GRIMM'S SNOW WHITE on DVD Today!!!

Mirror mirror, on the wall, what the most awesome film on DVD today of all? 

A cumbersome opening, to be sure, but the long and short of it is, today, The Asylum's latest production introduces itself to the world via DVD/Blu-Ray/VOD: Grimm's Snow White.

Simply scroll down a few inches to find my notes on the film, which overall I thoroughly enjoyed as an intelligent, thrilling, fantastical twist on the fairy tale. GSW stars the lovely and talented Eliza Bennett as the titular princess, Jane March as her wicked and vain stepmother, and Jamie Thomas King as the charming Prince. 

Written by Naomi Selfman (Mega Python vs Gatoroid, 18 Year Old Virgin) and directed by Rachel Goldenberg (Sherlock Holmes, Princess and the Pony) - two of the Asylum's best, in my humble opinion - this one's a guaranteed good time, but don't take my word for it, I'm biased as hell, go see for yourself then spread the word!

observation notes: GRIMM'S SNOW WHITE

For their next release - Grimm's Snow White, on DVD this coming Tuesday - The Asylum has gotten their fingers on the classic fairy tale and given it their own personal twist, which naturally includes murder, mayhem and tremendous monsters. Dig the plot: 

When the King is killed by ferocious reptile beasts, his Queen takes control of the kingdom. She tries to kill her beautiful stepdaughter SNOW, but she escapes into the enchanted forest...

In my continuing effort to not spoil films when I review them, I won't go much deeper into the plot except to say that this ain't your little sister's Snow White, not by a long shot.

The film is anchored with vibrant performances from its leads, including Eliza Bennett as the titular princess, who tackles the role as potent yet naive, as beautiful and elegant as a princess should be, but with the hidden soul of a warrior. Jane March as the Wicked Queen is delightfully deceitful and eloquently two-faced; this lady enters a room, it goes stone cold. And Jamie Thomas in the role of the Prince is indeed charming, but more than that he is steadfast and honest, a true prince among knaves, not blinded by his privileged existence but rather impassioned by it, and eager to serve the world. 


The script, from Asylum vet Naomi Selfman, retains all the classic elements of the original story, only now with utterly-Asylum updates, most notably the inclusion of said ferocious reptile beasts, and an interesting take on the dwarfs. The result is an epic yet intimate fairy tale on steroids, its more horrifying points amped to the Nth degree. This is Snow White like you never imagined it, the antithesis to the raven-haired, doe-eyed heroine of your childhood; this is dark, brutal, and awesome.

The direction from Rachel Goldenberg, another Asylum vet, is sweeping and elegiac, as Goldenberg makes wonderful use of the beauty and inherent spookiness of the British countryside, formulating the perfect fairy tale setting. Her work, teamed with that of the VFX department - who have hit it out of the park yet again, as far as I'm concerned - creates a film perhaps best described as a period-piece creature-feature, a Merchant-Ivory flick with work from Ray Harryhausen, or The Princess Bride as written by H.P. Lovecraft.

Overall then, if you're looking for a fantastical, frightening twist on a beloved childhood treasure, this is the version for you. Check it out for yourself this coming Tuesday, the 13th, when Grimm's Snow White hits DVD.

inmate profile: Jamie Thomas King

In Committed's final spotlight celebrating the creative talent behind The Asylum's next DVD release - Grimm's Snow White on March 13th - we look at actor Jamie Thomas King, who will be playing the role of Prince Alexander.

King started his career, as do many UK actors, with the illustrious BBC, before landing his first movie role in Tristan and Isolde, co-starring the lovely and talented Sophia Myles, and Shakespeare's worst nightmare, James Franco. 

From there King landed a 14-episode gig on the steamy historical Showtime series The Tudors, which lead to a trip across the pond and appearances in such notable American TV shows such as "Private Practice," "Mad Men" and "CSI: Miami."

King was most recently seen in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and can next be seen (after Grimm's Snow White of course) in Storage 24, a British horror/sci-fi film.

