heard, Anson Mount - but for some reason or another, in the five years since it was made, the film has yet to get an American DVD release, only getting its second US screening last year at Comic-Con (the first was four years ago at SXSW). I myself obtained a copy of the film from a friend who received it in a wholly unethical and despicable way, and I gotta tell you, Michael Welch, for all his good-guy reputation, plays one hell of a psycho. He was GREAT in this, like, iconic great - calmly chilling, confidently cruel, viciously subtle and savagely focused. 

Bottom line: if Born Bad is Welch's return to playing that kind of nuanced madman, we are in for a real fucking treat. And he's just one facet of a well-built creative machine...keeping coming back to Committed all next week for more on the cast and crew of Born Bad, premiering Monday, July 11th, at 9p.m. EST/PST, only in the Lifetime Network

At Long Last - Born Bad Details! Plus Another New Title!!!

Big news from The Asylum today on two new titles. I'm just gonna jump right in:

So this one's been on The Asylum's coming soon list for a long time, and now, finally, we have some details on the movie that will be...Born Bad.

The film is written and directed by Jared Cohn (left), a 4-time Asylum acting veteran - Alien Abduction, Way of the Vampire, Legion of the Dead and Halloween Night. This will be Mr. Cohn's first stint behind the camera for The Asylum. 

The plot is described as such:

"When a rebellious girl from a good family falls for the town drifter, she unwittingly brings a psychopath into her loving home."

It's a classic tale - good girl falls for the bad boy that tears her world apart - and I can't wait to see what The Asylum's take on it will be.

Furthermore, some of the cast was revealed, and there look to be a couple of big names there: Meredith Monroe ("Andy McPhee" from "Dawson's Creek) and David Chokachi ("Cody" [not "Hobie"] from "Baywatch") look to be our leads, supported by Bonnie Dennison of "Guiding Light" - most likely as the "rebellious girl" - and Michael Welch, who if I'm pegging the right Michael Welch, has starred in all the Twilight movies, but I best remember him as either the geeky brother in "Joan of Arcadia," or as the outsider love interest in the wonderful and horrifically under-appreciated (to the point it has no DVD release) All The Boys Love Mandy Lane. He's most likely playing the "town drifter," which I find quite intriguing. This is, in my opinion, is a pretty strong cast, and one of the more interesting Asylum ensembles of late. And the fact that this looks to be a straight-up thriller - no supernatural evil, no creatures, no robots or aliens - is also intriguing to me. We haven't seen one of these from The Asylum since - by their own classification - 2008's Evil. It's a while before this one streets - November 8 - but all indications are it'll be well worth the wait.

UPDATE: via Twitter I just learned that Bill Oberst Jr - the nasty carnival owner from Princess and the Pony - has secured a role in the film. This only sweetens the deal for me, as he was my favorite part of P&P.

And then as though this wasn't enough, the fine folks over at The Asylum have set up another page for another new title: Barely Legal. Quite obviously a sex comedy, there's not a lot of info on this one as of yet - no cast or director known - but we do know it's written by the amazingly versatile and talented Naomi Selfman, whose writing credits for The Asylum thus far include not only The 18 Year Old Virgin and #1 Cheerleader Camp, but also Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. Ms. Selfman seems to be the all-star in The Asylum's writing stable right now - she's kinda like Will Rogers: she never met a script she couldn't write - so even with a limited glimpse at the plot - "Sue, Cheryl, and Lexi--all freshman in college--have been friends forever (their moms met in the hospital). Every year, they do something special to celebrate their birthday, and this year, on their eighteenth, they're determined to lose their virginity" - you already know from the presence of Ms. Selfman that this one's going to be titillating and hilarious. No release date as of yet, but, as you know by now, as soon as I learn something, you learn something.