Stellar Short from Asylum Alum!

Director Nick Everhart (666: The Beast, 2012 Doomsday) has just finished an awesome horror short entitled Slash-in-the-Box, and you can check it out (along with some other rad stuff) on his Vimeo site.

Everhart is of the Leigh Scott-Griff Furst era in Asylum history, and still works with those guys today through the production company Active Entertainment, who most recently gave us Swamp Shark. Interesting to note Leigh Scott (Beast of Bray Road, Transmorphers, Dragon) is the d.o.p. here.

Anyway, check out the short - it's really very good - then head over to the film's IMDB page and give it a good rating. Inmates for life!

Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus Gets a SyFy Premiere!

Last year's best shark film, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus - suck it, Sharktopus - will finally get the primetime exposure it deserves on the 20th of this month when it makes its World Television Premiere on the greatest network in the history of television, SyFy.

That's right, fellow inmates, we're getting another crack at shattering the SyFy Saturday Night Original Movie ratings record, currently held by Lake Placid 3 - helmed by former inmate Griff Furst - at 3 million viewers. The only two flicks to even come close are shark flicks - it-who-shall-not-be-named at 2.5 million and Furst's follow-up Swamp Shark at 2.2 million - meaning if we start blogging, facebooking, tweeting and whatever else right now, we got a real chance at taking the crown.

Either way, a great film is coming to a great channel on a undoubtedly pleasant summer evening. Jaleel White, Gary Stretch and Robert Picardo star for director Christopher Ray - currently starting work on his next film, The Asylum's 2 Headed Shark Attack, details coming soon, promise - from a script by Naomi Selfman.

Saturday, August 20th at 9 p.m. is when it goes down. Tell ten people to tell ten people right now!

outside the walls: Asylum Regulars' Other Work

I thought in this post we'd check in on some of the work being done by Asylum regulars outside the walls, that is, for other production companies besides the one we cherish so dear. This time, I thought we'd start with some of my favorite talent behind the camera.

Writer/director/cinematographer/etc. Mark Atkins, recently of Battle of Los Angeles and soon-to-present Dragon Crusaders, has another directorial effort due soon, the awesomely-premised Sand Sharks, starring Corin "Parker Lewis" Nemic, Brooke "Fruit of Hulk's Loins" Hogan and Vanessa Lee Evigan, Asylum vet for Journey to the Center of the Earth, in which she appeared with her father, the great Greg Evigan (also 6 Guns). I don't have the exact plot for this one, but the great thing about shark movies, is that once the premise is established, it pretty much goes in the same, wonderful direction. No release date for this one yet, either, but all indications are it'll be some time this year.

Anthony Fankhauser, director of 8213 Gacy House, 2012 Supernova and line producer of 17 other Asylum titles, has a pretty full plate of his own. IN addition to producing Atkins' Sand Sharks, he's also line producing a television film called Jabberwocky featuring the lovely Kacey Barnfield (Lake Placid 3). No word on whether it has anything to do with Lewis Carroll. Furthermore, Mr. Fankhauser has also written and directed a horror film called Grizzly Flats (formerly Shadow People) about a family terrorized by, well, shadow people. Danielle DeLuca stars.


Speaking, in a sense, of Lake Placid 3, its director, Griff Furst - known for directing The Asylum's 100 Million B.C., I Am Omega and Universal Soldiers - has been keeping busy as well. In addition to his recently-released horror flick Mask Maker, he was also at the helm for the recent SyFy Saturday Night entrant, Swamp Shark, starring D.B. Sweeney, Kristy Swanson and Robert Davi, recently of The Asylum's Ballistica. Swamp Shark aired last Saturday night to the highest ratings since Sharktopus. Seems SyFy fans realllllly like shark movies. And The Asylum has 2 Headed Shark Attack on its slate. I'm just sayin'...guaranteed ratings champ.

Then there's Shane Van Dyke, who, if you've read this blog ever before today, you probably know is currently wrapping post-production on The Asylum's August release, A Haunting in Salem, which is going to be AWESOME, and not just because I wrote the script for it (though that's the source of a lot of its awesomeness, for me at least). But that's not all SVD is up to these days. In addition to acting in Fred Olen Ray's upcoming Super Shark (alongside Sarah Lieving and Dylan Vox, both Asylum vets) Shane and his older brother Carey (who also appears in A Haunting in Salem as Deputy Mike) have written a horror script called The Sacred, a literary-set horror-thriller starring Jeff Fahey and Sid Haig.


And finally, Christopher Ray, director of Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus and Almighty Thor, as well as being the first assistant director of A Haunting in Salem, has another gig as first assistant director in the pipeline, this time on the creature-thriller Camel Spiders, starring the great C. Thomas Howell (War of the Worlds, War of the Worlds 2, The Day the Earth Stopped, The Land That Time Forgot) and Brian Krause (2012 Supernova).

