outside the walls: Non-Asylum Inkings

So I'll admit it, there are films not produced by The Asylum. There always have been, always will be. These glasses I wear are not rose-colored. They are clear, and occasionally smudged with fingerprints. A sampling of non-Asylum films due soon and news that might spark the interest of Asylum fans. Just remember, Sweet 'n Low ain't Sugar.


Walking Dead Drops to Huuuuuuge Numbers

So the most-anticipated television event of the year (for me at least) went down Sunday night on AMC with the premiere of "The Walking Dead," a new dramatic zombie series based on the graphic series of the same name written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Any doubter can rightly shut their trap, because the premiere pulled in 5.3 million viewers, not only the highest premiere ratings ever for AMC, but also the highest premiere ratings of any show on any channel thus far this year. And richly deserved: executive producer and developer Frank Darabont took some major character liberties, expanding scenes and relationships that all add up to an even more intense empathy than the comic generates. And anyone who was worried AMC might not have the stones to pull off a zombie series, man oh man do they have the stones. Gore, guts, blood and little kids getting iced, and that's all just the first episode. WD continues for five more episodes this season and has already been picked up for a second, 13-episode season. So go on, give in and start watching, because this is the next show everyone around your water cooler will be all abuzz about.


SyFy Premieres New Reality Show

Another show I've been psyched for is the SyFy reality program that aired last week, "Hollywood Treasure," which tells of the adventures of Joe Maddalena, owner of Profiles of History Auction House, which specializes in Movie Memorabilia. Now, I might be a little biased as the video-store/movie museum I work for has worked with Mr. Maddalena for 20 years now, procuring everything from the Psycho knife to the baby carriage in The Untouchables to a head from Aliens. Bottom line, the guy does great work, has a true passion for film and its history and should provide for some damn enthralling TV. Check your local listings, then check it out.

Upcoming SyFy Originals

November 13: The Lost Future
November 20: Post Impact
November 27: SyFy Original Movie Marathon

outside the walls: Non-Asylum Inkings

Just a quick one here, a mini-review for a film coming out on DVD tomorrow, Frozen, written and directed by Adam Green, the visionary force behind slasher-neo-classic Hatchet. Frozen has so far been the sleeper horror hit of the year, and is described in a blurb from Bloody Disgusting's Brad Miska as capable of "do[ing} for skiing what Jaws did for swimming." Interesting blurb, especially considering one of the production companies behind the film is called A Bigger Boat.

Frozen concerns three friends too cheap to pay full price for lift tickets at a skiing resort. They bribe their way on the lifts instead and spend the day shredding the slopes (or whatever the kids call it these days), but when it comes closing time, our protagonists, being the greedy things they are, covet one last run and, avoiding impending weather warnings, bribe their way up yet again. And as greed is a deadly sin, it has mortal consequences: a series of mishaps leads to our heroes getting stranded on the ski lift halfway up the mountain when the resort unknowingly shuts down around them, killing all the lights, all the power. Worse yet, the resort is only open on weekends, and all this goes down on Sunday night. Meaning the resort won't open again for another five days. Meaning no one will be around for another five days. Zoinks.

This is only the first, however, in a series of unfortunate events: the aforementioned weather coming to fruition, they miss being spotted by the last plow, an ill-advised jump shatters both the legs of one of the three and, oh yeah, there's the local carnivorous fauna to contend with.

Part Lifeboat, part Open Water, Frozen's success is due to its inventive script played by a capable cast (Emma Bell - "Amy" in the upcoming AMC series "The Walking Dead" ; Kevin Zegers - Dawn of the Dead '04, Wrong Turn; Shawn Ashmore - "Iceman" of the X-Men franchise, The Ruins), though Zegers is a little to pretty for the homespun beauty of Bell, but that's just nitpicky. This is Shawn Ashmore's best work to date as the snarky third wheel stoner lothario. As an ensemble, however, the cast makes the tension palpable and the terror tangible. The result is a superbly-crafted and incredibly intense, teeth-gritting thriller. Grab a copy on Tuesday with 8213 Gacy House for a nightmare-inducing double-feature.

outside the walls: Non-Asylum Inklings

So I'll admit it, there are films not produced by The Asylum. There always have been, always will be. These glasses I wear are not rose-colored. They are clear, and occasionally smudged with fingerprints. A sampling of non-Asylum films due soon and news that might spark the interest of Asylum fans. Just remember, Sweet 'n Low ain't Sugar.


