Barely Legal

Title: Barely Legal

Director: Jose Montesinos

Writer: Naomi L. Selfman

Starring: Jeneta St. Clair, Melissa Johnston, Lisa Younger

Year released: 2011

Their synopsis: “Sue, Cheryl, and Lexi–all freshman in college–have been friends forever…Every year, they do something special to celebrate their birthday, and this year, on their eighteenth, they’re determined to lose their virginity.”

Initial thoughts (Pre-screening, post-synopsis): They’re “all freshman in college.” I think this gives you some idea of the level of intelligent filmmaking we’re going to be witnessing.

My synopsis: A whore, a prude, and a retarded Anna Faris throw a pool party in an attempt to lose their virginity. Had they simply had sex with each other, they could have made a much better film, and saved money on decorations.

Quick review: Not terrible. Fairly sexy.

Pros: Making fun of the visually-impaired. Goes by quickly.

Cons: There’s no way this movie took more than 37 hours to film.

Biggest movie cliché: Some type of teenage sex pact.

Favorite quote: “I’m blind, you fucking asshole.”

Say a nice thing: Lexi’s a goddamn champion.

Say a mean thing: Chris is very clearly a fag.

Say a creepy thing: ‘Barely legal’ isn’t even 18 in the best states.

Vulgar, unnecessary spoiler: A dog ate the shit outta some girl’s pussy.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: That the main characters are anywhere close to 17. Their daughters are already 20.

Final review: There’s no way the party Sue, Lexi, and Cheryl (When’s the last time you met an 18-year-old named Cheryl?) threw wasn’t the worst party ever. Barely Legal is a much better movie than that was a party. It’s an Asylum sex comedy that didn’t decide it needed an intricate plot line. Always a good move. One-dimensional characters finding themselves in awkward sexual situations. Comedy gold! Or not gold, exactly. Comedy pyrite. Sort of unfair to say the characters didn’t experience any personal growth, either. One realized she was dating the wrong kind of guy, one realized she is bisexual, and one became a chronic masturbator. Lessons abound.

Ranking:

2.5 bees

2.5 bees

 

Martian Land

Title: Martian Land

Director: Scott Wheeler

Writer: Jeremy M. Inman

Starring: Alan Polack-name, Jennifer Dorogi, Lane Townsend

Year released: 2015

Initial thoughts (Pre-screening): I’m annoyed that I can’t find any new Asylum films to review on Netflix. Also, The Martian is excellent. (Finally, Ridley Scott!)

Their synopsis: “In the distant future, mankind lives on Mars…When a massive sandstorm breaks through the dome and destroys Mars New York, those in Mars Los Angeles must figure out how to stop the storm before it wipes them out next.”

My synopsis: A big ass storm threatens to destroy our new Martian civilization. This ridiculous, yet fun idea is thoroughly trampled by inept filmmaking.

Quick review: Jesus fucking christ on a cross this is horrible.

Pros: Mars is cool. Literally!

Cons: Mars New York (MNY) and Mars Los Angeles (MLA). How fucking uninspired.

Biggest movie cliché: Love triangles are so distracting.

Least favorite quote: “Blah blah, stealing Matt Damon’s line from The Martian’s trailer, blah.”

Say a nice thing: The cute, understated lesbian couple should have been given more screen time. They weren’t abysmal.

Say a mean thing: Dionne Neish’s accent in this is fucking enraging. Does she really talk like that?

Ruin a nice thing that you said: Of course Mars is wet! Ellie and Ida are out there sloshin’ around in each other’s boxes!

Biggest suspension of disbelief: They stole from Armageddon! Are you fucking serious?! They actively stole from Armageddon! Michael Bay’s Armageddon!! Goddammit!!

Most relatable current event: Unlike this pulseless movie, Mars may have supported life.

Final review: I was not having a great day when I decided to review this film, and motherfucking jesus christ did it get worse. When I reviewed AVH, released in 2007, I wrote that The Asylum has “certainly gotten better over the years in terms of production value and special effects.” This film is a regression. It feels like an early Asylum production. All parts of it are equally horrendous. The costumes are as bad as the settings, which are as bad as the dialogue, acting, plot, editing, effects, etc. The whole movie just happens. It’s forgettable and pointless. And let us not forget that of all the films involving space, these assholes chose to rip off Armageddon. Just embarrassing.

