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TrixRabbi posted:The famed Roger Corman Film School. Not just Scorsese, Nicholson, Bogdanovich and Coppola but also Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Monte Hellman, John Sayles, Nicolas Roeg, James Cameron, and Paul Bartel. Plus in the acting field you've got Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Talia Shire, and David Carradine. Hell I didn't even know about some of those later guys getting started there. I'm kind of surprised to hear that about Cameron, though it kind of makes sense just thinking about it.
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Feb 17, 2015 23:53
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raditts posted:And Sharknado 2 might as well just be 2 hours of the actors mugging at the camera because they're "in on the joke" this time. I actually liked Sharknado 2 better than the first one (which was so boring I fell asleep partway through) even though in every other case a movie does the "deliberately so bad it's good" it never works. I think it's clear that the first one was just one of their average Asylum fares that for whatever reason the public happened to pick up on to a degree no one ever noticed before, and this gave the producers the chance to actually have fun on the sequel, I guess. Like I said, this is probably the only time I can think of that I enjoyed an "in on the joke" sequel. Anyway, the first Asylum movie I ever watched was when I was at a friend's party in high school and they put on Vampires vs. Zombies with none of us knowing what it was, and having a fun 90 minutes of us all laughing at it. I also love that this has remained the opening line of the Wikipedia entry for it: quote:Vampires vs. Zombies is an independent horror film loosely based upon J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic 1872 novel Carmilla. Unlike Le Fanu's story, however, most of the action in the film takes place inside a car. Anyway, even though the movie was terrible, I liked the concept of War of the Worlds 2, in that it actually looked at what the aftermath of the Martian invasion would be like. Funnily enough, the rumored plotline of Independence Day 2 is kind of similar to what WOTW 2 was, it'd be funny if that turned out to be Asylum's first pre-mockbuster. And again, even through the movie was terrible, I liked the fact their Princess of Mars movie modernized the setting rather than worked off the Civil War backstory of the novel, that was kind of innovative. You also have to admire their audacity in making a movie based on the 9/11 Report. I guess the only other thing I have to say is that the first thing I remember seeing Emilia Clarke in was as a Native American teenager in an Asylum movie where she fought dinosaurs summoned by Native Shaman Magic. Although I guess that might have just been a typical Scifi Movie of the Week.
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Feb 18, 2015 04:06
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Jack Gladney posted:I've never heard a bad thing about Corman, just that he can really stretch a budget and knew for a long time what would sell. Dude likes his rape. Not real rape, as far as I know, just fictionalized depictions of it. He supposedly directed the rape reshoots in Humanoids From The Deep, which angered the feminist director of the film that she would later complain on Oprah about it, and had them add in the grub rape scene in Galaxy Of Terror, where the initial scrip just had the girl attack by the grub and her head bitten off.
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Feb 18, 2015 09:45
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TrixRabbi posted:Exactly. The Asylum has never produced a Targets, or The Intruder, or even a Death Race 2000. 100 Ghost Street: The Return Of Richard Speck is an extremely good slasher film. It and Paranormal Entity reach and exceed the level of 'legitimate movie'. CAUTION: all the other Asylum found footage movies are punishingly inept.
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Feb 18, 2015 12:26
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Feb 18, 2015 16:07
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This studio is really obsessed with The Omen and The Day After Tomorrow/2012. There's a disproportionate amount of knockoffs of those movies.
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Feb 18, 2015 16:16
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What pisses me off is that they clearly have no care about the quality of the content of the movies, so why not hire upcoming writers/directors for cheap and let them do the best they can with the tiny budget they have.
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Feb 18, 2015 17:57
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SwissCM posted:What pisses me off is that they clearly have no care about the quality of the content of the movies, so why not hire upcoming writers/directors for cheap and let them do the best they can with the tiny budget they have. From a business standpoint: If you have an established collection of writers/directors who know exactly how to make something salable on a tight budget, why would you bother trying to change them? New writers/directors may have no idea how to work within the establish confines of Asylum (especially with how fast the production schedule appears to be), which can lead either to cost overruns or production delays.