Dude looks princely to me, but let's find out for sure on March 13th, when Grimm's Snow White comes to town...

inmate reprofile: Naomi Selfman

Continuing my pledge to spotlight the creative forces behind the impending release of the promising Grimm's Snow White, here's another inmate profile, though shrouded in a tad bit of mystery. 

Naomi Selfman, the scribe behind this impending classic, has written eight 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 six scripts in three 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, then Barely Legal, and now Grimm's Snow White.



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, I'm envious of her versatility; as an Asylum freak, I'm excited every time her name pops up. Team her up with a director like Rachel Goldenberg, and Grimm's Snow White is oozing with promise.

Get excited with me on March 13th, when Grimm's Snow White pops up on DVD.

inmate re-profile: Rachel Goldenberg

In honor of the DVD release of Grimm's Snow White on the 13th of March, Committed has been spotlighting the creative forces behind the film, and I thought the next inmate profiled should be the director, Rachel Goldenberg, whose resume with The Asylum is ridiculously impressive.

Besides the above-mentioned and forthcoming fairy-tale revamp, Ms. Goldenberg also helmed the well-received Princess and the Pony, the delightfully steampunk'd Sherlock Holmes and the strangely catchy Sunday School Musical. But beneath these three headlining gigs are a few years crammed to the hilt with production work for our favorite studio. Dig these credentials:


First Assistant Director on: 2012 Ice Age, The 7 Adventures of Sinbad, Princess of Mars, 2012 Supernova, Mega Fault, The Terminators, Monster, Alien vs. Hunter, I Am Omega


Line Producer on: Mega Fault, Dragonquest, Countdown:Jerusalem, 18 Year Old Virgin, Death Racers, Street Racer


And as though all this wasn't enough, she also wrote and edited two of her three directed-films for The Asylum, and over the last year or so has directed a handful of shorts for Funny or Die featuring the likes of Courteney Cox, Nia Vardelos, Bryan Cranston, Eric Stonestreet et al. Girl's got more hats than a Lids Store. If The Asylum put out Wheaties boxes (I know, work with me here), Rachel Goldenberg would for sure be one of the featured.

There's no doubt Ms. Goldenberg has a bright, bright, bright future ahead of her. My only hope is that she sticks around The Asylum long enough to make a few more films. I mean, it's a little late, but I'd line up for an Asylum Sherlock sequel; just sayin'...

That date again for the release of Ms. Goldenberg's latest film, Grimm's Snow White,  is March 13th. Add it to your cues now!

inmate profile: Jane March

Continuing Committed's spotlighting of the creative talent behind The Asylum's next release, Grimm's Snow White on March 13th, we turn now to the woman behind evil Queen Gwendolyn, actress Jane March.

Another native Englander (like Eliza Bennett), Ms. March first came to the attention of cinema-goers in a pair of scintillating films, The Lover and Color of Night, in the latter opposite Bruce Willis. She was the Jane to Casper Van Dien's Tarzan in Tarzan and the Lost City, starred opposite Harvey Keitel in The Stone Merchant, and sparred with Liam Neeson as Hestia in Clash of the Titans, not to mention her many genre films like Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula, Blood of Beasts and Stalker.

With a resume like that, it's no wonder The Asylum was quick to snatch Ms. March up for the role of Queen Gwendolyn. Find out just how far she knocks it out of the park on March 13th, when Grimm's Snow White is released nationwide.

Snow White 2012: Who's the Fairest of Them All?

As I mentioned when profiling Eliza Bennett, titular star of The Asylum's next release, Grimm's Snow White, Miss Bennett is only one of four women portraying the beloved fairy tale heroine this year. Here's a look at all four, each in character. 

Eliza Bennett in Grimm's Snow White

Lily Collins in Mirror, Mirror

Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman

Ginnifer Goodwin in "Once Upon a Time"

No real reason for this post, certainly not to compare The Asylum's Snow White to other folks'. I mean, there is no comparison, really. Lily Collins looks like the floor model of an animatronic domestic servant, Kristen Stewart - though this photo seems to indicate it's her best acting to date - is in armor for most of her flick like she was Snow of Arc, and Ginnifer Goodwin, bless her heart, looks like she thinks she's shooting an Herbal Essences campaign. While Eliza Bennett, on the other hand, stares into the camera with a pensive concern, as though she almost regrets the amount of whoop-ass she's going to have to unleash upon a horde of ferocious reptile creatures. No comparison, really.

