Apocalypse Pompeii – Asylum decides to destroy Pompeii their way!
One of the biggest destruction porn spectacles of 2014 will be Pompeii. And while Pompeii looks like boring garbage, disaster movies play well on the DTV market. Enter Asylum, and their mockbusters Apocalypse Pompeii!
Apocalypse Pompeii (aka Obsidian) might be one of those interesting Asylum films that’s better than the film it is biting off. But the truth won’t be known until next month, as the DVD/BluRay drops February 18th.
The plot:
When a former Special Ops commando visits Pompeii, his wife and daughter are trapped as Mt. Vesuvius erupts with massive force. While his family fights to survive the deadly onslaught of heat and lava, he enlists his former teammates in a daring operation beneath the ruins of the city of Pompeii.
Special forces team vs. Volcano! Adrian Paul stars along with John Rhys-Davies. It’s directed by Ben Demaree, who has done camera/director of photography work on a ton of genre films (Jersey Shore Shark Attack, Bigfoot, something called Wolf Man vs Piranha Man: Howl of the Piranha that I never knew existed and now need to track down), this is his first full length directorial job.
But if you like seeing stuff get blowed up, people get lavaed, and special forces people running around while shouting “Move move move!”, then Apocalypse Pompeii should fill your needs nicely!
Categories: Movie News Tags: Adrian Paul, Apocalypse Pompeii, Asylum, Ben Demaree, John Rhys-Davies
Abominable Snowman
Abominable Snowman
aka Deadly Descent
2013
Written by Nathan Atkins
Directed by Marko Makilaakso
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Hey, guys, funny joke, now let me in!
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A group of mountain climbers learn that sometimes the mountain climbs you, even if it isn’t in Soviet Russia and also “the mountain climbs you” is a metaphor for huge abominable snowmen that eat you. Sure, that joke makes no sense, but who gives a crap, we got a gigantic abominable snowman eating people, making sense is for losers!
Proud SyFy vets UFO International drop this tale of man vs. beast (Originally titled Deadly Descent), which follows a similar structure as most of the creature features, so it’s all down to details. While not being a bad example, Abominable Snowman is by the numbers, it does what it does and that’s what we got. The things to distinguish it from other creature features is not the monster, but the vast amount of skiing and snowboarding.
Every character is either active military, a vet, or going into the military. This means they drop military terms like candy at a parade. They’re also all experience mountaineers and skiers thanks to the nearby slopes, so those hobby terms are used all the time as well. I’m not experience enough at mountaineering and skiing to know if they were making sense or blabbing a bunch of nonsense, but I shall give them some leeway here. The military aspect defines the characters. They’re trapped in a small town, the only way out is to go into the army and see the world. Everyone’s friends join up, and the only jobs left is bartending for the broken vets who return. A main character Brian suffers from PTSD, as does at least one of the supporting cast. Adrian Paul’s helicopter pilot character returned from war an empty man and got into substance abuse troubles. Other characters argue about whether to reenlist, how it will disrupt their lives vs. the potential benefits and ability to do something interesting. It’s an evenhanded approach that doesn’t take sides, just shows reality. The variety of military characters as opposed to the usually cliche military nut is what I liked best about Abominable Snowman.
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Hi, we’re yetis, but usually we disguise ourselves as ellipses!
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Director Marko Makilaakso helmed War of the Dead, which ran out of money and sat on a shelf for years. I haven’t seen it. Beyond that, he’s done a lot of documentary work. Writer Nathan Atkins also wrote Super Tanker and Cold Fusion, but before all this he angered a bunch of people who like a terrible movie too much when he wrote the DTV sequel, S. Darko.
The biggest disappointment is that the monster CGI just a few simple repeated movements, and beyond that we rarely see the creatures. As someone who likes lots of monster shots and shots of monsters doing things, this was disappointing. Beyond that, this ski route has seen a lot of snow bunnies slide down it. So in the end, the needle moves back to average but not terrible.
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I should’ve had a V8!
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Adrian Paul, Bigfoot, CGI trainwreck, Chuck Campbell, Elizabeth Croft, Lauren O'Neil, Marko Makilaakso, Nathan Atkins, Nicholas Boulton, Sam Cassidy, SciFi Channel, Sean Teale, SyFy, Zara Dimitrova
AE: Apocalypse Earth – Asylum gets in on the After Earth craze!
We are green on this planet, not blue. Death to blue!
If you were worried The Asylum didn’t have their own after Earth mockbuster, put your fears to rest. AE: Apocalypse Earth stars Adrian Paul and Richard Grieco, and follows the adventures of people who have left a ruined Earth:
A group of refugees from Earth land on an exotic planet, where they must fight ruthless aliens to survive.
May 28th is the release date, Thunder Levin directs and writes (he did the same for American Warships and also wrote the upcoming Sharknado!)
Costa Rican model Bali Rodriguez plays a mysterious woman who is green.
Categories: Movie News Tags: Adrian Paul, Asylum, Bali Rodriguez, Richard Grieco, Thunder Levin
