Sinister Squad
To be honest, you know what you are going to get in any film made by Asylum which is paying tribute to any big scale Hollywood movie, After all it has become the norm for David Michael Latt and co. to churn out what have been lovingly referred to as “mock-busters” to accompany every major Summer release: Transmorphers, American Battleship, The Terminators, Almighty Thor, Battle of Los Angeles and Avengers Grimm. But to watch a mock buster from The Asylum does not necessarily mean that the audience has come for a terrible time, there is always flashes of brilliance in their movies be it some great casting or an inspired plot.
For example, take Avengers Grimm, which depicted a not so superhero tale in a world of fairy tales but claimed to have been inspired by the Avengers film. Jeremy M. Inman is a screenwriter and director of that film who returned to the same universe of fairy tales for Sinister Squad. Well the same universe, I mean there are links with the first fairytale feature including the magic mirror that was the main story of Avengers Grimm but it would have been much more interesting to actually watch the actors from that film reprise their roles. But sadly that’s not to be so no Casper Van Dien as Rumplestiltskin here folks, instead we get a scenery chewing Johnny Rey Diaz!
This time concentrating on Rumplestiltskin (who, I must say thanks to that hateful fairy tale TV show has become the true villain on such movies), this time around Rumplestiltskin is not in the role of the films antagonist like in Inman’s previous flick, rather the character is tasked with teaming up with other fairytale villains against another big bad.
This time it is Alice who assembles a band of former villains, consisting of Rumplestiltskin, Goldilocks, Bluebeard, the Pied Piper, and the Big Bad Wolf, and even the stupid Mad Hatter. All these characters take on Death, played by Nick Principe of Chromeskull fame.
Is this ringing any bells? It’s no shocker that this mock-buster steals from DC’s latest Summer superhero film where the villains worked together for a “moral cause” and enchants it with a touch of fairy[tale]. Other than that, this Asylum movie borrows a LOT more from the Warner Bros blockbuster than any of its critics would assume to the point where Sinister Squad is just as muddled as its Hollywood image. However, I don’t think we will be getting an extended edition of this her accursed ‘film’ which would only have made more sense due to having more narrative threads. And if we do, well, I am running out of fingers to count the number of people who want to re-watch this asinine piece of cinema.
It’s with films like Sinister Squad that I start asking myself one very pertinent question: why exactly is it that The Asylum can’t ever make a good mock-buster? The only excuse that comes to mind is the following: the potential that they see in some of their Sci-fi films, which boast some insane ones, gives off strong plots and solid production value. Yet in anything connected with Hollywood it looks as though the company designated ‘make quick money’ the top most priority plot, budget, story, characters, acting. However, it works for them perfectly and I am certain the royalties from these mock-busters have paid for a dozen better Asylum films.
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