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Feb 18, 2015 19:12
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I remember moviebob or whoever made a video calling the asylum the han solo of filmmaking, or something, where them being tiny and doing ripoffs gives them the chance to really experiment. In reality the opposite seems to be the case. The last asylum movie I saw was 6 guns, which was just depressing. They got a whole wild west set and they made something completely uninteresting. Such a waste. It was meant to be the takeoff of Jonah Hex, but no-one watched either.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:47
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Hbomberguy posted:I remember moviebob or whoever made a video calling the asylum the han solo of filmmaking, or something, where them being tiny and doing ripoffs gives them the chance to really experiment. Some of the films they ripoff are truly baffling. Jonah Hex is a good example, but they also did a Battleship movie and I really have to wonder how the gently caress that one made any money.
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Feb 18, 2015 21:04
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Asylum should follow the Val Lewton model, where they ask for a ridiculous title and enough violence/boobs/whatever for a trailer, and let young directors make whatever they want within those parameters.
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Feb 18, 2015 21:14
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Vermain posted:From a business standpoint: If you have an established collection of writers/directors who know exactly how to make something salable on a tight budget, why would you bother trying to change them? New writers/directors may have no idea how to work within the establish confines of Asylum (especially with how fast the production schedule appears to be), which can lead either to cost overruns or production delays. I imagine this could be part of it. Why risk bringing on some kid who's going to use this as his chance to make the movie he wants, therefore potentially driving them over-budget/schedule, when you could just rely on the same drone directors who will poo poo something out in a month? They've found a business model and they're not going to deviate until it's no longer profitable.
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Feb 18, 2015 21:26
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penismightier posted:Asylum should follow the Val Lewton model, where they ask for a ridiculous title and enough violence/boobs/whatever for a trailer, and let young directors make whatever they want within those parameters. It's too bad Photoshop has overtaken painted posters and box covers, because we sure could use same paradigm that '80s producers had with making the poster first, getting the money for the movie off the poster, then making the movie based off the poster art..
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Feb 18, 2015 21:48
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Young Freud posted:It's too bad Photoshop has overtaken painted posters and box covers, because we sure could use same paradigm that '80s producers had with making the poster first, getting the money for the movie off the poster, then making the movie based off the poster art.. Like 95% of those movies had better poster art than the movie itself. I think Robert Rodriguez said that was his goal with Grindhouse/Planet Terror - To make a movie that actually lived up to the poster.
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Feb 18, 2015 21:53
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TrixRabbi posted:Like 95% of those movies had better poster art than the movie itself. I think Robert Rodriguez said that was his goal with Grindhouse/Planet Terror - To make a movie that actually lived up to the poster. haha well he hosed the goat on that one eh
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Feb 18, 2015 23:36
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penismightier posted:Asylum should follow the Val Lewton model, where they ask for a ridiculous title and enough violence/boobs/whatever for a trailer, and let young directors make whatever they want within those parameters. The Curse of the Cat People might be the most genius take on this. Even now though some people don't understand the point of the title.
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Feb 19, 2015 00:08
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TrixRabbi posted:I imagine this could be part of it. Why risk bringing on some kid who's going to use this as his chance to make the movie he wants, therefore potentially driving them over-budget/schedule, when you could just rely on the same drone directors who will poo poo something out in a month? What you have to realize is it's not necessarily that the filmmakers aren't trying, so much as Asylum is designed in a way that basically guarantees they will fail. They literally are forced to film and edit the entire thing in like a month, based on a script they are handed and don't really have much control over (and mandated to be padded to 90 min). If you want some insight on the process, there's a great fan commentary for 2010: Moby Dick with the director: http://friendsinyourhead.com/audio/commentary-11-28-MOBYDICK.mp3 bullet3 fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Feb 19, 2015 |
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Feb 19, 2015 00:31
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bullet3 posted:What you have to realize is it's not necessarily that the filmmakers aren't trying, so much as Asylum is designed in a way that basically guarantees they will fail. They literally are forced to film and edit the entire thing in like a month, based on a script they are handed and don't really have much control over (and mandated to be padded to 90 min). If you want some insight on the process, there's a great fan commentary for 2010: Moby Dick with the director: http://friendsinyourhead.com/audio/commentary-11-28-MOBYDICK.mp3 Nice, I'll definitely download this.