Ranking:

1.5 bees

1.5 bees

The First 100: Best and Worst

Having reviewed one hundred B movies over the past year and change, it’s time to take a look back and answer some of your most pressing questions. “What actors and actresses have stood out?” “Which directors were consistently not dreadful?” “Why in god’s name did you watch all of this shit?” “How exactly does the rating system work? It doesn’t really make sense.” “Who the fuck do you think you are saying all this mean shit about people you don’t even know?”

Let’s hand out some awards!

bee award

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: I instantly thought of Shaley Scott as Taylor in Invasion of the Pod People. There are probably other notable performances I should include, but look how many categories I gave myself. I don’t have time.

Worst Actress in a Supporting Role: Kim Little in War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave. I haven’t watched that movie in over a year, yet I still fantasize about sawing through her throat with my car keys.

Best Visual Effects: MechaHitler from Nazis at the Center of the Earth. Unless boobs count as visual effects. I’ve seen a lot of cool boobs.

Worst Visual Effects: Down syndrome Bigfoot? Invisible motorcycle? A majority of the train scenes? Papier-mache tank? Murderous/pussy eating devil baby? Ghost fight? The possibilities are endless. Let’s go with retarded Bigfoot.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Lorenzo Lamas for being a funny racist in Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. Honorable mention to Andrew Lauer in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, and Dr. Alan Grant, who was pretty good in Merlin’s Apprentice. I’m also going to mention Coolio, just so I can include Pterodactyl, which is probably my favorite review.

Worst Actor in a Supporting Role: All of the dragons. So many fucking dragons… Oh, and Geoff Meed in I Am Omega. I hate Geoff Meed.

Best Writing: When it comes to inserting lesbianism into a script for really no reason whatsoever, Leigh Scott is the king. (Though Tim Culley tried his best.) Unfortunately, it would be wrong to judge this category based solely on super hot girl-on-girl action. (It would, right? Hmm… … …Yeah, I guess so.) I’ll give it to Jack Perez for Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. If nothing else, he wrote in arguably the greatest action scene ever.

Worst Writing: Liz Adams. She has a writing credit on Shark Week, and is the only credited writer of both Air Collision and Super Cyclone. Shark Week is an abomination, Air Collision is a mess, and Super Cyclone is so dumb it made me write Twister wasn’t half bad. I hate Liz Adams for that. Oh, and Geoff Meed. Fuck him.

Best Actress in a Lead Role: Let’s go with Jean Louisa Kelly in The Cyberstalking. Yes, Sinead McCafferty was a crazily hot naked alien in The Day the Earth Stopped, and Jessica Chastain was very good in Blackbeard, but JLK deserves some love. Plus, Jessica Chastain’s already been nominated for two Oscars. What more does she want?

Worst Actress in a Lead Role: I think Sarah Lieving is fucking beautiful, but she is not a good actress. However, Sara Malakul Lane is also a ridiculously gorgeous terrible actress, who, in addition, takes her clothes off. I still feel bad about myself for giving Jailbait more stars than it deserved, so I’m awarding Worst Actress to Sara, not Sarah. Have some goddamn respect for yourself, Sara! (Or don’t. I’m not judging.)

Best Actor in a Lead Role: Do you not remember Jude Law? God, that son of a bitch is handsome.

Worst Actor in a Lead Role: Rhett Giles, I guess? He’s had some big roles in a lot of garbage. He may be a good actor for all I know, but his choices are for shit. He’s The Asylum’s Nic Cage.

Best Director: Anthony C. Ferrante, Thunder Levin, and C. Thomas Howell have all turned in multiple winners. If I had to pick from only those three, I’d give it to Thunder Levin for AE: Apocalypse Earth and American Warships. He not only directed, but wrote those films. If Rhett Giles is The Asylum’s Nicolas Cage, Levin is Asylum’s Tarantino. Really though, I’m just going to give it to Jack Perez for Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus.

Worst Director: I think I have to go Liz Adams again, for directing Air Collision and Super Cyclone. There are directors who have put forth worse films than Liz Adams, but they’ve also turned in some decent work. (I’m looking at you, Justin Jones.) The Kondelik Brothers suck, but Liz Adams probably sucks more.