Roger Corman's Sharktopus Coming to SyFy September 25th

It's interesting: the last few years, most of this decade, actually, cinematic stalwart Roger Corman has been uncharacteristically docile, producing far less films than he has in decades past. They gave the guy an honorary Oscar last year, so maybe that spurred him on, because suddenly he's putting out a lot more movies, all of them suspiciously marine-oriented. It's a safe bet he's been keeping up with what The Asylum's been doing, as evidenced by this trailer. When Eric Roberts genetically combines a shark with an octopus at the government's behest, he winds up with the most efficient hunter the planet has ever known. And the weirdest-looking. Will The Asylum be one-upped by the king of the genre they dominate? Find out on September 25th, then wait a couple of months for Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus to raise the ante all over again.

Other upcoming SyFy original programming includes yet another ruining of a beloved childhood classic, Peter Pan, by Nick Willing, the same dude who trashed The Wizard of Oz (Tin Man), which ruined Zooey Deschanel for me forever, and Alice, the source should be obvious, which I didn't even bother to watch because Tin Man was so shitty. The planned abomination is a prequel to the original story (ugh) and most offensively, stars Academy Award nominee Bob Hoskins reprising his role from Spielberg's Hook as first mate Smee (ugh squared). Also in the pipeline are Garden of Evil, starring Adrain Pasdar ("Heroes," After Dark), Mandrake, about some freaky tree, Frost Giant, about, well, a frost giant, and Roadkill, currently filming in Ireland and starring Lake Placid 3 uber-hottie Kacey Barnfield. Keep your eyes on local listings, or just keep tuning in here for updates and reviews.


Burning Bright now on DVD

Though she's never appeared in an Asylum film, Briana Evigan has a connection to The Asylum. Her father, Greg Evigan, has appeared in 6 Guns, 100 Million BC and Journey to the Center of the Earth, this latter film along with her sister, Vanessa Lee Evigan. So we give a shout out to the other Evigan's newest flick, released on DVD August 17th, about a zookeeper's daughter trapped in a house with a bloodthirsty Bengal tiger. Even though she's not nuclear family, she's still worth a watch. Burning Bright costars the awesome Garrett Dillahunt. Think The Ghost and The Darkness meets When a Stranger Calls.


Aussie Director Follows One Water Movie With Another

Andrew Traucki, writer/director of the not-so-awesome crocodile flick Black Water, has finished his follow up and is set to release it later this year. The Reef concerns the crew of a sailboat that capsizes off Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a.k.a. Great White Central. Oddly enough, there's never been a big-budget GBR shark movie, so the potential for this to be an Open Water-style standout exists. Hopefully it won't suck like Black Water did. Check out the official website, and the poster. The latter has an awesome tagline.


AMC Releases Walking Dead Motion Comic in Advance of Pilot Premiere

By now everyone knows the greatest comic currently in publication, Image's "The Walking Dead," is being transformed into an AMC original series by Stephen King aficionado Frank Darabont. While the show won't start until Halloween Night at10p.m. with a 90-minute pilot, AMC has released a motion comic of the series' first issue. What's a motion comic, you ask? What do you think? It's a comic that moves. Check it out AMC's site for the comic and much more.

In related "Walking Dead" news, it was announced September 1, a full 90 days before the premiere, that AMC has already re-upped, ordering 13 additional episodes for Season 2.


First Trailer for Leigh Scott's Witches of Oz

Leigh Scott - director of ten Asylum features including King of the Lost World, Hillside Cannibals and Transmorphers - has just released the first making-of trailer for his next film, the 3d Witches of Oz. Based on an original story, Scott's movie has Dorothy all grown up and a successful childrens author, drawing on what she thinks are vivid imaginings from her childhood. But when she realizes they're not imaginings but repressed memories, it opens a flood gate of fantastical reality, culminating with the Wicked Witch of the West touching down in Times Square. Check out the trailer here. He even mentions The Asylum. Christopher Lloyd, Mia Sara, Ethan Embry, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs comprise the cast, with the lovely Paulie Rojas (of The Last Resort fame) as Dorothy. No release date as of yet, but news can't be far off.


Altitude Gets A Trailer

Altitude, the direct to DVD thriller from first-time feature director Kaare Andrews, finally released an official trailer. Altitude is the story of four teenage friends in their own small-engine plane (not exactly how me and my friends hung out in high school) that experience both a technical glitch - the plane keeps climbing in altitude uncontrollably - and a paranormal encounter in the form of some Lovecraftian tentacled cloud squid thing. The movie hits your local, independent video stores in October then Netflix (which is stealing your personal information and selling it to terrorists*) and those Redbox things (which cause cancer**) a month or so later. Check out the trailer here, courtesy of FirstShowing.net, courtesy of ShockTilYouDrop.com

*this statement is not supported by any discernible evidence. pure, wild speculation on my part.
**ditto


A Couple of Cool Posters

From Friday the 13th and The Expendables. Thanks to The National Post and CHUD.com, respectively.