So as you can see, inside Asylum walls or out, the creative types responsible for your favorite films have a lot on the horizon. Don't feel the least bit guilty straying to support them.

observation notes: I Am Omega

Just so you know where all this is going, I'm going to be bold and open these observation notes with the declaration that I Am Omega is one of the greatest productions The Asylum has ever pulled off, and remember, that's coming from a guy who loves all these films, good or bad, but this one, this one enters a pantheon reserved for a precious few like Monster and The Beast of Bray Road. This is an especial accomplishment when you remember that I Am Omega isn't just a tie-in to the Will Smith flick I Am Legend, but also to two other incarnations of this story: The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price and The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston; all films are based on the novella by Richard Matheson, and the Smith version is the only one to retain the original name. But aside from that, the story here is basically the same as the others, with a few notable exceptions: the life and trials of the supposed last man on Earth (Mark Dacascos, Double Dragon and TV-Crow) in the apocalyptic wake of some pandemic virus fuck-all that turned most of society into ravenous mutant/vampire/zombie predators. As such, for the first half hour or so, the film focuses on MD's day-to-day survival routine, scrounging for supplies and, on this day at least, planting hella explosives around a natural gas pipeline. Two major differences from the other films emerge at this point: one, MD isn't scrounging off a major metropolitan area, so there are no luxuries - no fast cars, no ripe grocery stores or department stores, none of that, calling for a more hand-to-mouth existence set among a rural, desert landscape that helps raise the level of peril; and two, MD isn't an M.D. like the protagonists of other versions, he isn't conveniently the only guy ever who could figure out a cure for all this, he's just an average guy with exceptional fighting skills in a truly shitty situation, mentally fragile, on the verge of some deeper insanity, and so lost in his isolation that when all of a sudden he receives a video message from another survivor, instead of rejoicing, he flips the fuck out and shuts off the power. MD is a man with no hope of finding a way out of this hell, so he just plain has no hope.

Finally, though, he answers the video message and it's - lucky lucky - a hot single chick (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) trapped downtown in need of rescue. She says she's on her way to Antioch, a utopic survivors' compound nearby, and if MD comes for her, he can go with her to salvation. So as it turns out, MD isn't the last man on Earth at all, he's just the last recluse. Long story short, he turns her down, reps from Antioch come looking for him anyway, saying the girl carries the anti-virus in her blood so they gotta get her out, but they also know about the explosives and what MD's planning on blowing up: the whole fucking city. So they need him to use his sewer-layout knowledge to get them to the girl and out again before the city blows. Still MD isn't feeling the whole rescue mission, but in the end, they don't really give him a choice. At all.

So into the sewers they go, and from here on in it's mostly spoilers so I'll cease with the plot reveal but to say the set-up more than delivers, and the action continues to mount all the way to a spectacular ending, the culmination of races against time, explosives, zombies, fraudulent heroes, hope and salvation.

Overall, this feels more like a straight-up remake of The Last Man on Earth than it does a tie-in to I Am Legend. Another key difference - and the one, I believe, that makes this film so exceptional - is its subtle but thorough exploration of the psychosis factor involved, that is, the mental effects of being, well, Omega, the last person on Earth (if only in your mind). MD is not some flawless, wise-cracking action hero here, he is a very disturbed man fighting for his life every waking second, dealing with terror, grief, confusion and rage non-stop. The toll of this would be almost unbearable, and MD does an exceptional job portraying a man in such dire straits. In addition to his superb martial arts skills - employed here in a way that wasn't too obvious or distracting from the story - Dacascos brings an emotional intensity that results in a truly stirring performance, the best of his career for its equal parts power and passion, strength and extreme vulnerability.

His co-star Jennifer Lee Wiggins, a six-time Asylum vet (Shapeshifter, King of the Lost World, Dracula's Curse, Pirates..., and The 9/11 Commission Report) somehow manages to bring a playful sexiness to a distressed role, humanizing the character and making her more empathetic than perhaps she's written. But the highlight of this film, trivia-wise, for me, comes in the form of Geoff Meed, who plays Vincent, the brutish, mohawked Antioch rep, your typical over-trained thug. Not only has Meed performed in five Asylum films - including Airline Disaster and 100 Million B.C. - he's also written three: Universal Soldiers, 6 Guns and I Am Omega. I'm gonna call him the Bo Jackson of The Asylum from now on. You heard it here first.

I Am Omega was directed by Griff Furst, who's done some work with The Asylum before (he directed Universal Soldiers and 100 Million B.C. and had acting roles in Transmorphers and The Hitchhiker), but has also done some work outside the walls that have found mention in these virtual pages (Lake Placid 3, upcoming Swamp Shark). He's the captain at the helm of this film, an intense, scary thriller that stands on it's own feet and that grabbed me from the first scene and never let go. If you've never seen an Asylum film, make this one of the first three you watch.

inmate profle: Alex Yellen

 

As regular readers of Committed know, in the weeks leading up to the release of an Asylum film I like to throw out a few more inmate profiles than normal, spotlighting the creative talent behind the impending film. As 200mph opens on in only a few weeks, on April 26th, I thought we'd get started. First up: Asylum cinematographer extraordinaire Alex Yellen.

There isn't a lot of info on Mr. Yellen out there, so his work will have to speak for itself, which it more than does:

Yellin has served as cinematographer on fifteen Asylum films, including half of the studio's output last year and a good chunk of their work thus far this year. A sample of his work: 6 Guns, 2010 Moby Dick, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Airline Disaster, I Am Omega and 100 Million B.C. What's more, Yellen has racing-cinema experience: he served as cinematographer on The Asylum's last speed thriller, Street Racer.

And as impossible as it may seem, Yellen has somehow found the time for work outside Asylum walls: on both the indie drama Quinceanera and the Leigh-Scott-written, Griff-Furst directed Wolvesbayne he served as the second unit's director of photography.

