A quick post here to acknowledge that 2012 marks The Asylum's 15th year in business, in which time they have produced 100 movies completely independently. How do I know this? A little poster The Asylum tweeted yesterday told me:
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be airbrushing that onto the side of a van real soon. I mean, dig it: Moby Dick, Mega Shark, Mega Python, Gatoroid, a Terminator, a Transmorpher, H.M.S. Titantic 2, a zombie that from here looks like Geoff Meed, a car going at least 200MPH and, oh yeah, a 2 headed shark. There's also a pretty rad accompanying video that hits on the company's highlights of the last 15 years that makes its debut on the 2 Headed Shark Attack DVD, out January 31st.
If this is what the last 15 years have given us, who can even conceive of how incredible the next 15 will be? 2012 is already shaping up to one of the busiest and most interesting years for The Asylum, and they've only revealed half a dozen flicks so far. As usual, come back here often for the lowdown on any and all things Asylum.
That's right, Asylum fans, as another year draws to a close, it's time to look back over the last 12 months to determine our favorites among the year's harvest. I'm talking, of course, about the nominees for the 2nd Annual Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films.
Invented by yours truly, the Loonies are an entirely fan-voted awards presentation across myriad categories celebrating the very best in The Asylum films of 2011. And this year has produced a lot of competition: 16 films hit DVD in 2011, up from 12 in 2010.
The deal is simple: below you will find nominees in 12 categories; all 16 films have been nominated for Best Feature (14 and 2, really, but you'll see), but in subsequent categories, the number of nominees drop, making those represented truly the creme de la creme. Write-in candidates are of course welcome.
The voting period will last for six weeks, giving you plenty of time to catch up on any films or performances you might have inadvertently missed, and will close on Wednesday, February 8nd, 2011. Winners will be announced right here two days later, on Friday the 10th.
So email your votes to AsylumLoonies@hotmail.com and let your voice be heard, nay, counted! All these fine films are available on DVD for your screening purposes, and all can be acquired by a quick trip to The Asylum site, or Netflix. Vote once, but vote wise: winners will receive the undying admiration of we the committed, plus the worldwide esteem and jealous respect of their peers that comes with being a Looney-Award Winning Actor, Actress, Writer, Director, Non-Human, et cetera.
Good luck to all of the nominees, and now, without further adieu, your 2011 Looney Nominees:
Best Picture
Mega Python vs. Gatoroid
The Princess & the Pony
200MPH
Barely Legal
Battle of Los Angeles
Almighty Thor
2012 Ice Age
A Haunting in Salem
3 Musketeers
11/11/11
Born Bad
Zombie Apocalypse
Ballistica
Dragon Crusaders
Best Documentary Feature
Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes
The Amityville Haunting
Best Actor
Kel Mitchell...Battle of Los Angeles
Cody Deal...Almighty Thor
Richard Grieco...Almighty Thor
Patrick Labyorteaux...2012 Ice Age
Bill Oberst Jr....A Haunting in Salem
Xi...3 Musketeers
Michael Welch...Born Bad
Ving Rhames...Zombie Apocalypse
Best Actress
Tiffany...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Debbie Gibson...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Jeneta St. Clair...Barely Legal
Julie McCullough...2012 Ice Age
Bonnie Dennison...Born Bad
Taryn Manning...Zombie Apocalypse
Fiona Perry...The Princess and the Pony
Courtney Abbiati...A Haunting in Salem
Best Supporting Actor
Carey Van Dyke...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Bill Oberst Jr....The Princess and the Pony
Gerald Webb...Battle of Los Angeles
Gerald Webb...2012 Ice Age
Hayden Byerly...11/11/11
David Chokachi...Born Bad
Gary Weeks...Zombie Apocalypse
Martin Kove...Ballistica
Best Supporting Actress
Cecily Fay...Dragon Crusaders
AnnaMaria Demara...200MPH
Jenna Stone...A Haunting in Salem
Lisa Younger...Barely Legal
Michele Boyd...3 Musketeers
Aurelia Scheppers...11/11/11
Meredith Monroe...Born Bad
Lesley-Ann Brandt...Zombie Apocalypse
Best Screenplay
Naomi Selfman...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Mark Atkins...Battle of Los Angeles
Paul Sinor & Victoria Dadi...2012 Ice Age
Edward DeRuiter...3 Musketeers
Keith Allan & Kiff Scholl...11/11/11
Craig Engler & Brooks Peck...Zombie Apocalypse
Jared Cohn...Born Bad
Eric Forsberg...Almighty Thor
Best Score
Chris Ridenhour...A Haunting in Salem
Chris Ridenhour...Zombie Apocalypse
Chris Ridenhour...11/11/11
Chris Ridenhour...200MPH
Chris Ridenhour...3 Musketeers
Chris Ridenhour...Dragon Crusaders
Best Visual Effects
Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Zombie Apocalypse
2012 Ice Age
Dragon Crusaders
Battle of Los Angeles
Almighty Thor
Best Creature
Gatoroids...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Mega Python...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Zombies...Zombie Apocalypse
Witch-Ghosts...A Haunting in Salem
The Pony...The Princess and the Pony
Anneliese Michel...Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes
Best Cinematography
Alex Yellin...200MPH
Mark Atkins...Battle of Los Angeles
Alex Yellin...2012 Ice Age
Alex Yellin...A Haunting in Salem
Mark Atkins...Dragon Crusaders
Alex Yellin...Born Bad
Best Director
Mark Atkins...Battle of Los Angeles
Shane Van Dyke...A Haunting in Salem
Keith Allan...11/11/11
Nick Lyon...Zombie Apocalypse
Jared Cohn...Born Bad
Cole McKay...3 Musketeers
Mary Lambert...Mega Python vs Gatoroid
Rachel Goldenberg...The Princess and the Pony
There are still two Asylum films slated for release in 2011 - Zombie Apocalypse and Amityville Haunting - but already the studio's 2012 slate is filling up quick: 2 Headed Shark Attack, Air Collision, Celebrity Sex Tape, Nazis at the Center of the Earth and Battleships are already in production or in post. But the film I think a lot of people are super-excited for is Grimm's Snow White, a creepier, more creature-centric look at one of the world's most homogenized (and thus in dire need of a reworking such as this) fairy tales.
In the plot description, "ferocious reptile beasts" are said to play a major role and now, courtesy of the fine, fine folks over at The Asylum, I have a very brief clip of the film's opening VFX sequence. Dig it:
Pretty, pretty, pretty rad stuff here. That thing looks like a mega-komodo (TM) with a longer, more versatile neck. Joseph Lawson - who is directing for the first tome in 2012, Nazis at the Center of the Earth - and The Asylum's VFX team have been blowing it up this year. I know I say that every opportunity I get, so if it's getting old, too bad, because the team just keeps giving me opportunities. With a script by Naomi Selfman (MSvC, MPvG), direction from Rachel Goldenberg (Sherlock Holmes) and visual effects like these, you can bet this is not your little sister's Snow White.
The film hits DVD on February 28th, 2012. Try and wait best you can.
That's right, as another year draws to a close, so is birthed the 2011 Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films, a completely-unaffiliated, fan-voted and non-binding awards presentation I designed to spotlight the best of each year's Asylum crop.
There are still two films left to be released in 2011 - Amityville Haunting and Zombie Apocalypse - so I don't have all of the nominees as of yet, but I have most of them lined up and ready to drop...which I will do Friday, December 30th, three days after both Amityville & Zombie are released on DVD.
Last year's big winner was Mega Piranha, taking 5 of 8 categories including Best Picture and Best Director for Eric Forsberg. Who's the frontrunner this year? Mega Python vs Gatoroid? Zombie Apocalypse? A Haunting in Salem? Only time and your votes will tell.
The 2011 Loonies boast more categories, more nominees, and more opportunities for B-movie-blog immortality. Don't just imagine the possibilities, stop by December 30th and live the dream...
There's been an array of info pertaining to new projects coming out of The Asylum these last several days, and today proved no exception: behold the first production stills from next year's Grimm's Snow White.
This is easily The Asylum film that I'm most looking forward to in 2012 (besides one I wrote), based solely on the talent behind the camera: director Rachel Goldenberg (Sherlock Holmes, The Princess and the Pony) and writer Naomi Selfman (Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Mega Python vs Gatoroid) Both of these people are among the best The Asylum employs, and rank high on my personal list of greats: Ms. Selfman's scripts are smart, funny, thrilling and rife with memorable moments, and Ms. Goldenberg's direction - as proved in spades from these stellar stills - is taut, atmospheric, fantastical and utterly captivating. These two talents working together, then, my expectations go through the roof for this one, and this first look at the production only strengthens that conviction.
Grimm's Snow White stars Jane March, Jamie Thomas King and Eliza Bennett (above) as Snow. Grab it on DVD March 13, 2012.
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.
That's right, the long wait is finally over: for everyone who missed it on SyFy, or just for those of us dying to see it again the great, incredible, thrilling, chilling and highly enjoyable Mega Python vs Gatoroid drops on DVD and Blu-Ray today! Starring Tiffany and Debbie Gibson! Nuff said! Go get it!