Best Picture: It’s no secret Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus is my favorite B movie. It wins, and will keep winning until I see something better. No, it did not garner the maximum four-star review, but only Clash of the Empires did that, and for all the wrong reasons. I would, however, like to give an honorable mention to Cleaver Family Reunion. The trailer makes you want to kick a small dog in the stomach, but it’s actually a pretty funny movie.

Worst Picture: I’ve only ever given two films zero stars. 2012: Doomsday and Monster. But Monster was not only horrendous, it was also so goddamn disappointing. It’s a monster movie that takes place in Japan, yet the final product is an enormous, disrespectful, smoldering pile of shit in the mouth of the kaiju genre. I’m tempted to watch the film again, simply to reaffirm my hatred of it. Or maybe I’ll just stab my penis with a rusty safety pin for ninety minutes. Whichever.

Jailbait

jailbait

Title: Jailbait (Also known as: 17 & Life)

Director: Jared Cohn

Writer: Jared Cohn

Starring: Sara Malakul Lane

Year released: 2013

Initial thoughts (Pre-screening): Great. Title.

Their synopsis: “After killing her stepfather in self-defense, Anna Nix is sent to a juvenile detention center. As she struggles to survive in a world of girl gangs and predatory guards, Anna must fight her dark side and stay above the fray.”

My synopsis: An astonishingly poor attempt to fit the entire first season of Orange is the New Black into 90 minutes.

Quick review: Hot. Completely unbelievable and horribly written, but hot.

Pros: It’s basically a softcore porn movie.

Cons: The writing is so goddamn bad.

Biggest movie cliché: Every prison cliché.

Big suspension of disbelief: Not racist enough for a prison film.

Say a nice thing: Sara Malakul Lane did a better acting job in this than in Sharktopus. Oh, and her tits are truly incredible.

Say a creepy thing: Boy howdy did my helmet get a thorough pinching watching this movie!

Bigger suspension of disbelief: The setting is supposed to be a juvenile detention center, but every bitch in there is at least 30.

Most relatable current event: Season 2 of Orange is the New Black. Hopefully, it will not inspire Jared Cohn to make a sequel.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: The premise of the film is asinine. A drunk, loserly nobody beats and then attempts to rape his honor roll, cello-expert stepdaughter. She defends herself, and he dies in a freak accident. No amount of shitty police work could fuck that case up. AND the girl is sentenced by a female judge.

Final review: I’m torn. My erection says it’s the greatest Asylum film ever, but my brain picked apart the awful screenplay in every scene. The characters stink, the dialogue is cringeworthy, there’s no drama, Jared Cohn put in absolutely zero time or effort, and it’s generally just horseshit in every cinematic sense. The rating for this movie is based 100% on its nudity and sexual content (as opposed to my very strict, normal criteria of 94%) because without it, nobody’s watching this garbage.

Ranking:

2 bees

2 bees

Asian School Girls

asg

Title: Asian School Girls

Director: Lawrence Silverstein

Writer: Tim Culley

Starring: Sam Aotaki, Minnie Scarlet, Catherine Kim

Year released: 2014

Their synopsis: “Kidnapped by a Los Angeles crime syndicate, a group of schoolgirls must fight and seduce their way to vengeance, teaching the criminals a lesson in kicking butt and taking names.”

My synopsis: A ‘teenaged’ trio of Asian girls seek revenge on the guys who raped them.

Quick review: It was adult and different, but it still wasn’t any good.

Pros: Asian girls in thigh highs and skirts. The movie tried.

Cons: The soundtrack is atrocious, and the movie was written by an old man who has no idea how young people talk to each other. Or just people, really.

Biggest movie cliché: A corny fight training montage.

Favorite quote: “Like what? Chinese? Japanese? Korean?” “How the fuck should I know? They all look the same.”

Offer some advice: There’s a fairly intense rape scene in this movie, which I don’t recall seeing in any previous Asylum films. The studio should build on heavy scenes like this, and include them in more productions. It would give the company some gravitas.

Say a nice thing: Facesitting.

Say a mean thing: Do you know how easy it would be to beat the shit out of two tiny Asian girls and one chubby one? Super easy.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: Hahaha, THE most gratuitous lesbian sex scene in cinematic history.