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Feb 19, 2015 00:40
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Here's something I've actually been curious about for a while - what exactly is the relationship between Asylum and Syfy? Obviously Syfy has been doing their own lovely original movies for years, and Asylum had a long time between it starting to make movies and them being shown on Syfy, but around 2009 or so I feel like they got some arrangement where all of Syfy's original movies were made by Asylum and everything Asylum did got shown on Syfy first.
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Feb 19, 2015 04:32
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Raxivace posted:The Curse of the Cat People might be the most genius take on this. Even now though some people don't understand the point of the title. Imagine if, like, Transmorphers 2 was in the style of Curse of the Cat People. Chairman Capone posted:Here's something I've actually been curious about for a while - what exactly is the relationship between Asylum and Syfy? Obviously Syfy has been doing their own lovely original movies for years, and Asylum had a long time between it starting to make movies and them being shown on Syfy, but around 2009 or so I feel like they got some arrangement where all of Syfy's original movies were made by Asylum and everything Asylum did got shown on Syfy first. I think SyFy just buys the TV rights to all of Asylum's stuff instead of making their own TV movies now, saving them from the expensive of having to make their own schedule fillers and keeping Asylum in the black.
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Feb 19, 2015 05:07
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I will never forgive Asylum for turning Tara loving Reid into a Bruce Campbell ripoff for Sharknado 2  And yeah, their poo poo films lack the heart that directors like Ed Wood, Roger Corman, and even Tommy Wiseau and James Nguyen put in their films. Also, Sharknado 1 with Rifftrax is pretty good, and is probably the only way I can stomach that film.
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Feb 19, 2015 05:31
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bullet3 posted:What you have to realize is it's not necessarily that the filmmakers aren't trying, so much as Asylum is designed in a way that basically guarantees they will fail. They literally are forced to film and edit the entire thing in like a month, based on a script they are handed and don't really have much control over (and mandated to be padded to 90 min). If you want some insight on the process, there's a great fan commentary for 2010: Moby Dick with the director: http://friendsinyourhead.com/audio/commentary-11-28-MOBYDICK.mp3 I am genuinely disappointed that no one has 2010: Moby Dick up for streaming at the moment because of this.
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Feb 19, 2015 16:08
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Random Stranger posted:I am genuinely disappointed that no one has 2010: Moby Dick up for streaming at the moment because of this. I'm fixing to give this a listen.
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Feb 19, 2015 16:16
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Random Stranger posted:I am genuinely disappointed that no one has 2010: Moby Dick up for streaming at the moment because of this. I will. That's one of their better ones, I've read that novel like six times, adapted it for the stage, and I had a goddamn BALL with that movie.
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Feb 19, 2015 17:46
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SwissCM posted:What pisses me off is that they clearly have no care about the quality of the content of the movies, so why not hire upcoming writers/directors for cheap and let them do the best they can with the tiny budget they have. You answered your own question in the first half of that post. They are in the zen of not giving a poo poo while trying their best to turn a profit and not get sued. I'd be okay with mockbusters, but these people are clearly con men who just manufacture these knock-offs for a quick buck. They're not even funny-bad, they're usually boring. At one point they even said something like "if you pirate our movies you are just as bad as us" which I find immensely 
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Feb 20, 2015 04:46
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In an ideal world they would do the whole 'Here's your parameters and it has to be 90 minutes - make what you want' thing. But that's not in their interests. It's more like a factory because they need to capitalise on what's trending. That's the worst thing about them. They're so low effort that there's nothing to them. However, Snakes on a Train is more fun than the movie it's ripping off.
