Another Cast Member of 2 HEADED SHARK ATTACK Revealed!

As production on 2 Headed Shark Attack continues in sunny Florida, we're learning in bits and pieces just who is comprising the cast of this certain-to-be creature classic from The Asylum.

Already we've learned the principal cast consists of notables Carmen Electra ("Baywatch," Scary Movie, Starsky & Hutch), Charlie O'Connell ("Sliders," Cruel Intentions, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep) and Brooke Hogan ("Hogan Knows Best," upcoming Devour with David Chokachi and Sand Sharks with Corin Nemic), as well as newcomers Christina Bach Norman and David Gallegos; now we're getting word on some of the other cast members, including a familiar face to Asylum fans - the powerfully talented Gerald Webb. 


8-time Asylum vet (Titanic II, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Battle of Los Angeles, Almighty Thor, 2012: Ice Age, Born Bad, upcoming A Haunting in Salem and Zombie Apocalypse) adds a 9th feather to his straitjacket by assuming the role of "Han," one of the Filipino crewmen. That pic below showcases the actor in character, and comes courtesy of the man himself. Webb is an awesome actor, extremely versatile, and is a welcome addition to any Asylum film. I'm not the only one who thinks so. Just this year, Webb received the Golden Cob Rising B Actor Award for his work in Battle Los Angeles. 

In addition to acting in 2 Headed Shark Attack, Webb also served as the film's casting director, which means he's the guy responsible for culling this increasingly-incredible ensemble. 2 Headed Shark Attack will also serve as the fourth time Webb has worked with director Christoper Douglas-Olen Ray, who also helmed Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus and Almighty Thor, as well as the non-Asylum feature Reptisaurus. He's also worked twice with Ray's father, famed B-movie icon Fred Olen Ray, in Silent Venom and the recently-released Turbulent Skies.

Committed regular readers will no doubt remember my exclusive interview with Webb, posted prior to the release of Battle of Los Angeles. For the rest of you, that was a shameless plug to get you to check it out. Obviously.

Anyway, there you have it, another strong addition to a cast that is quickly tying for greatest-ever with the A Haunting in Salem gang: Gerald Webb as "Han," Filipino crewman. I have it on good authority that his Tagalog is coming along quite nicely; that's dedication, people.

2 Headed Shark Attack Casting News - And It's TOO COOL!!!

So, the fine, fine folks over at The Asylum have posted the first cast names for their upcoming creature classic 2 Headed Shark Attack - which I wrote based on a story by Ed DeRuiter for director Christopher Ray - and brace yourself, people, because these are some SPECTACULAR names, the kind of stuff B-movie gold is made of.

First up, in the role of "Babish," the Captain/Professor of the semester-at-sea, we got the great Charlie O'Connell, best known for his work on the TV show "Sliders," "The Bachelor" - on which he was the title fella in question - and films like Dude Where's My Car, The New Guy, and a very cool creature flick I happen to enjoy quite a bit, Kraken, Tentacles of the Deep. Rad flick, and O'Connell gives a great performance in it. Dude's also the brother of Jerry O'Connell, the fat kid from Stand By Me. 

Next up, in the role of "Anne," Babish's wife and ship's medic, is the sultry and stunning Carmen Electra. I'm gonna say that again, because I like it: Carmen Electra is in a movie I wrote. Adolescent Perry is pretty pleased right now. If you don't know who Carmen Electra is, welcome to Earth or happy 0th birthday. Ms. Electra has been in a few horror films, but up to now they've typically had a comedic slant. I for one am super excited to see her take on a straight-up, thrilling, chilling, blood-letting creature feature. 

And then there's "Kate," a prominent student, who shall be portrayed by one Brooke Hogan, best known for being the fruit of Hulk's loins. Believe it or not, Ms. Hogan already has an Asylum connection: her last film, Sand Sharks, was directed by the one and only Mark Atkins, director of Battle of Los Angeles and the upcoming Dragon Crusaders, along with scores of other films.