Final review: This is the most adult movie I’ve ever seen The Asylum attempt. Rape, torture, human trafficking, suicide, etc. Unfortunately, the mature subject matter is still bound by the laws of Asylum films. Terrible acting and terrible dialogue. Which stands out more when you’re making a serious film, not one where giant lobsters fight a Mega dragon. There were some pacing problems as well. For example, the movie stalls once the 30-year-old high school girls become strippers. For a second, I think everybody forgot they were making a movie and just wanted to watch the naked Asians dance. (Understandable.) There was obvious effort, though, and I appreciated that. A commendable, but ultimately failed, endeavor.

Ranking:

2 bees

2 bees

Dragon

Dragon_film_2006

Title: Dragon

Director: Leigh Scott

Writer: Leigh Scott, Eliza Swenson

Starring: Amelia Jackson-Gray, Matthew Wolf, Jon-Paul Gates

Year released: 2006

Initial thoughts (Pre-screening): Wow, an Asylum movie with dragons. Shocking…

Their synopsis: “Princess Alora Vanir embarks on a secret mission to stop the dark elves from the Forest of Sidhe, who have declared war on mankind.”

My synopsis: A princess and some commoners, all trying to speak with accents, travel through a light brush to kill a dragon or get to a city or stop a war or something. They meet a witch and fight people in blackface.

Quick review: Mostly involved people standing around oak trees, talking about destiny and honor. It was like watching a debate team LARP.

Pros: There was only one dragon. And it died. (Spoiler alert.)

Cons: The fight scenes were as awful as the acting.

Biggest movie cliché: Dragons.

Say a nice thing: Leigh Scott, a noted fan of lesbianism, kept his urges subtle. This gave the witch and her servant character dimension, and kept them from being just two sluts who scissor in the forest. (Though that also would’ve added to the film.)

Say a mean thing: Seriously, fuck dragons.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: Nobody would fight an enormous, evil, fire-breathing dragon by gently prodding in its general direction with a sword.

Final review: The concepts and dialogue were unoriginal and stale, the pace dragged, the actors were trying much too hard, and I’m certain it was filmed in somebody’s backyard. Other than that it was fine. A fairly standard olde-timey, slay-the-menacing-dragon adventure B movie.

Ranking:

2 bees

2 bees

King of the Lost World

kingofthelostworld

Title: King of the Lost World

Director: Leigh Scott

Writer: Carlos De Los Rios, David Michael Latt, Leigh Scott

Starring: Rhett Giles, Sarah Lieving, Bruce Boxleitner, Jeff Denton

Year released: 2005

Their synopsis: “When a plane crashes on a remote tropical island, four survivors emerge from the wreckage to find a prehistoric world untouched by the sands of time.”

My synopsis: The first thing I’m noticing is that there are way more than four survivors. Half of them go on an adventure, the other half… Then a native tribe… Nuclear bomb.

Quick review: This was so sloppily written and poorly acted.

Pros: Painted jungle lesbians. (Reminder: Leigh Scott loves lesbians.)

Cons: If you want people to have supposedly survived a plane crash, lose the explosion. Explosions tend to incinerate people, not make them slightly unkempt.

Biggest movie cliché: Goddammit! Why is there a fucking dragon in every Asylum movie?!

Biggest suspension of disbelief: Impossible to choose. It’s very likely the entire script was a game of Mad Libs that got out of hand.

Say a nice thing: Sure are a lot of pretty ladies in this movie.

Say a mean thing: I get there’s not really a film here, but if everyone would have just died in the plane crash, I think we’d all have been better off.

Say a sarcastic thing: It’s a good thing all the major speaking roles were given to terrible actors instead of Andrew Lauer.

Most relatable current event: I heard something on the radio recently. Apparently, King Kong… Went to Hong Kong… To play ping pong… (Get this!) …With his ding dong!

Final review: There are three credited writers for this film. My guess is they each wrote a version of the script, then blindly combined them to form an unholy, nearly unwatchable reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. The only positive is that I wasn’t bored watching it. The women are quite attractive and the story changes on a dime, which sated my short attention span.