Grimm's Snow White, on DVD March 13; the other ones, I'm not too sure...

inmate profile: Eliza Bennett

With The Asylum's next release, Grimm's Snow White, just around the corner, it's time we start taking a closer look at some of the creative personnel behind the film, and who better to start with than the actress portraying the titular character, Eliza Bennett.

A native of the United Kingdom, Miss Bennett made her silver screen debut in the Julia Stiles romantic comedy The Prince and Me when she was only 12 years old. This role was quickly followed by her turn as "Tora" in the smash family film Nanny McPhee starring two-time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. After one more memorable performance in another family film, Inkheart with Brendan Frasier, Miss Bennett started taking roles in more horror/thriller-centric films like Perfect Life, F, the highly-enjoyable Roadkill and now, Grimm's Snow White. Next up on her dance card, the British thriller Confine. 

Miss Bennett is one of an amazing four Snow Whites on one screen or another this year: Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman, Lily Collins in Mirror Mirror, and Ginnifer Goodwin in ABC's "Once Upon a Time" being the other three. My bet, though, is that she's the only one who has to contend with an evil queen and "ferocious reptile beasts." See how she handles herself on March 13, when Grimm's Snow White lands on DVD.

A Look at Upcoming Asylum Films

Even for someone who follows The Asylum as closely as I do, it can be tricky keeping up with what's coming out, especially seeing as 2012 promises to be the studio's most productive to date in its 15 year history. So what I thought I'd do is rundown a list of Asylum productions already scheduled for release in the coming months. I'm quite sure by the time I publish this it will already need updating.

Grimm's Snow White

written by Naomi Selfman (Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Mega Python vs Gatoroid)

directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Sherlock Holmes, Princess & the Pony)

starring Jane March, Eliza Bennett, Jamie Thomas King

on DVD March 13, 2012

Air Collision

written & directed by Liz Adams

starring Reginald VelJohnson, Jordan Ladd, Gerald Webb

on DVD March 27, 2012

Nazis at the Center of the Earth

written by Paul Bales (2010 Moby Dick, Legion of the Dead)

directed by Joseph Lawson

starring Dominique Swain, Jake Busey, Josh Allen

on DVD April 24, 2012

American Battleship

written & directed by Thunder Levin (script 200MPH)

starring Mario Van Peebles, Carl Weathers, JoHanna Watts

on DVD May 15, 2012

 
  

Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies 

story by Richard Schenkman and Karl Hirsch & Lauren Proctor; screenplay by Richard Schenkman   

directed by Richard Schenkman

starring Bill Oberst Jr.
























...plus at least 4 others films there have been whispers about; as soon as The Asylum drops official word on them, that word will be reprinted here, so keep coming back!

A Plethora of Asylum Teaser Trailers Hit the Web Today!!!

So it seems with today's DVD release of 2 Headed Shark Attack, there also comes a spattering of new teaser trailers from our favorite independent studio, available on their homepage.

We get our first peaks at Celebrity Sex Tape (out 2/14/12), Grimm's Snow White (out 3/13/12) and at long last Nazis at the Center of the Earth, which looks, as expected, AWESOME (out 5/15/12).

Head over to the site and check out what your spring's gonna look like...

A Look Ahead to Asylum's 2012...So Far...