It's obvious The Asylum trusts this guy's eye quite a bit, and with good reason; for my money, 2010 Moby Dick and 100 Million B.C. are among the best-looking Asylum films. We'll get a nice good look at the work of Yellen not only this April 26th when 200mph is released, but also again next month with the release of Almighty Thor, again in June with the release of 2012 Ice Age and at least one more time this November with the release of Born Bad. And it's probably the safest bet out there that his name will pop up on at least another film or two later in the year.

Check out his website here.

Alex Yellen, consider yourself saluted.

observation notes: Jolly Roger - Massacre at Cutter's Cove

Arrgh is right.

This fright of a film begins when a group of typically-hornball, beer-guzzling young folk goes coast-camping right after a hurricane. Amidst their nocturnal romps, a weathered treasure chest is discovered washed ashore by the storm, but when it is opened, it's not a treasure they discover inside, rather quite the opposite: the cursed spirit of a demonic pirate with a not-so demonic name - Jolly Roger. Jolly manages to slaughter the majority of the young folk, but the sole survivors, bad-boy Alex and good-girl Jessie (Tom Nagel and Kristina Korn, respectively), try to warn local law enforcement (Kim Little and Tom Downey) of this soggy, supernatural threat, but, of course, no one believes a bunch of kids, so the pirate goes about his mission of bloody vengeance as our teen heroes attempt to unravel the mystery around what exactly conjured Jolly Roger, what exactly he wants, and how exactly to send his damned soul back to Hell.

And oh, that we could go with him.

No, now, it's not that bad, really. It's bad, for sure, but not worth eternal damnation just to avoid. The performances, for the most part, are strong. The two standouts in the cast are two of the most-regulars, Tom Nagel (Beast of Bray Road, Pirates of Treasure Island, The Apocalypse, Hillside Cannibals, Dracula's Curse) as young, troubled Alex and Kim Little (Killers, Killers 2, Supercroc, War of the Worlds, War of the Worlds 2, Countdown: Jerusalem) as Lowenstein, the female officer in town. Nagel comes across a lot like James Marshall's "James" from "Twin Peaks:" the good guy with a tough past that resulted in an infraction of the law that wasn't totally his fault but now has him pegged as a no-good troublemaker despite his sensitive, kind and well-meaning center. Nagel crafts a hardened and world-wise if not world-weary young man well worth rooting for. And as far as Ms. Little is concerned, still in her ginger phase here, she assumes a sort of Scully-esque demeanor, both physically - in her oversized, androgynous, non-fitted suits - and emotionally - she projects a superficially cold and professionally distant demeanor that masks a soft core, a real, trusting, emotional center, and it is this center that elevates Ms. Little's supporting performance above mere supporting recognition. 

The rest of the cast, they do all right: Kristina Korn does an amazing job, but only if she's supposed to be playing the role as a self-centered, obstinately-naive, over-educated bitch; if not...She comes in late on most of her cues, and her overall emotional state seems to be one of weepy inconvenience rather than actual, unbridled fear for her life. Despite all this, however, she is a good pairing with Nagel's over-compensating milquetoast Alex. Tom Downey (a 13-film Asylum vet, including Beast of Bray Road, King of the Lost World and upcoming Ballistica) as Mathis is a great addition to the cast, but he's woefully underused in this one-dimensional character. Nice use of regular faces in bit parts though, including Griff Furst as a warehouse landlord, Leigh Scott as a strip club owner, and, in a spot that nearly steals the show, Amanda Barton as a rockin' secretary. And then there's Rhett Giles, the great Rhett Giles, hero of so many Asylum films, a great actor and a charming fellow by all accounts - but even someone as talented as Rhett Giles could not make the character of Jolly Roger anything more than a bad joke.


I blame this on FX and script, honestly. Mr. Giles does his best - but for the accent, I'm not letting him escape that one - but the conceit of the pirate is just so incredibly cheesy, from his outfit to the crud all over his face to his dialog to the situations in which he finds himself, that there was never much of a chance audiences would take him seriously. I mean, it says something, to me at least, that every character in the film who comes in contact with Jolly, their first impulse is to think he's some douchebag in a costume (though I do have to give one bit of positive feedback at this juncture: I loved how old Jolly just walked around seeking his vengeance in his waterlogged pantaloons in broad daylight, often in public places, without giving the slightest hint of a fuck. That's some swashbuckling badass-ness right there.). And it's this failure to convince that kinda brings down the whole film. I mean, the concept is pretty neat, a little Scooby-Doo, but still ripe with potential. However, the screenwriter's attempts to realize this potential are at best half-cocked and at worst, laughable. Jolly ends up in a strip club, for fuck's sake, and not ironically; he's just there, killing strippers. Every time the pirate was off-screen, I thought this had the makings of an inventive, intense horror film. Every time the pirate was on-screen, he just ruined it, and no matter how great an actor was behind the crud, the crud was all that showed.


Every spectrum needs its parameters, two opposite ends by which everything in-between is defined, evaluated. If then, one end of the spectrum of Asylum films are my personal favorites like I Am Omega, Mega Python vs Gatoroid, Beast Of Bray Road and 2010 Moby Dick, then waaaaaaaay down at the other end of the spectrum there's a dark, dank, quiet and depressing hole in which I mentally filed Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove.