Beyond these three, the only other cast members mentioned are Christina Bach Norman and David Gallegos, who will be playing other prominent students.

This one's a big cast, though, so this is are only the first wave of names to break, but the principles roles have been filled and then some by those above. 2 Headed Shark Attack hits DVD on January 17th, 2012. Tell everyone you know, and keep popping by here or my Twitter account for up-to-the-second updates...

MSvC on SyFy !!!

Just a reminder, my fellow faithfully-committed, that this Saturday night, August 20th, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus will be getting its World Television Premiere on SyFy at 9pm. That gives The Asylum yet another shot at claiming the SyFy Original Movie ratings record of 3.12 million viewers set by Lake Placid 2 a few years back. In recent years films have come close - Lake Placid 3 (directed by Asylum-alum Griff Furst) garnered 3 million viewers, Sharktopus brought in 2.5 last year, and Swamp Shark (also directed by Furst) was watched by 2.2 million viewers. 

So as you can see, creature features bring them in. Three of the four highest-rated SyFy original movies of the last year involve either sharks, or crocodiles. That fourth movie? Mega Python vs Gatoroid, which drew 2.35 million viewers. Add all this up and the only answer is that come Sunday morning, the ratings crown could very well be sitting on The Asylum's handsome head.

Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus was directed by Christopher Ray (Almighty Thor, currently shooting 2 Headed Shark Attack, off a script I wrote based on a story by Ed DeRuiter) and written by Naomi Selfman (Barely Legal, Mega Python vs Gatoroid), two of the best in The Asylum's stable, and stars the incomparable Jaleel White alongside Asylum-mainstay Sarah Lieving and the formidable Gary Stretch. And oh yeah, there's a Star Trek dude in it too, Robert Picardo.

So let's see...we got a shark, a crocodile - both massive - Jaleel White and a Trekkie? What more could SyFy fans possibly want? Tell everyone you know this is going down, Tweet this post, blog it, Facebook it, do whatever non-word verb goes with Google+ it - anything you can to get the word out and the people tuned in. This Saturday night, 9pm, SyFy, a great, fun, highly explosive flick, the stuff of B-movie gold, is gonna be all up on your television; don't miss it!

Asylum Should-Stars #11

Here at Committed, I'm always looking for ways to prolong my love affair with Asylum blogging. I've done inmate profiles and I've done pitches, but now, I'm melding the best of these features into one, amalgamated column: the awkwardly-named Asylum Should-Stars, in which I present actors/actresses/other cultural figures I think would make lovely additions to the Asylum's stable of performers. More mindless fun to wile away your workday! Let's dive right in, shall we?

Name: Danielle Harris


Best Known For: Halloween 4, 5 (original series), Halloween 1, 2 (new series), plus a slew of horror titles like Hatchet 1 & 2, Stake Land, Blood Night, Cyrus and Godkiller. Take note, gentlemen, this is our modern-era's indie scream-queen.


Plays: Literally everything - good girls, bad girls, powerful women, hapless victims, ass-kickers and cowering puddles of emotion. Girls' got crazy skills, all over the board.


Could Be Cast As: You got a female lead in pretty much any horror film that needs filling, Ms. Harris is your women. Added bonus: she's adept behind the lens as well. Her second directorial effort, Among Friends, is in production now.

Name: Alan Ruck


Best Known For: "Cameron" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Stuart" in Spin City.


Plays: quirky intellectuals, smarmy authority figures, the frazzled.


Could Be Cast As: For Mr. Ruck, I'm picturing a kind of Nic Cage-Rock role, that is, a highly specialized scientist for a top-secret government organization who is forced to enter the field for the first time ever in order to prevent a cataclysm of one sort or another.

Name: Heather Langenkamp


Best Known For: I shouldn't have to write this, because you all know who she is, but just in case, she played "Nancy" in A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.