With The Asylum's 2011 slate of films all but behind us - I say "all but" because there are still the Loonies yet to determine the fan favorites of last year's crop - I thought this would be an opportune moment to take a look ahead at the films The Asylum has already announced for 2012, which so far include two mockbusters, a disaster flick, a sex comedy and two wholly original horror films; let's take a look:

2 Headed Shark Attack

screenplay by H. Perry Horton (A Haunting in Salem)
from a story by Edward DeRuiter (3 Musketeers)
directed by Christopher Olen Ray (Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Almighty Thor)

starring Carmen Electra, Brooke Hogan, Charlie O'Connell, Gerald Webb and a case of future household names

on DVD January 31, 2012

Celebrity Sex Tape

written by Jonny Haug, Pat Sheehan, Matt Short

directed by Scott Wheeler (MILF)

starring Jack Cullison, Emily Addison, Jonathan Brett

on DVD February 14, 2012

Grimm's Snow White

written by Naomi Selfman (Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Mega Python vs Gatoroid)

directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Sherlock Holmes, Princess & the Pony)

starring Jane March, Eliza Bennett, Jamie Thomas King

on DVD March 13, 2012

Air Collision

written & directed by Liz Adams

starring Reginald VelJohnson, Jordan Ladd, Gerald Webb

on DVD March 27, 2012

Nazis at the Center of the Earth

written by Paul Bales (2010 Moby Dick, Legion of the Dead)

directed by Joseph Lawson

starring Dominique Swain, Jake Busey, Josh Allen

on DVD April 24, 2012

American Battleship

written & directed by Thunder Levin (script 200MPH)

starring Mario Van Peebles, Carl Weathers, JoHanna Watts

on DVD May 15, 2012

COMMITTED EXCLUSIVE: A Look at the Opening VFX for GRIMM'S SNOW WHITE!!!

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.

First Stills From Grimm's Snow White!!!

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.

First Details on Grimm's Snow White!!!

It was only yesterday that word broke The Asylum was going to be entering production on a new flick Grimm's Snow White, and now today, we have cast and crew info!

First things first, the premise:

When the King is killed by ferocious reptile beasts, his Queen takes control of the kingdom. She tries to kill her beautiful stepdaughter SNOW, but she escapes into the enchanted forest...


Honestly, they had me at "ferocious reptile beasts." Score.


Now for the cast: it's uncertain who's playing who, but The Asylum has enlisted Jane March - best known for 1992's The Lover and most recently of Clash of the Titans, in which she played Hestia - Eliza Bennett - of Inkheart, Nanny McPhee and most recently the SyFy original Roadkill - and Jamie Thomas King, of "The Tudors" and the upcoming John Le Carre adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Conventional wisdom would tell us that March will be the Wicked Stepmother, Bennett Snow and King some version of the Huntsman. But again folks, this is The Asylum: who knows what kind of fable-bending tricks they have up their sleeves?


What gets me most excited for this one, however, is who's behind the scenes. The script is from the uber-talented Naomi Selfman (#1 Cheerleader Camp, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Mega Python vs Gatoroid) and will be directed by Rachel Goldenberg, another inmate with talent to spare (Sherlock Holmes, Princess and the Pony). Both of these women are among my favorite contributors to The Asylum; if I had Selfman's filmography I'd make it into a t-shirt and Goldenberg has perhaps the most innovative, interesting and unique eye of all Asylum directors. With these two working together, we are guaranteed an intelligent, mesmerizing, action-packed and gorgeous film. 


Prepare your loved one now, because this bad boy drops Valentine's Day (2/14) of next year.

Another Asylum Film in Production!

As my regular readers might recall, a few weeks ago I made mention that The Asylum had sent out word over their social networking profiles that they were looking for crew help in Austria; at the time, there was no word as to what that production was, but now, upon another mention from The Asylum calling out for crew, we have the name of the film:

Grimm's Snow White

  

Awesome awesome awesome. An Asylum take on the dark origins of one of the most homogenized fairy tales ever? Brilliant, ingenious, and saliva-inducing. There are already two other, major-studio versions of the story filming now - Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristin Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, and an untitled project from Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall) starring Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Julia Roberts - so there's bound to be a lot of mistaken identity surrounding this one, making it the perfect tie-in!

Add this to 2 Headed Shark Attack, Amittyville Haunting and Nazis at the Center of the Earth, and 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty rad year for The Asylum, it's 15th. 

No word on cast, crew, release or storyline slant, but rest assured, when I know you'll know.