In this present day prequel, the robot invaders attack the Earth, forcing a small band of humans to seek refuge below the surface of the planet.
The only problem is, we know the humans are going to lose, so we lose the element of surprise.
Undead Backbrain has posted some pics (click for big)
Trailer
last article
Thanks to Avery for the head’s up!
Sand Serpents sounds like someone liked Dune a little too much and decided to turn that into a SciFi Channel creature feature. So they did. Directed by Jeff Renfroe and starring Jason Gedrick, we have US soldiers chasing the Taliban, who find out they are now the ones being chased by the Sand Serpents! Watch it July 11th.
Hellhounds is directed by Silver Spoons himself, Rick Schroder. It involves hounds that are in Hell, because some dude in ancient Greece has wandered into there to go get his girlfriend. I guess he brings other people with him, otherwise the Hellhounds won’t have any doggy snacks. Will Cerberus show up? Find out July 19th.
Malibu Shark Attack is next on July 25, it used to be Goblin Shark Attack and is about a Goblin Shark that attacks. In Malibu. Peta Wilson will defend people from goblin sharks that are released after an earthquake opens an underground lake. Chelan Simmons also costars, she has fought giant bugs, ogres, chupacabras, and snakehead fish before on SciFi Channel, so freaky sharks should be no biggie.
Infestation will premiere August 8th. The official site has stuff for you to check out.
Fast and Ferocious shows up August 11th. No one knows anything about this film yet, so it is probably something else renamed. Hopefully it involves Vin Diesel racing cars against mutant cheetahs.
High Plains Invader then arrives August 30th. It used to be called Alien Western and stars James Marsters vs a bunch of giant bugs in the old west.
SciFi Channel will also be showing a bunch of stuff from The Asylum, with Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus airing August 29th, Transmorphers 2: Fall of Man airing August 1st, and The Terminators airing August 15th.
2009
Directed by Ace Hannah (who may or may not be Jack Perez)
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus exploded on the internet with a title. Buzz grew, because, what a title! Then production art and a few stills appeared, and finally, a trailer that became a viral hit. So here it is! As the film is from The Asylum, who has become famous in recent years due to their mockbusters (such as Transmorphers, Dragon, and The Terminators) which have a sketchy history, thus people were wondering if they could pull of a film with a title as great as Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. I am happy to say the film is not terrible. It is not boring. It could be better, but it is very good considering. There are plenty of ridiculous scenes, and they make the movie.
Why bother writing a big opening statement when everyone just wants to get to the monster action? So let’s get it on! The rumble in the jung—ocean. The motion in the ocean? Who cares, giant monsters fight each other and destroy things! Rock!
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Starring Brittany Murphy, Eriq La Salle, Bruce Davison, and Justin Hartley, this action-packed thriller about a massive global earthquake features huge effects like the one pictured here.
The photo:
Exploding tanker truck causes global earthquake, Michael Bay aroused
2009
Directed by Xavier S. Puslowski
The Asylum makes a living producing mockbusters, which are DTV films with titles deceptively similar to films that have hit the theater the same week the DTV film hits video store shelves, thus people rent it by mistake and get enraged at what they saw. It is a strategy that works, gets them lots of press, and on occasion produces a film that’s better than the film it is mockbusting. TarsTarkas.NET has covered the mockbusters Transmorphers and Dragon (and will be covering more soon!), though those two films were done long ago when Leigh Scott was responsible for most of The Asylum’s output and better mockbusters. He has since left to do his own thing, and I haven’t really seen any post-Scott films from Asylum until now. Does it measure up? Read on and find out!
On first glance, you would think that The Asylum would get their pants sued off for the title alone. The Terminators? That doesn’t leave much room for error in what they are trying to mockbuster. But as The Asylum got lots of free publicity when they were threatened over the title of their The Day the Earth Stood Still mockbuster The Day the Earth Stopped, it is understandable why they would want to push the envelope again. From the trailer, it became obvious that they were using both the Terminator films and the remake Battlestar Galactica series as inspirations for the story and design, and that became even more obvious upon seeing the completed film.
What did happen is if you went to The Asylum’s Website, you saw no mention of the film. Sources say they did receive a cease and desist, but released the film regardless while scrubbing all promotion of it on their own pages. Sneaky, and calling someone’s bluff. The information was returned about a week later and is still up as of the time of writing this review.
One of the major problems with the film is the pacing. I am generally forgiving when it comes to bad effects (even if I point them out I find them charming) but as the Terminator franchise is generally known for fast-paced action, The Terminators is more on the lines of jogging action. A few sequences have brief bits of excitement on the scale of a bigger production (the van chase, the space battles), but most of the film is just the same robot guy walking along and killing people. Granted, there is no way that a small budgeted film like this could pull of complicated car chase sequences, nor are they expected, but when you are using all CGI for space shots, just go for broke and fund a few thousand dollars worth of cooler shots that will get people talking more.
This is Xavier S. Puslowski’s first film, though he has been the assistant director on many Asylum films (and if the rumors are true, he was basically the director on at least one of them thanks to the real director not doing anything!) Writer David Michael Latt is the current writer for what looks like everything the Asylum has done in the past few years, though this time he was working with story elements from lesser Asylum player William Morey. One common theme on Asylum productions is thinking big, so you can’t fault them for wanting to be able to do awesome stuff. The problem lies in their ability to do awesome stuff, which doesn’t always work with tiny budgets.
It is the future, and everyone owns a robot slave, called a TR4, all of which look identical, some bodybuilder. Yeah. I can totally see a sinister-looking model like that getting bought by families in the suburbs to cook breakfast. Of course, this movie would have not looked like the film it is mockbusting had the cyborgs all looked like Mrs. Doubtfire, but it would have been insane. Also, in this future where we have cyborgs and space stations and starships, everything else is modern day. In fact, the cars are all older model cars, probably because most of them are destroyed and a buying a new car would eat up the whole budget (it’s not like Chrysler is going to give them free cars, but maybe they should since they are broke and could use the publicity The Terminators could give them!)
Pics from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus up at Undead Backbrain:
hit the link for more.
The poster for The Land That Time Forgot has also been posted, with a giant T-Rex:
The Asylum is also releasing another sex teen comedy with Sexpot 3DDD about sex and pot. No giant monsters, though.
Finally, all references to the mockbuster The Terminators have been stripped from the Asylum’s website. Sources say there was a cease and desist letter sent, so the Asylum dropped all references to the movie but released it anyway! On a side note, I have a review of it finished and look for it to be uploaded once the internet at home (where I can use my ftp program) stops being stupid.
Thanks to Avery for some of the links