So this coming Saturday, a day I'm officially declaring a holiday, the fine, fine folks at SyFy are showing not one, not two, not even three but four Asylum films, and not a one of them at 3 in the morning!
Things start off with the undisputed classic Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus at 1 p.m., then a little break followed by a six-hour mega-marathon that includes Mega Piranha at 5 p.m., Mega Python vs. Gatoroid at 7 and the world television premiere of 2010 Moby Dick, starring Barry Bostwick and Renee O'Connor, written by Paul Bales and directed by Trey Stokes, at 9 p.m.
So whatever else it is you thought you were doing Saturday, cancel it; four of The Asylum's best are on the boob tube, and you, dear boob, simply can't afford to miss this rare alignment.
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.
June 7th
Exorcismus
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Rubber
Slices of Life
Tortured
Universal Squadron
June 14th
Battle: Los Angeles
Chained
Chatroom
Fall Down Dead
Hall Pass
Kill the Irishman
Red Riding Hood
June 21st
Black Rat
Mega Python vs Gatoroid (!!!!!)
June 28th
2012 Ice Age
starring Patrick Labyorteaux & Julie McCullough
written by Victoria Dadi & Paul SInor
directed by Trey Stokes
Dawning
Norwegian Ninja
Sucker Punch
Warehouse 13: Season 2
Enjoy!
I know not all of my readers have been with me since the beginning, and I also know I'm a lousy tagger. The combination of these things means that there are a lost of posts that perhaps you haven't seen. That being the case, every now and again I like to post a megapost, if you will, that can catch you up with all the posts under a certain heading. This week's heading: creature features; below, please find a complete listing of every published feature to date. Enjoy!
This film marks a pair of big debuts: not only is it the first film directed by Mark Atkins (Battle of Los Angeles, Haunting of Winchester House, Halloween Night, etc.), it is also the first film written by Naomi Selfman (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, #1 Cheerleader Camp, upcoming Barely Legal).
And as debut go, on both accounts, Evil Eyes is a good showcase of two burgeoning talents destined for B-movie greatness.
When a screenwriter (Adam Baldwin, "Firefly") is hired by an ominous producer (Udo Kier, Andy Warhol's Dracula and Frankenstein, Suspiria, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) to write a film about a real-life slaughtered family, things get fer-reaky when the grisly murders he scripts begin to happen in the real world.
I was surprised to find this film much more cerebral than I expected. That's not a slam or anything, I just expected a high-octane relentless assault of gore and violence, and what I got was a suspensefully-paced intellectual thriller with supernatural undertones.
Adam Baldwin as the screenwriter was his usual gruff, gritty, and unapologetically-independent self. And just as this attitude made him a formidable space mercenary, it is also an appropriate balance of brashness and swagger for a big-time Hollywood screenwriter (I don't actually know any to verify this, but I trust what the movies tell me about the people who make them.).
As for Udo Kier, what can I say about this true cinematic treasure that hasn't been said a million times before? I don't know what it is - his creepiness, his charm, his thick accent, the copious amounts of turtlenecks he wears - but there's something about this guy that have always liked; he's like a European Steve Buscemi. Here he inhabits the role of producer as militantly fragile, commanding but not in command, if that makes any sense whatsoever. He might be a little stiff in scenes, but his mere presence makes a scene foreboding, so, mission accomplished.
Rounding out the cast is a Ms. Jennifer Gates as AB's long-time GF. This was Ms. Gates first film as well (and in fact one of only two features she's been in), but she never came across as a rookie to me, holding her own in scenes with the more accomplished actors. She played the part as diligently doting but never docile; she was sweet, demure, dangerously devoted and overall endearing.
In a nutshell, then, I found this one to be an great concept - a kind of In The Mouth of Madness Asylum-style - that builds its suspense well, is always thrilling while not resorting to the cheap and easy scares, and is definitely a smarter-than-average-axe-murderer-movie. The film is subtle, restrained and savvy, in script and direction. Add some truly inventive kills and well-developed characters and the result is an above-average thriller. If it was my studio, I would have given Atkins and Selfman copious work as well; these two are true All-Stars.
What else can I say? Let's see...there are shades, in my opinion, of Lost Highway, to the point the word "Lynchian" is even in the script, and it totally works in this surreal, cerebral, non-linear-yet-frightening-cohesive film.
There are hidden gems in the Asylum's catalog, and I fell as though I may have just discovered the brightest one.
