"Iron Man 2" stays on top and a whole bunch of Asylum films hit the shelves

So, "Iron Man 2" tumbled a bit, but not enough to lose its first place standing at the box office. It still pulled in $53Million, which ain't chump change, but that is down 59% from the week before. What surprised me was that "Robin Hood" did a lot better than I thought it would. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, it's the team that brought you the all-time classic, "Gladiator", AND pulling on that film quite a bit in their marketing, I thought it was going to be a disaster. I thought Robin Hood was tired, I just think of "Robin Hood: Men In Tights", for some reason. Tough to think of Robin Hood as a bad ass, I guess... even though he actually, in fact, was a bad ass. Anyhow, it pulled in $37.1Million and that's almost in line with what "Gladiator" did and that's remarkably good for a medieval-themed film. Next week ain't aces for horror fans, as we get "MacGruber" and "Shrek Forever After", then... on May 28th, if you're lucky enough to live in a market that's showing it, you'll get "George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead". Now, to the week in horror on DVD. As usual, you can go to our Youtube Page to see the trailers and you can click on the title to go to the films page on Amazon, where you can read more and/or buy it.

Am I the only one who hadn't heard of the Kevin Costner film, "The New Daughter"? I'm just reading about it now, for the first time, and there's a lot of good things going on here. It's the directorial debut of Spanish screenwriter, Luis Berdego and he's written a few things, most notably, "{REC}", which was then "Quarantine". He also wrote the sequel to "{REC}", "{REC} Genesis", which is currently in pre-production. Now, as the butt of a lot of jokes over the last decade, it's easy to discount a Costner film, but... I have a tough time being hard on him these days. Did you see "Mr. Brooks"? If you haven't, go check that out. It may change your opinion on him. Anyhow, I loved "{REC}", so I'm anxious to check out what Berdego can do at the helm, but I'm also anxious to see Costner's next foray into horror. Could be good.

I'm going to assume that the 2 disc set of "Tokyo Gore Police 1.5" is, in fact, just a reboot of "Tokyo Gore Police", but with some added features or something. In case you were wondering... and I'm sure you were, this and "Machine Girl" are my two favorite Japanese gore films of late, so if you haven't seen either, check this out... then check out "Machine Girl". After that, you'll either think that the Japanese are out of their mind (or more out of their minds that you had originally thought) and you'll never watch another Japanese gore flick again OR you'll be hooked. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've watched a good Japanese gore flick. Takashi Miike usually makes about 5 movies a year, he must have something new out...

I've been thinking about it. I think I could work for Asylum Films. Seriously. I could handle a lot of the marketing and advertising. I could also help develop new titles, open up new markets, even do a bit of writing. At first, much like most people, I looked down my nose at them... rip-off movies that are just trying to trick people into watching the wrong film. Asylum - the guys who created the "mockbuster", low-budget, straight-to-DVD productions that usually emulate or copy productions by major studios. This week, they're rereleasing some of their best and they're selling them all for only $6.99 each, including: "30,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "AVH: Alien vs. Hunter", "Invasion of the Pod People", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Haunting of Winchester House", "Monster" and "Freakshow". So, look, it's easy to look down your nose at them, sure. Be a film snob. However, what's tough to ignore is the fact that they make money. Lots of it. They're like Roger Corman, almost all of their films make a profit. Not only that, they're getting a ton of recognition and their films aren't that bad... well, the later ones are a lot better than their earlier ones. They've turned the corner, from rip-off guys to becoming their own niche. At first, people may have been tricked into watching their films, but now... people look for them. Anyways, if anyone knows anyone at Asylum or if you're from Asylum yourself, shoot me an email. I'll send you my resume.