And I'll say it again, because despite it's own inherit cheesiness, it bears repeating: arrrrrrrgh.

observation notes: Transmorphers

A notable entry of the mockbuster era, Transmorphers - in league with War of the Worlds 1 and 2 - really helped solidify The Asylum in the cultural consciousness as an independent studio worth watching. Facing lawsuits - there were none - from Michael Bay and Hasbro, The Asylum brazenly forged ahead and released this dystopic sci-fi/action epic. It goes as follows:

After the discovery of life on a distant planet - 20 million miles distant, a nice nod to Ray Harryhausen, perhaps - we foolishly try and make contact. Decades we wait, and then the response? Full-on alien-robot invasion, one that obliterates 90% of the Earth's population and paves the way for the rest of the alien-robots to re-settle our planet. These robots? Transmorphers. It's up to what remains of humanity to act as our last defenders.

Cut to outer space, where a military guild ship has caught hints of a robot advance. The impending course of action causes a bit of a rift in the crew, half of whom side with the lady General (Eliza Swenson) and want to respond diplomatically, the other half on the side of another officer (Jeff Denton) who wants to respond with guns blazing. As a sort of compromise, or stalling tactic, a team of elite space-marine-type-folks are sent out to recover a bot for studying purposes. This is where the hunt begins, not so much on the marines' part as much as on the part of the warrior-alien-robots they presume to hunt. Excellent sound effects abound.

When they discover the coming battle is too big for just the team to handle, the military resorts to awaking a pair of problem-soldiers (Griff Furst and Matthew Wolf) from cryogenic stasis to lead the assault. Naturally, they're a little pissed about being frozen - Griff Furst for the physical act of being frozen, Wolf for the fact that in the interim, his ex-wife has become the new wife of...wait for it...the lady General! (wha-?)

This is the oft-spoken-of lesbian subplot mainstream media chose to latch onto in their mentions of the film, but honestly people, isn't that just lighting fires to watch them burn? I mean, aside from her body, Megan Fox looks like a unibrowed transsexual right out of the salon (no offense to transsexuals, or salons, only Megan Fox). Where's the brou-ha-ha in that thing making out with the Even Stevens kid?

I digress, but it doesn't matter, because from here on out the film becomes a cat-and-mouse game of intergalactic Risk, man versus robot for the supreme control of the others' right to live. The rest is yours to discover.

I will say, however, that overall Transmorphers was a nice sci-fi (that is, heavily technological) /post-apocalypse (that is, ruined landscape, decimated population, fight for survival) hybrid that plays like Starship Troopers set in a Warriors landscape. The sound editing wasn't so great on my copy, but the FX are amazing in design, if not comparably fluid in execution: at times the robots come off a little too 2-D, but for direct-to-DVD they are exceptional, and believable enough for your buck. The battle scenes are especially spectacular, enough so to make you overlook any technical short-comings if you allow yourself to get lost in the sheer artistry and resourcefulness of low-budget filmmaking.

As for performances, this one's peppered with a score of great ones from Asylum regulars. Jeff Denton (The Beast of Bray Road, The Hitchhiker), as mentioned, plays the stern officer itching for a fight, and as such he pulls off the HMFIC* role to a T, stoic and stern, the blue-collar translator to Eliza Swenson's more-polished authoritative general. The lovely Ms. Swenson (Dracula's Curse, Frankenstein Reborn) inhabits the role of the General as a cold, distant and emotionally detached administrator, in short the perfect commander. Visually Ms. Swenson comes off as a young Angelina Jolie meets Amanda Seyfried, which is a beautiful, beautiful thing. But her most powerful asset is her ability, for someone so petite, to fill the screen with her strength, an insane amount, like the button that unleashes the bomb. No wonder she's been employed by The Asylum seven times (catch her next in director Leigh Scott's The Witches of Oz).

Unfrozen soldiers Griff Furst (Alien Abduction, The Hitchhiker) and Matthew Wolf (The Apocalypse, Dragon) are a gruff but wry duo, a blend of humor and action. Furst comes across as the space-Maverick to Wolf's Goose, but in the former's case, even badder-boy, grizzled and dashing, a charming machine of a soldier. He's never been more likable, or formidable.

Other notable performances in this large ensemble cast come from Asylum regulars Shaley Scott (The Hitchhiker, Invasion of the Pod People) - who as a firestarter is deliciously meddlesome, insidious and mayhemic in a Serpent-queen kind of way, if that makes any sense, which it totally does to me; she's got blue eyes that'll burn right through the screen - Michael Tower (30,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Dracula's Curse), Sarah Hall (When a Killer Calls, The Hitchhiker), Erin Sullivan (Monster), Noel Thurman (Supercroc, Universal Soldiers), Jason S. Gray (Universal Soldiers, The Da Vinci Treasure), Jessica Bork (Dragon, The Hitchhiker), Thomas Downey (The Beast of Bray Road, King of the Lost World), Monique La Barr (Death Racers, 666: The Beast) and even a few more.

Of course, this giant cast is brought to you by none other than Leigh Scott, who comes across as very loyal for how often he uses the same folk. Mr. Scott wrote and directed this film in ambitious fashion, complete with split-screen and a grayed color-scheme that played together to form a claustrophobic, prison-like future from which there is no escape but full-blown revolution. 

Though alike in name and concept, the story of Transmorphers is its own, independent of the Hollywood version, and, in that regard, is a successful futuristic-actioner. It's arguable that Leigh Scott mastered the mockbuster, and I think the best proof is right here.

