Whether its the Sharknado franchise, or Abraham Lincoln Vs Zombies or Transmorphers, you will have heard of a film that was produced by Asylum. Whilst Asylum aren’t likely to be standing on the Oscar podium anytime soon no one can deny that the team over at Asylum have created some highly entertaining movies over the years. Even Paul Bales, who is one of the partners at The Asylum states ‘We make shitty movies. For people with bad taste and alcoholics’ But not every film has to be The English Patient or to be an award winner. Films should be entertaining and The Asylum have been cranking out entertaining films for years. It was with curiousity that I went into my viewing of Mockbuster in which we follow a struggling director who documents his journey of making a “mockbuster” in just six days which quickly descends into chaos. Welcome to the world of low budget indie filmmaking.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when pressing ‘play’ on Mockbuster. I had seen the trailer and am familiar with much of the work that’s put out by the studio that creates films such as Sharknado, Tomb Invader, and Transmorphers but what would a documentary that follows one mans journey into that world look like? Would it be a tongue in cheek documentary in the same vain that The Asylum produces their films or would it be a more ‘serious’ look at the world of working with The Asylum.
Its actually a mix of both. When we meet some of the staff at The Asylum they do come across like they are taking part in a more comedic documentary however I do suspect that this is a mix of their personality but also the fact they dont take themselves too seriously. The real star of Mockbuster is Anthony Firth who’s journey with The Asylum begins with him emailing The Asylum with pretty much a ‘hey will you let me direct a movie please’ request. Surprising for Anthony a ‘yes of course’ reply and this is the beginning of a great adventure for filmmaker Anthony Frith.
It took only around 2 or 3 minutes into Mockbuster before I knew that I was watching one of the most charming and fun documentaries ive seen for a long time. Anthony comes across as super likeable, very genuine, and so excited to be given a change to make a feature film, rather than the corporate videos he had been paying the bills with. However Anthony quickly learns that even though getting the chance to make a feature film with The Asylum was easy, that actually making the film is a whole different matter and a far more difficult one.
Mockbuster is a fantastic look into the world of The Asylum and whilst Im not sure it will do wonders for people saying ‘hey I think ill email The Asylum and ask if theyll let me make a film’ I think its a wonderful look into the world of indie filmmaking and definitely a documentary that should be watched by anyone who has aspirations of becoming the next Christopher Nolan. There’s also some great appearances in the documentary by screen icons Eric Roberts, and Michael Paré who share their own stories about working on indie films.
Charming, Entertaining, Chaotic. That would be the three words Id use to sum up this gem of a doc.
Starring:
Anthony Frith, Eric Roberts, Danny Philippou, Michael Paré, Glenn Campbell, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Paul Bales, David Latt, David Rimawi and Brendan Petrizzo
