A cinematic David vs Goliath tale is unfolding in the unlikeliest of places – the cutthroat world of ultra-low-budget filmmaking. Meet Anthony Frith, an Australian director with a dream to make it big, who's just taken on the might of The Asylum, the infamous studio behind 'Sharknado' and other B-movie behemoths.
Frith's journey is a crash course in extreme filmmaking, where budgets are razor-thin, schedules are tighter than a vice, and artistic licence is an alien concept. With his young family to support, he took a punt on calling The Asylum out of the blue, proposing to helm one of their high-concept, low-cost features. What followed was a battle to keep his creative integrity intact in a world where 'a bad movie is better than no movie'.
As revealed by the documentary, Frith faced a Herculean task: conjuring a blockbuster on a shoestring budget with just six days to shoot and no finished script in sight. He was told to assemble his own production team at short notice – a logistical nightmare even for seasoned pros. The Asylum's business model is built on expediency, where profit trumps artistry every time. Executives are said to cultivate a 'quasi-sadistic fondness' for their directors, warning against any deviations from the formula.
Frith's odyssey takes him to the edge of sanity, but also into the trenches with industry legends like Eric Roberts and horror maestro Danny Philippou. The documentary shines a light on The Asylum's ruthless pragmatism: why bother with artistic flair when 80% of viewers just want straightforward genre fare? This approach may have helped them survive in a treacherous landscape where 'the genre is the star', but at what cost to creative souls like Frith?
While Frith sometimes struggles to articulate his harrowing experience, the documentary ultimately delivers a gripping watch that's equal parts cautionary tale and triumph of the human spirit. 'Mockbuster' offers an unvarnished look into the inner workings of The Asylum, where profit is king and artistic vision is merely a distant memory.