* Head MotherFucker In Charge

observation notes: Dead Men Walking

This zombie thriller actually brings a fresh concept to the table, not something easy to do in a genre as well-mined as this one: after his roommates accidentally ingest a biotoxin from the lab where he works, a young lad named Travis (Brandon Stacy), in an effort to keep the virus from spreading, takes them out with a shotgun. The cops, understandably, think he's a homicidal maniac and incarcerate his ass. Only problem is, Trav caught the infection before they locked him up, meaning when the disease manifests itself, it has a nice, well-populated and contained environment in which to spread. Pretty soon, zombie prisoners outnumber regular prisoners and the only hope for survival is escape, a tall order in the best of circumstances. 

Like I said, the concept - from screenwriter Mike Watt (not the acclaimed singer, the acclaimed horror journalist) - is fresh and intriguing, a careful blend of a prison flick, a zombie movie, and a medical thriller; however, it's a concept that isn't always supported by the dialog, which fluctuates between heavy-handed, awkward and wooden. The story flows well-enough, but it is definitely hung up in spots by shoddy verbal execution. To its credit, though, for the latter of these genres, a medical thriller, it is very methodically researched and believably implemented. Truthfully, while 28 Days Later is a far, far superior film, I liked the breakout explanation (epidemic breakout, not prison breakout) in Dead Men Walking much more.

As for performances, the above-mentioned Brandon Stacy (two episodes of "Joey"), who could pass for Zachary Quinto if he needed to (here, then here), makes the most of his brief time onscreen, which, though it doesn't amount to much more than acting crazy and sick, Mr. Stacy does so with admirable aplomb; his final transformation into full-blown zombiehood is truly painful to perceive. I mean that as a compliment.

The lead prisoner in this film is our old-favorite Griff Furst (Transmorphers, The Hitchhiker, 9/11 Commission Report), a frequently-incarcerated, almost as frequently self-liberated criminal with a steel intellect, brass balls and a heart of gold. Furst plays the role with his typical roguish amiability, a violent scalawag with a penchant for adventure that has occasion to blur the line between legal and illegal. In other words: the bad boy just good enough to wriggle into your sympathies. Mr. Furst billed himself here as "Brick Firestone," which is a spot-on porn name if ever I heard one.

Rounding out the cast is the lovely Bay Bruner (this and Bachelor Party Massacre, in which she's billed as - spoiler alert - "The Killer"), playing a CDC scientist who's at the prison running tests on the infected prisoners when the whole place goes zombie-lockdown. Ms. Bruner comes across as a less-bite-more-bark Kristen Quintrall, and plays the role as your standard pretty-authoritarian-with-something-to-prove-as-demonstrated-through-sass-and-frigidity. Despite this common approach, there's definitely a spark to Ms. Bruner that makes her performance far from rote; she conveys an inherit vulnerability, an - even if subconscious - awareness of her fish-out-of-water status that wafts mild empathy in her direction.

Dead Men Walking was directed by Peter Mervis (Snakes on a Train, When a Killer Calls, The DaVinci Treasure), who turns in a taut thriller that moves well-enough along, though hindered in spots by the aforementioned dialog. Mr. Mervis' use of lighting, framing and sound make the prison setting a true cavernous hell, a boundless cell that allows the story to fill it. The action scenes - that is, the kill scenes - while a glorious melee of ferocity and gore, felt a bit too frazzled and unfocused for my taste, like watching a room full of epileptics all seizing at once; too much chaos for focus, which, for all I know, was the very intention of Mr. Mervis. 

Overall, I'm sort of in the middle of this one: it certainly wasn't the best Asylum film I've seen, but it was far from the worst, yet while the concept and story were intriguing, the execution, both in script and supporting performances, made me too aware this was direct-to-DVD, something I never mind, but shouldn't be reminded of. With the right performances and a better script, this concept could have opened to 15 million any October. As is, it's a passable example in a genre too-often visited. Ultimately, though, when they divide zombie movies into watchable and not, Dead Men Walking should find itself safely, though not that safely, on the winning side.

outside the walls: Non-Asylum Inkings

Director Griff Furst (Universal Soldiers, I Am Omega, 100 Million BC and non-Asylum Wolvesbayne and Lake Placid 3) has revealed the poster for his upcoming SyFy movie Swamp Shark, starring D.B. Sweeney (Fire in the Sky, The Cutting Edge), the lovely Kristy Swanson (Buffy, Red Water) and Robert Davi (upcoming Asylum flick Ballistica). 

Big ole' creature somewhere it shouldn't be? Check.

Eye candy? Check.

Grizzled B-veteran? Check.

Sounds like Mr. Furst has assembled everything he needs for a fun, thrilling Saturday night. Though no premiere date has been released, according to the film's Facebook page, it's slated to come out sometime this month. Soon as I know something, you'll know something.

Observation Notes Catch-Up: Horror

I know not all my readers have been with me from the beginning, and I also know given the amount of postings I've made, things can get lost in the shuffle. I also know that I'm not the best at tagging uniformly, so there might be a few things, specifically Observation Notes, that go unread. As such, periodically I like to remind you - with links! - of the films I've reviewed, and I think a good way of grouping these is by genre. So here, for your catching-up or even revisiting pleasure, are the Horror films produced by The Asylum that I've reviewed thus far, along with links to the original posts. Enjoy!










