I know it’s not my usual… Actually, I’ve never done an Asylum picture before. However, I’ve received an abnormally high amount of requests for this in a short period of time. I know there are other, more deserving movies that should get the attention, but this might be a “strike while the iron is hot” kind of situation. Let me expand.
The movie will be on DVD in a few weeks, and I should be able to have an episode about it ready by that Sunday. Because of the folks involved (the director, Tara Reid, etc.), I have enough background info I can use to write an episode in my usual format. Plus, I have a ton of history on The Asylum that I’m sure you would find interesting.
With this sort of thing, I know there are pros and cons, so let’s look at them.
Pros:
Potentially reaching a wider audience, since there is still a buzz about the movie.
Answering fan requests.
Possibly getting noticed by a site like Buzzfeed, which might push GBF in front of a much larger audience.
Cons:
Most likely, there will be a ton of other shows, both bigger and smaller, covering the movie.
Pandering.
Admittedly doing a “bad” film just for the potential attention.
I’m doing my best to be true to the show, but I do think I need to do stuff like this occasionally to help get the word out to a larger audience. While I’m happy with the audience (You guys rock!), I do think it can be bigger.
While the movie is “bad” it’s entertaining and intentionally bad. This isn’t like Transformers 2, which is just garbage no matter how you look at it. So while doing this might be outside of my usual, I think it still falls well within my format.
So, what do you think? I will leave it up to you. I’m going to put up a poll for a few days, and you can vote on it. Sharknado: yay or nay? I’ll put the poll up over on the left of the page.
*UPDATE*
With a whopping 79% it looks like I’m doing Sharknado. Thanks for the input! I’ll be sure to make it entertaining. 🙂
I’d say no personally. I feel the hype of that movie has jumped itself.
(sorry)
Seriously though,although the marketing was interesting, I really don’t think the movie was entertaining or bad enough to warrant that much attention.
That is one of the things I considered. The last thing I would want would be for people to start referring to this show as having “jumped the shark”.
since it’s your show, you can do whatever you like. I personally would like to hear more about The Asylum.
I was building up a huge infodump for my eventual video on Megashark vs Giant Octopus, which I genuinely enjoy. So instead of using all that info there, I’d add it to this video instead.
I haven’t seen Sharknado but have heard plenty of the buzz( plus a few clips) and suspect that your rundown on it would be a lot more entertaining than the actual movie. I got burned on Birdemic,which except for a couple of well publicized scenes was beyond boring! So, if you decide to ride the Sharknado wave, I’m willing to cheer you on:)
The movie, while nowhere near “good”, is a good time. It purposely lends itself well to being mocked. The cast was much better than a lot of Asylum pictures. (not bigger actors per se, but actors that seemed to do well with only 1-2 takes per scenes)
I saw Birdemic right around the time the buzz was starting so I managed to go in cold, not really knowing what to expect. I had a friend visiting from out of town and we laughed hysterically at the movie. This is the kind of film that benefits from having a group of people to watch and riff the film.
Thanks! So far it’s looking like Sharknado is going to happen.
#WalrusYes
lol
It’s the sort of film I could give only a passing glance at. You don’t need to review it.
Gotcha.
I’d vote yay if only because I know I would never watch it myself and haven’t seen anyone else review it yet (probably because the official home release isn’t out yet). Though I can understand the reluctance of covering it as well and wouldn’t be disappointed if you passed it over for another lesser known movie that is actually trying to be good.
However, I am intrigued by this information you say you have on the history of the Asylum and would be interested in learning more about that. You wouldn’t have to necessarily review this film to get that out there. Perhaps you could cover another title from the studio that was “sorta good” in spite of itself.
Initially I was worried the film would be more along the lines of Transmorphers, a movie that looked like it would be bad but fun, only to end up being bad/bad. While Sharknado was intentionally “bad”, I thought it worked. The pace was brisk and the cast did their best to sell it.
But Transmorphers 2 wasn’t… horrible…
It did have Jennifer Rubin, which made it less painful.
I was hoping you’d do a more deserving Asylum fllm like I am Omega (their best film imo) or the War of the Worlds series, but i understand trying to attract newer viewers. I just expect alot of history of the Asylum in this vid. Hey how about an Asylum month or something? Either way, go for it, you turkey!
Mark Dacascos is the best…athough I haven’t seen I am Omega yet. (I need to get on that!)
An Asylum month might be pushing it because there is only so much to talk about with them and trying to stretch between 4 videos in a short period of time would be tough.
I’ve seen I Am Omega(even reviewed for Bad Movie Month at my blog) and you’re in for a treat,my friend!
I’m in the middle of an awesome action cheese-fest called Ballistica. When I’m done with that I am Omega is next. 🙂
Of course do it!! Your reviews are cool, it’ll get a lot of views.
Thanks! I sure hope so!
Cecil totally go for it.
I missed the movie and I’d rather watch you discuss it over 15-minutes than me buying it and watching it over 90.
As to the pandering, you know that I think you have the best damn movie reviews on the interwebs, so pander away; I’ll share the crap out of it.
Keep up the good work sir.
Aw shucks. I really do appreciate it. 🙂
I vote yes. The exposure would be good, but I’m actually more interested in “a ton of history on The Asylum”.
I hope I’m not overselling it. I think perhaps a more accurate description might be “a ton of information on the inner workings of an Asylum feature, as well as the history of the studio”.
