Anthony Frith, an Australian film-maker, has directed a new documentary called Mockbuster that chronicles his experience making a deliberately low-quality B-movie for the Asylum, the production company known for Sharknado. The film, which had a tiny budget and a six-day shooting schedule, was an adaptation of The Land That Time Forgot.
An unusual film-making challenge
The Asylum specialises in bargain basement B-movies, often cheap imitations of blockbusters, or "mockbusters", with titles like Transmorphers and Top Gunners. While most of their productions sink without a trace culturally, they are financially successful, made for a pittance and targeted towards undiscerning audiences.
Frith describes the target demographic as "the truck driver who's driven 16 hours" and "just wants something crap to watch, then never have to think about again". Paul Bales, the Asylum's chief operating officer, is even more blunt in the documentary: "We make shitty movies, for people with bad taste … we're barely above porn."
Fiascos and lessons learned
During the shoot, problems piled up, including the discovery that all the Russian flags sewn on to the cast's costumes were upside down. Frith also had a scene relocated from in front of a garage door, which he wanted to pass off as a battleship, to a nearby concrete wall.
Frith admits he went in with overconfidence, believing he could make something special, but now realises that "with the Asylum, no matter how much you try to push it, it invariably becomes an Asylum film". He likens the experience to a film school on steroids, comparing the company's willingness to give aspiring film-makers a chance to Roger Corman, who supported up-and-comers including Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard and James Cameron.
Mockbuster is in Australian cinemas from 27 August and on digital platforms in the US and the UK now. Anthony Frith is on a Q&A tour of Australia.