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Feb 20, 2015 10:18
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I don't really see what makes their movies particularly heartless or soulless. They are cynically trying to make a buck by ripping off other movies that likewise were cynically trying to make a buck. I'm finding more and more that sometimes I prefer the asylum version, as at least they tend to have fun with the concept in their movies
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Feb 20, 2015 10:38
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penismightier posted:Asylum should follow the Val Lewton model, where they ask for a ridiculous title and enough violence/boobs/whatever for a trailer, and let young directors make whatever they want within those parameters.
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Feb 20, 2015 13:48
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Cineplex, a Canadian theatre chain, has a subsidiary that runs a contest to fund amateur filmmakers. Filmmakers submit 60 second trailers, and Cineplex will fund up to $1 million. Last year the winning entry was Wolfcop, which wasn't great, but was still better than anything I've seen from Asylum.
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Feb 20, 2015 14:33
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Simplex posted:I don't really see what makes their movies particularly heartless or soulless. They are cynically trying to make a buck by ripping off other movies that likewise were cynically trying to make a buck. I'm finding more and more that sometimes I prefer the asylum version, as at least they tend to have fun with the concept in their movies I think that's where you differ from most people, because Asylum movies are worse than merely being bad, they're utterly charmless and boring.
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Feb 20, 2015 15:43
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Simplex posted:I don't really see what makes their movies particularly heartless or soulless. They are cynically trying to make a buck by ripping off other movies that likewise were cynically trying to make a buck. I'm finding more and more that sometimes I prefer the asylum version, as at least they tend to have fun with the concept in their movies See the thing is that there's no fun there. It's flatly directed, poorly performed and barely written. They're just poor photocopies of concepts and are produced that way. They don't even exist to entertain, they just exist to tap into a market. When you cultivate an industry like that, it's no surprise that it's all terrible.
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Feb 20, 2015 16:46
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Take the Sherlock Holmes movie mentioned in the OP. Yeah, it's a completely terrible and stupid movie. On the other hand steampunk dinosaurs and dragons is an undeniably unique take on the Sherlock Holmes concept. Their model seems to be that they catch a preview for an upcoming blockbuster franchise and they try to create an entire movie off of that preview. They take a more unique approach on a concept than any major movie ever will, and I think sometimes their idea is better.
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Feb 20, 2015 21:52
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It probably doesn't say much for Netflix, Hollywood - or me - that after looking through everything on offer, the movie I most fancied watching tonight was Sharknado 2. And you know what? I've seen plenty of films that were more stupid, less funny, more obnoxious, less entertaining and way bigger-budgeted from the major studios. (A Good Day To Die Hard springs to mind.) It was still crap, but at least it was endearingly crap, like the people making it had put at least a little heart into the job rather than just making GBS threads something out with zero effort or care.
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Feb 21, 2015 22:15
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Simplex posted:Take the Sherlock Holmes movie mentioned in the OP. Yeah, it's a completely terrible and stupid movie. On the other hand steampunk dinosaurs and dragons is an undeniably unique take on the Sherlock Holmes concept. Eh, not really. It's two nerd things jammed into something where it doesn't fit. Same cynical thought process that came up with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
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Feb 22, 2015 02:59
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Unique is a value neutral concept. Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't mean it's good, or even interesting. I've never poo poo on a dog and then thrown the dog at a random passer-by. That would be a unique action for me. I don't think it'd be particularly interesting, but I'm pretty sure Asylum just started shooting it somewhere in Eastern Europe.
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Feb 22, 2015 03:04
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My man Griff Furst from the legendary Furst acting clan has done stuff with Asylum, so I can't hate. Also Snakes on a Train is somehow better than Snakes on a Plane.
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Apr 20, 2015 20:57
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That's not exactly a high bar to clear, Snakes on a Plane itself could have easily been an Asylum movie.
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Apr 20, 2015 22:38
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