Plays: "Nancy" is pretty much it, of note, unless you count Growing Pains spinoff Just the Ten of Us, which no one does. No one.


Could Be Cast As: I'm seeing a switch-up for Ms. Langenkamp, one of horror's most reviled victims; let's make her that ever-elusive female serial killer, somewhere pastoral, somewhere quaint where nothing is as it seems. After 30 years of being chased, I think she's earned a chance to turn the tables.

Zombie Apocalypse Coming!

The Asylum's really been dropping the surprise flicks on us this year: first there was Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes, announced only a week or so before release, then there was last month's sudden announcement about upcoming thriller 11/11/11, and now, out of (kinda) nowhere, behold the production stills for Zombie Apocalypse!

Would that be a pipe Mr. Rhames is hitting with?

Yep. That's Ving Rhames. VING RHAMES. In an Asylum movie. TOO AWESOME! And as if Ving wasn't enough, this one also boasts the acting talents of Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow, Crossroads), Lesley-Ann Brandt (Spartacus), Johnny Pacar (Make It or Break It), Eddie Steeples (My Name is Earl, Office Depot commercials) and Asylum-staple Gerald Webb (Battle of Los Angeles, Titanic II, upcoming A Haunting in Salem.)

But wait, there's even more awesomeness here!

Zombie Apocalypse is being directed by one Nick Lyon, best known for helming the most-recent Species film, The Awakening. And the script - oh man - the script is being written by two newcomers, Craig Engler and Brooks Peck. The neat thing here, is that Engler is a Senior Executive at the SyFy network. That's right, The Asylum and SyFy working together on what has to be one of the biggest productions in the studio's history. 

So go, check out the pictures, pass them on to friends and family because this one's gonna be EPIC. Zombie Apocalypse  hots DVD December 27th of this year, but something tells me there might be a television premiere looming for this one...

creature feature: Moby Dick

I had the pleasure of re-watching Trey Stokes and Paul Bales' modern-masterpiece 2010 Moby Dick the other day, and it reminded me I had yet to shine the Committed creature feature spotlight on this titular, terrible white whale. Well, consider that oversight overturned.

Now, it should be noted that while this film, and its whale, are based on the Herman Melville's novel of the same name - minus the 2010, of course* - this is by no means the same whale. Melville's cetacean is vicious, yes, but it's still a conceivable whale, size-wise. 2010 Moby is amped up on whey protein or something, cuz mofo's the size of...I honestly don't have anything comparable in mind. It's huge, the kind of huge that can seize a nuclear sub in its jaws the way I would a baguette.

Furthermore, while the whale in Melville's classic was a bane on the existence of one very obsessive sea captain and the unfortunate crew serving under him, 2010 Moby is a full-blown menace to society, destroying everything he comes across, from the sub above to the whale-watching vessel above that, to the army chopper below. Dude just wants to kill, no rhyme, no reason, other than being the biggest predator in the history of history and having, as such, a comparable appetite.

Massive, sharply-toothed - no baleen here - and covered blowhole to belly in tough, thick, near impenetrable blubber; even Greenpeace would want this thing dead. I could offer speculative conjecture as to who would win in a fight, Moby or Mega Shark, Moby or Giant Octopus, Moby or Crocosaurus and so on, but the simple answer is, Moby would just swallow them like Jonahs, fight over. 

So a Committed salute, then, to what might just be the top of the Asylum food-chain, the Alpha predator in a menagerie of alpha predators: the melanin-deprived marine terror that is 2010 Moby Dick. If you haven't laid witness to the film yet, remedy that error toot suite.


*can you imagine how sweet it would have been if Melville had applied his nautical fetish to the sort of speculative fiction of Wells and Verne? I think the closest we get is China Mieville.

Thanks for 100,000 Hits!!!

With 18 days remaining until Committed's first birthday, the blog recorded its 100,000th hit at 7:21PM, PST this evening. Not too shabby.

A sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who' s popped by over the last 12 months, especially those of you who've done it often, and extra-especially to those of you who have let me write screenplays for your awesome company. This blog = my best idea EVER. And without readers, it would be just more meaningless flotsam in an endless digital sea. 

Thanks for reading my flotsam. Only awesome things ahead...

outside the walls: August DVD Releases

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.

Aug. 2

The Coffin

 


Cougar Hunting

Exit 33

Quarantine 2: Terminal

Stake Land

Strigoi: The Undead

Yellow Brick Road














Aug. 9

Camp Hell

Evil Things

Frat House Massacre

Super

Paul














Aug. 16

Arctic Blast

Dexter Season 5

Lizard Boy

Priest

The Ward














Aug. 23

The Bleeding House

Meteor Storm

Troll Hunter















Aug. 30

Bereavement

Roadkill

Bikini Girls on Ice

Children of the Corn: Genesis

Norwegian Ninja

Red Faction: Origins 

First Stills From 11/11/11...and an AWESOME Poster!

The current Asylum film in production - the apocalyptic thriller 11/11/11 from director Keith Allen - just released a set of production stills over on Flickr.

  

From the looks of it, this is gonna be a heady slugfest. And then there's the poster...

Little bit of The Omen, little bit of Amittyville, and all kinds of creepy. See for yourself when 11/11/11 drops on DVD on 11/1/11, giving you ten days to prepare for the inevitable.

Shark Week, Asylum-Style! On the Road with Gemi the 2 Headed Shark!

As I posted a few days ago, the next Asylum film to enter production, 2 Headed Shark Attack (which I wrote, based on a story by Ed DeRuiter) is currently gearing up in a major, spectacular way. The film's director, Christopher Ray (Almighty Thor, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus) is making his way across this great nation of ours as we speak, hauling what has to be the most awesome cargo ever:

A 2-headed shark affectionately nicknamed Gemi. 

Ray's going old school on this one, it seems, not relying entirely on CGI but putting an actual model in the water, a beautiful, expertly crafted, marvelously frightening and spot-on model. 

But before Gemi hits the Atlantic waters off the coast of Florida, he's taking some time to pose with some of the first of his inevitable legion of fans.

This is Gemi hanging out with a fella by the name of Eugene at a Chevron station in Blythe, California, right on the Arizona border. Looks like Ray's taking I-10 clear across into the pan-handle, which is a beautiful highway. I've driven it a handful of times myself, and strongly suggest a stop in beautiful Van Horn, Texas, within view of Mexico's ethereal Guadalupe Mountains. Just a travel tip.

Then Tuesday we got a few new shots from the grand state of Texas:

This is Gemi hanging out in the parking lot of a Mexican Restaurant. I like his style.

And this is Gemi snacking on a very happy child. I can't tell if Mom is trying to pull him out or push him in. Either way, that's the coolest vacation photo I've ever seen.

And here's Gemi kicking it with two lovely young ladies in beautiful Beaumont, Texas. 

From Texas, Gemi dropped into the deep-fried South, where he took a moment in Louisiana to pose with some genuine Southern Belles...

...and to have a bite (you didn't actually think I'd get through this without a horrible pun, did you? for shame...).


But when Gemi crossed over into Florida, folks in the Sunshine State were a little too skittish to get near the shark (backlash from Jaws 3, no doubt) so it was up to the film's intrepid Production Designer (I don't know who this is, but I'll find out) to pose with Gemi.

My favorite part about this one is the sign over the truck advertising "Real Hamburgers." If you guys run across any signs advertising "Fake Hamburgers," I vehemently request another photo.


So there you have it, one 2-headed shark's journey across this great country of ours - or at least the southern part, which for my confederate money is the best - seeing the sights, connecting with fans, and most importantly, amping itself up for next year's biggest shark film (that's right, Dark Tide, bring it). 


2 Headed Shark Attack starts filming in a couple weeks for a January 17, 2012 DVD release. Details as they become available...