Death Racers
directed by Roy Knyrim
story by Roy Knyrim & Patrick Tantalo
screenplay by Andrew Helm
(not technically horror, but enough blood that it counts)

8213 Gacy House
directed by Anthony Fankhauser
written by Reality

The Beast of Bray Road
written and directed by Leigh Scott

I Am Omega
directed by Griff Furst
suggested by a novella by Richard Matheson
screenplay by Geoff Meed

When a Killer Calls
directed by Peter Mervis
written by Steve Bevilacqua &  Peter Mervis

Legion of the Dead
written and directed by Paul Bales

Killers
directed by David Michael Latt
written by Steven Ramirez

Killers 2
directed by David Michael Latt
written by Paul Bales
based on characters created by Steven Ra

Sounds Like an Asylum Movie to Me

So, the above image was captured by the Hubble telescope last week, and is assumed to be a green cloud of gas illuminated by a quasar that blinked out of existence some 200,000 years ago. 

The object, given the catchy moniker Hanny's Voorwerp (which sounds more like a top-shelf expenditure in Amsterdam's Red Light District than an astronomical anomaly), is said to be the size of our own Milky Way galaxy, and composed of a 300,000 light-year-long stream of gas. The glowing part is supposedly oxygen, and this nebulous nebula is, by current calculations, 650 million light years from our peaceful planet. So even if it was dangerous - which officials insist it is not - it wouldn't reach Earth for several, several, several lifetimes.

Yeah right.

That's exactly what they would say, isn't it? Of course it's just gas, of course it's harmless, of course it's too far away to be dangerous. Let me pose a question: if this thing's moving so slow, where was it the day before you discovered it? It's green and glowing and 300 thousand light-years long, not exactly the kind of thing that creeps up on you. For all we know, this thing leaps light-years like lily pads and it's just resting up between jumps.  

And maybe I'm being paranoid, maybe I've been influenced by too many science-fiction films, but since when is a glowing green cloud from deep space the size of our galaxy not considered dangerous? Nothing the size of our galaxy is harmless. Blue whales are supposed to be docile things as well; try dropping one on your house. Docile or not, big shit causes damage. 

from www.longhousestudios.com

Of course it's coming for us, this strange radiation cloud, this cosmic dragon that as we pass through it will incinerate everything that crosses its green, glowing line, unless a team of crack scientists can find a way to reflect or some other way thwart the cloud from causing the whole planet to combust. 

And every team needs a leader, preferably a bit of a maverick, a brilliant and well-educated, vastly-experienced rogue who plays by his own rules, isn't afraid to take a risk, and in the end cares more about survival and discovery than fame and fortune. Ooh, ooh, and his ex-wife should be involved. James Van Der Beek and Kristen Miller were born to play these roles, born I say!

Round out the team with a couple of technicians/specialists, roles for folks like Kim Little, Jude Gerard-Prest, Jay Gillespie, Erica Duke, that sort of crew, and maybe even a two-man astronaut crew, valiant martyrs for the greater good, played by Rhett Giles and Griff Furst, just for old time's sake.

Stranger films have been made, but not much stranger things have been discovered.

observation notes: Universal Soldiers

This sci-fi action spectacle is This Asylum's tie-in to the popular JCVD series about genetically-modified super soldiers that to date has generated five five - yes, I know, it's unbelievable but true; Van Damme's in 3 of them, including the last two, and the cheapies in the middle trade off Gary Busey and Burt Reynolds as bad guys. But I digress...

In this take, directed by Griff Furst (I Am Omega, 100 Million B.C.) from a script by Geoff Meed (I Am Omega, 6 Guns) based on a story by David Michael Latt (Pirates of Treasure Island, War of the Worlds), a platoon of the above-mentioned genetically-modified super soldiers - made x amount stronger, smarter, faster, and more resilient than the average soldier - goes haywire fresh off the assembly line, sending scientists and soldiers alike scrambling to get out of the building before the universal soldiers bring it down on top of them. Once outside, however, their situation doesn't improve in the slightest, as they're in the middle of wooded-nowhere, on foot, with the platoon still hot on their heels, seemingly intent on killing them all. From here it becomes another case of who's going to get it when, mixed together with some scientific backstory and the typical theories about whether or not the soldiers can evolve on their own, assume their own directives, accompanied by the typical conclusion that if so, everyone in the party is pretty much set to be fucked beyond all recognition. Inner-personal tensions flare and threaten to defeat our heroes before their enemies can, some soldiers strive harder to survive than others, twists and turns unfurl like snapdragons and all-in-all shit pops off in very violent, expletive-filled and explosive ways.

Kind of a cross between Aliens, Universal Soldier and The Asylum's own version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, overall this one's a riveting if dark adventure that kicks off in the first frame and builds accordingly through each of its 85 minutes towards a rewarding and thrilling climax. The story moves fast, the dialogue is appropriately, brutally bleak, and despite such a large ensemble of characters, a dozen at core to start, each feels fleshed out and individualized, distinct, which is a major, major credit to the screenwriting of Geoff Meed. This is an aggressive film, relentless in its action, physicality and terror, and easily as fun and entertaining as any of the actual sequels in the tie-in franchise, if not more so for its focus on the soldier-side of the battle between soldiers and super soldiers.