Ranking:

1.5 bees

1.5 bees

Transmorphers

Transmorphers

Title: Transmorphers

Director: Leigh Scott

Writer: Leigh Scott

Starring: Matthew Wolf, Eliza Swenson, Griff Furst

Year released: 2007

Initial thoughts (Pre-screening): Of all The Asylum’s cunty titles, this one tends to be people’s favorite. Because it’s not so much a similar, yet less interesting title, more than it is a spelling change. Let’s hope they gave more of a shit making the film than naming it.

Their synopsis: “A band of humans fights back against the alien machines that rule Earth.”

My synopsis: People living hundreds of years in the future shoot really shoddy-looking plastic guns at poorly-rendered 2D versions of robots.

Quick review: Like a less entertaining Terminator Salvation (though this film did come first), with a little Return of the Jedi thrown in. Probably some Matrix in there too. And shit. An olio of shit and better films.

Pros: One of their pet names for the Transmorphers is “Z bot.” Remember Zbots?! I fucking loved Zbots.

Cons: Do you know how hard it is to make a cat fight between six attractive women boring? That’s gotta be some kind of record.

Biggest movie cliché: The shady commanding general has ulterior motives? Gasp!

Say a nice thing: I like the doctor who built sex robots. Seems like a good egg.

Say a mean thing: I think it cost $11 to make this goddamn movie.

Say a sarcastic thing: I very much appreciate being blinded by all the awesome lights they had pointing directly at the camera.

Notice something: Leigh Scott loves lesbians.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: Am I suppose to believe that lacrosse pads, spray painted black, are the future of military technological armor?

Most relatable current event: The Los Angeles underground.

Final review: It felt like this movie was made in 1992, not 2007. The special effects were especially poor, but the battle scenes were ok. Not sure all of the setup was needed, and the first half could’ve been edited better. I liked the twist, but it’s still not very well done.

Ranking:

2 bees

2 bees

Invasion of the Pod People

pod people invasion

Title: Invasion of the Pod People

Director: Justin Jones

Writer: Leigh Scott

Starring: Erica Roby, Jessica Bork

Year released: 2007

Their synopsis: “After a woman’s closest friends undergo extreme personality changes, she begins to suspect that they have been replaced by alien invaders.”

My synopsis: Various pretty girls star in film, tell their friends back in West Virginia they’ve ‘made it’ and are doing great in Hollywood. Six months later they’re all prostitutes.

Quick review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers it is not. The 1956 original is a classic, and still holds up. I really want to trash this crummy knockoff, but I can’t. It wasn’t that bad.

Pros: Tits. Cocaine. Lesbian aliens. Cursing. This movie has it all.

Cons: No story setup whatsoever, the garbage disposal scene was retarded, one of the worst screams in movie history, and Erica Roby can’t act.

Biggest movie cliché: Everyone’s suspicious, and knows something weird is going on. But guess what? Nobody does a goddamn thing, and now they’re trapped in a car with aliens.

Say a nice thing: Pretty solid dialogue, actually. I was surprised. And most of the people could act.

Say a mean thing: If Erica Roby was paralyzed in a drunk driving accident on the eve of her wedding, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Describe the film in one word: Cinemaxian

Walk a mean thing back: Erica Roby is probably a super nice lady, and if she got some lessons, I’m sure she’d be a super terrific actress!

Favorite quote: “Will you get that goddamn fan outta my face?! Jesus Christ! (brief pause) God, what the fuck are you doing?! Jesus!” Shaley Scott, in her brief, yet fun performance as Taylor, a foul-mouthed, megabitch model.

Biggest suspension of disbelief: You can’t strangle someone to death by squeezing their chin. Also, characters have to find things out, they can’t just know. That really fucks up a story.

Most relatable current event: That lesbian gym teacher who seduced her student. (That’s happened, right? I mean in real life?)

Final review: Clearly it was written by a guy (as far as I can tell, if a female became an alien, she also became a slutty lesbian) but at least the guy has an ear for the way people talk. That will always score points with me. The pacing of the story was a bit odd, and sometimes preferred to erratically jump when it should have easily strolled. Solid acting, too. It wasn’t a smart film, but it was often purposely amusing and enjoyable to watch.

Ranking:

3.5 bees

3.5 bees