If it meets your criteria, then go for it.
If it doesn’t – and you still think it worth your time and effort – then go for it.
🙂
You have all the right! You spend hours entertaining us each week, you should do some things for yourself and feel good about it. Go for it!
Warms my heart to hear stuff like this. Part of me was expecting the see the Zoidberg meme “This idea is bad and you should feel bad”. lol
You should do a review of Moonwalker on Michael Jackson’s birthday.
While I would like to do Moonwalker eventually, the problem is anthologies are really hard to write for. I’ve tried in the past but end up scrapping it every time.
At first my thought was no, but after reading your rationale and thinking about it, you definitely should. Although there are a ton of other recaps, reviews, and stuff done on it already, I’m sure will material will rise above it all. Go for it.
Awesome. 🙂
This is why I spelled out my thoughts, I wanted to show I’m not just going for the cash grab.
Personally I don’t really care for rifts on films that are intentionally bad or goofy like the Asylum films but I guess it would be interesting to see your take on it and it has the potential for people coming to your channel if your video appears on the suggested related videos on YouTube next to a video that has a bigger viewership and channel. That is how I found your channel and reviews not on YouTube but BlipTV.
Primarily I would love to have a larger audience on the Blip side. However, I can’t ignore the monstrously huge audience on Youtube. Ideally, many discover me on Youtube and then like my material so much they decide to watch the videos on Blip so I can get that precious .001 cent per view. (which has happened quite a bit and makes me happy)
I usually watch your videos 1st on YouTube channel like most people probably for a number of reasons no ads, faster streaming, better layout than other video sites and when new episodes appear you get notified on your subscription feed.
I just found your videos on Blip TV because I was watching a Nostalgia Critic video on it.
Problem with Blip and other video hosting sites is that their search engines are horrible so the chances of properly finding what you are looking for and finding something else good by accident is pretty slim although Blip TV is better for hosting the videos on your website as the don’t fall foul to YouTubes super crap copyright policy.
i bet you can do tom and jerry the movie
Ok. I slept on it and now feel like I have to chime in on this one.
First point: I think you should do it if you are going to enjoy doing it. There is no shame in doing something that’s trending to build your audience (as long as you don’t make a habit of it :] ). If it’s going to be fun for you to do then it’ll be fun for us. If it’s something you are doing just to get exposure then I’d say a resounded “no” as it would dilute your “brand”.
Second point: On Asylum. I don’t like the Asylum. However what then do have is a successful business model. I’m going to restrain my rant on this as much as possible and this will probably come off as being some kind of bad movie elitist. Asylum films and crap. Not good crap, just crap crap (i’ve not see everything they have done, but seen enough). They are targeted at drunk people to watch when they come back from the pub with a kebab and see the title on SyFy or people who see the impressive cover in HMV and think “haha, that sounds silly, it”s only £8 surely it’ll be a laugh”. They are boring, then have no – for lack of a better way of saying it – “soul”, no sense that anyone involved with making it was actually having fun. Bad CG can be entertaining, but you still need to do bad CG well enough to make it fun.
A recent example which I’ve not see yet would be ‘Big Ass Spider’. It looks fun. Like it’s trying to be fun. As if it’s actually self aware and not something created with a bad computer algorithm to just turn out for the best cost price to profit ratio. It actually takes a bit of care to make a good bad movie (either intentional or un). You can do quite a lot with $1million if you actually care about what you’re making. Deathstalker II cost around $450,000 in 1983 and adjusted for inflation would come out at about $1million (I’m not saying costs in some areas of production wouldn’t be higher now, but actually filming has never been more affordable). And that the real crux. Asylum doesn’t care and conversely I don’t care about Asylum.
Anyway. In answer to your question please see point one :]
Thank you for the very long and well thought out answer.
To reassure you, yes I liked Sharknado. I wouldn’t do it just to do it, that would go against everything I’m trying to do. While its not a movie that really needs much attention, I think I may be one of the few that would be doing a video on it that isn’t just screaming at its lack of quality.
I’m cool with The Asylum. I don’t fault them for what they are doing. They are catering to a certain demo, that of stoners and people who want to watch bad movies. (also, they are capitalizing on the “mockbuster” market) I’ll go more into this with the video.
Big Ass Spider looks grand. Saw the trailer a few months back and can’t wait.
My main thing was initially I was going to do another Asylum film, MegaShark vs Gianto Octopus, first but now I’m just going to shift to Sharknado and take all the behind the scenes stuff I learned about The Asylum and pair it with this.
In short, while I think many of you don’t like The Asylum, I’ll do my best to make sure you like the episode.
Right now I’m trying a few new things to try and expand my viewer base, this being one of them. No this won’t be something I plan on doing all the time. 🙂
Hey Cecil,
I don’t hate them, just don’t like them.
I guess it comes down to people who go on about how great these films are and I’m thinking you haven’t even seen ‘Lobster Man from Mars’ or ‘Mutant Hunt’ have you?! Come back and speak to me once you’ve watched ‘Death Machine’.
On plus plus side we can hope that you’ll be a gateway drug to them watching better bad movies :]
Gotcha.
True, many of the people who rave about these movies haven’t seen the “bad” classics of yore…such as Yor! They could use a steady diet of 976-EVIL, Adrenaline: Fear the Rush, Teen Witch, etc. (by the way, yes I’ve seen all of those you mentioned)
That’s a good way of looking at it! 🙂