Speaking of the soldiers, as mentioned this is an ensemble cast with many familiar faces, including Jason S. Gray (The Apocalypse, The Da Vinci Treasure, Alien vs Hunter), Kevin Kazakoff (Alien vs. Hunter), Noel Thurman (Transmorphers, Supercroc, Dracula's Curse, Beast of Bray Road), Randy Mulkey (Alien vs Hunter) and even a cameo by director (not of this) Justin Jones (The Apocalypse), all of whom pull together to make this one of the most successful ensembles in The Asylum's vault. But it's lead Kristen Quintrall who once again, as she did in The Apocalypse, steals the show. As the private first class among higher-ranking soldiers, she is fierce, harsh, every inch a believable warrior and frighteningly sexy. Her intensity makes the entire film more palpable, and really brings to life the tension and suspense sewn into the script. She takes the role and makes it one of the strongest female roles in all The Asylum, to rival Sarah Lieving in Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus and Cynthia Rose Hall in Supercroc, and as such she is just as irresistible to watch. Whoo-ah!

And finally credit must be given to director Griff Furst, who here has composed an exhilarating as well as beautifully dark film, akilter in all the right ways, playful with light and shadow, soft focus, and all-in-all a very atmospheric, chilling experience. Kudos, sir.

So to conclude, I say if you find yourself hankering for some Universal Soldier follow-ups, skip the immediate sequels and head here first, I guarantee it's a better time.

outside the walls: Non-Asylum Inklings

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.

January 4

Demon Resurrection

The Last Exorcism

Machete

Wolvesbayne
directed by Griff Furst (I Am Omega, 100 Million B.C.)
written by Leigh Scott (Transmorphers, Beast of Bray Road)







January 11th 

 

Funny or Die Season 1

Legion: The Final Exorcism

Piranha (not 3D on DVD)

Psychosis

January 18th

Death Race 2

 

The Virginity Hit

January 25th

Final Spawn

starring Lance Henriksen

(Pirates of Treasure Island, The DaVinci Treasure)

 

House of Bones

written by Leigh Scott

Primal

whipsers from another cell: News From Within The Asylum

2010 MOBY DICK Drops on DVD in T-Minus 12 Days!!!

In just a dozen short days the next Asylum production hits DVD stores nationwide. 2010 Moby Dick (for an explanation on why the 2010, check here) is an update on the classic book by Herman Melville, considered by many (present company included) to be the greatest novel ever penned by an American. In The Asylum's take, the setting has been shifted from a clipper ship in the Nineteenth Century to a "high tech submarine" in the modern era. Our captain is still Ahab, played here by Barry Bostwick, and he's still in maniacal pursuit of the vicious leviathan which maimed him. Ishmael in this version, however, has been transformed into the lovely vision that is Renee O'Connor - you know, Xena's babe - here named "Michelle Herman," a nice nod to both Ishmael and the original author. From all early looks, this one should be pretty awesome; the whale's been aggro-ed out, and Bostwick looks as though he's firing on all cylinders. Head over the the site, linked above, and check out the trailer, then get your place in line at your local, independent video store. This one's gonna move!

American Film Market Reveals Upcoming Asylum Projects

In case you missed my earlier post, the American Film Market recently held their annual conference in which three new Asylum titles and posters were revealed. Okay, so, two are brand new, one is the first poster there on the left for the upcoming Mega Python vs Gatoroid, which I mention pretty frequently. The other two, however, are totally new and as yet have no names of any sort publicly attached to them.

The first is an obvious tie-in to the upcoming Kenneth Branaugh Marvel Comic flick Thor, and is called The Almighty Thor. No IMDB page or mention of this one on The Asylum's site, and I can't tell who the fella in the poster is, so there's still a lot to learn about this one, but you can bet there's gonna be a lot of smashin' based on the looks of that hammer. Check out a brief synopsis: When the demon god Loki destroys the fortress of Valhalla and steals the Hammer of Invincibility, only the young hero Thor can protect earth from Armageddon. Mmm-hmm; smashin'.

 

Then there's 2012: Ice Age (see Numbers explanation above), which nothing at all is known about except the plot: The eruption of Mt Fuji--a “Supervolcano”--covers the earth in choking clouds. Humanity hurtles toward extinction as a group of scientists fight to break the grip of the new ice age. For my money, I'd like to see either Eric Forsberg (Mega Piranha) or Griff Furst (100 Million B.C.) helm this one. Both have worked in creature disasters, but it would be nice to see either take on a sweeping environmental epic. That said, I'm also envisioning David Michael Latt's work on Megafault and wondering if he isn't considering it for himself. Time will tell.



Another title, Born Bad, has appeared under the coming soon section in the bottom right hand corner of The Asylum's homepage, but there's absolutely no info on this one other than the title. I can only hope, though, given that title, it's being written by Geoff Meed for himself, or Paul Logan, or, god please, both. 

And we're still waiting on a poster for 1st Furry Valentine as well as a trailer for Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, the latter of which should hopefully debut in the next week or so, as the release is almost a month away, and once Moby Dick drops, they're going to need a new trailer to run on the site. As soon as either of these things are released, rest assured I'm on 'em. 

observation notes: The 9/11 Commission Report

This one's a doozy. Based on the events and theories published in the official 9/11 Commission Report, writer/director/Asylum mainstay Leigh Scott crafted this multi-plot political thriller featuring virtually every star in the Asylum's universe. The names have been changed (looooooosely) to protect the, well, I'm not sure, but the names are a little different, probably a legal thing.


The film begins 28 days before the attacks with an obviously militant foreign man seeking 747 flight simulator training. He pays the six-grand fee in cash, American for "no questions asked," and, naturally, for that price they're willing to show him everything. But he's interested in "just flying." Uh-huh. They even let him pick a specific flight plan. 

Jump now to the District, fall of '98, with the handing down of an indictment for our Bin Laden character. This scene serves to inform us of something that - however we know or think of it - we already know, that our government knew about Bin Laden, knew what he was up to, knew what he was capable of and how he became capable of it, and knew his over-arcing plans. But now that there was this indictment, all we had to do was get him to trial. He's still years from being able to orchestrate terrorist plots of a catastrophic magnitude, so there's plenty of time, should be a piece of cake. Umm-hmm.

Jump even further back to Manila in 1995, where the Philippines' government is "interrogating" a suspected Middle Eastern terrorist. An American shows up to lend a hand - to the Philippine side of things - and pretso!, the fella's no longer suspected, he's a full-on terrorist, with secrets hinting at some sort of broad attack in-planning.

Jump yet again back to '98, but Pakistan now (where I got 47 hits the other week! thanks guys!), where members of a terrorist cell roll with the punches and think on their suspected feet.

2001 again (whew), flight training, our foreign guy has started to raise eyebrows with his line of rather blatant questioning about fuel payloads, geography, specific landmarks, and by only flying simulated routes to DC and New York, and even worrying aloud about how accurate the simulator is. At long last the FBI is called in, but things almost get further inept from there, as the best the agent can determine in an opening conversation with the foreign man is that he's from "the Middle East." "Where?" the agent follows up. "The Middle East," the man repeats - conversation over. Niiiiice.

Onward, or backward, I guess, to Israel in '98 where the special agent working to locate Bin Laden seeks out a reporter/lover with info on a man who has info on the location of Bin Laden. We follow the agent to Afghanistan and the meeting with this man. Dude's willing to take Bin Laden out for us, all the wetwork himself, he's practically begging to do it, dropping lines like, "New York, that's where they're going to strike next." It literally doesn't get any more literal than that. And this is the one issue I had with an otherwise interesting script, that it's a little too literal in spots with how obvious the signs may have been, but, admittedly, for all my ignorant ass knows, it was this obvious and I'm just being an uninformed, nit-picky jerk who should read his own links; the possibility exists.

These separate cogs continue to spin back and forth through time, closer and closer to the inevitable, tragic ending. There are no spoilers here, ultimately, but how the film arrives at its conclusion is intriguing enough - no matter how familiar you are with the facts/"facts" - to cause me invoke my ever-present "no spoilers" statute.

I've already called the film interesting and intriguing, and it is, both in and of itself, and for its position in the greater Asylum catalog. This film is not what I was expecting, I'll be honest; I was expecting some sensational, disaster-ridden, conspiracy-rich action-fest, and it's none of those things, and this is a good thing. Leigh Scott truly has crafted something unique here, something intimate and exhilarating, intense and thought-provoking. The timeline, disjointed as I've probably made it sound, was not disjointing to watch, and moved at a pace that kept every scene fresh and important, thanks primarily to the fact that this film's based on acting, not action, and for this one, as mentioned, everybody came out. 


Dig this lineup: Rhett Giles (Way of the Vampire, Frankenstein Reborn, War of the Worlds), Marat Glazer (Shapeshifter, Supercroc, Dracula's Curse), Sarah Lieving (Monster, The Beast of Bray Road, King of the Lost World), Jeff Denton (The Beast of Bray Road, King of the Lost World, The Hitchhiker), Griff Furst (Transmorphers, Alien Abduction, Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers), Eliza Swenson (Transmorphers, Frankenstein Reborn, Dragon), AJ Castro (Snakes on a Train, The Da Vinci Treasure), Christina Rosenberg (The Beast of Bray Road, Dracula's Curse, King of the Lost World), Kim Little (Killers, Killers 2, War of the Worlds 2, Supercroc), Michael Tower (Invasion of the Pod People, The Apocalypse, 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Jason S. Gray (Universal Soldiers, AVH, The Da Vinci Treasure) and a delightful but brief cameo from Erica Roby (Invasion of the Pod People, The Hitchhiker, Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers.) 

Whew. 


And everybody - I mean everybody - is acting above the bar, turning it on and delivering rock-solid performances. Jeff Denton? Awesome. Kim Little? Awesome. Sarah Lieving? Awesome. Rhett Giles? Awesome. Are you noticing a pattern here? Fuck yes you are, because they're all awesome. This is Leigh Scott's doing, weaving like directing greats Stanley Kramer and Robert Altman a complex, multi-layered and -perspective drama that never lags, never snags, and never gives in to the tempting pitfall of sensationalism, residing instead in the terse, stark and enthralling realm of historical thrillers.

Now, I realize this is a highly-charged and polarizing topic, so I won't dare wax philosophic one way or the other, but wherever you land in this debate - who knew what when, who could have stopped what, who actually did what - you have to give The Asylum credit for the balls it took to make this one. While Hollywood was kowtowing to vox populi rallying films like United 93, and the conspiracy "enthusiasts" were flooding the market with makeshift documentaries out to undermine anything official, The Asylum threaded the needle and dared to blend these perspectives and make a serious film about the serious doubts that exist in this most horrific of events. The result is a sweeping, epic film that becomes the most ambitious and serious production undertaken by The Asylum to date. It's a hardcore thriller and a globe-hopping adventure that's engaging, though-provoking, and proof positive that The Asylum knows the rules and knows how to play by them; most of the time, they just don't care. No "mock" or "tie-in" anything here, this film is the real deal, and a real winner.