Rise of the Zombies (2012) and How it Fits the Asylum Archetype

If you follow me here or on Twitter, you might know that I enjoy watching movies produced by The Asylum.  They don’t make great movies, but about sixty percent of the time, I’d say that I enjoy their output.  They release low budget, bad looking movies that are either direct-to-video, or played on SyFy.  That’s the corner of the market that they went after, and I think they’ve been fairly successful.  It also helps when most of their movies are knock-offs of more popular movies.  (See my A Car’s Life post for what I’m describing.)  They get people hooked by the name alone.  That’s how The Asylum has succeeded in surviving.

I was going to go into detail about movies that SyFy makes that are not direct knock-offs of other properties, and tie it in with Rise of the Zombies.  The problem is that during that thought process, I stumbled upon the fact that the movie was originally titled Dead Walking, and is actually a knock off of The Walking Dead in a way.  This discovery shattered that illusion, and I have been pushed into writing this post about a different theme.  Why did I write this paragraph at all?  Why did I let you know about this?  I find it nice to be open about this to anyone who cares to read it.

The Asylum has done their fair share of direct-to-video knock-offs of mainstream properties.  This can be seen from their emersion into semi-notability with movies such as Snakes on a Train, The Da Vinci Treasure, and Pirates of Treasure Island, back in 2006.  People were going into the video stores (those still existed back then) and becoming interested either because they looked like poorly made knock-offs, or because they thought it was the real thing or something similar.  Since then, they have released many different knock-offs every year.  One of the more recent ones is a movie called Rise of the Zombies, which fits what almost any Asylum produced knock-off has for a blueprint.  Here are a few of the rules to “mockbusters” made by The Asylum.

There are zombies climbing up that bridge!

Rule 1.  This is the most important rule of them all.  It has to be based on something that is well known.  In the case of Rise of the Zombies, that thing is The Walking Dead.  Rise of the Zombies was originally titled Dead Walking, which bears a striking resemblance to the title The Walking Dead.  The story is semi-similar in that there are zombies, and much like the third season of The Walking Dead, part of it is set in a prison.  Though, this time it is Alcatraz.

Rule 2.  This rule is in place in most Asylum movies.  The recent ones use it more often than the older ones.  There tends to be at least one actor who is recognizable but not necessarily an A-list star.  Let’s look at who is in Rise of the Zombies.  Danny Trejo is in it.  Ethan Suplee is in it.  LeVar Burton is in it.  And we also get Chad Lindberg.  Oh yeah, and French Stewart.  These are all people that you would likely recognize from other things, but maybe not know the names of.  Aside from, possibly, Danny Trejo.  Most of us movie watching people know his name.

Rule 3:  There are almost always bad effects in Asylum movies.  If any visual effects are in a movie made by The Asylum, it’s pretty much a law that the visual effects have to look bad.  Rise of the Zombies has digital blood, bad looking explosions, unrealistic muzzle flashes, and other things of that kind.  It helps to create the Asylum atmosphere.

Rule 4:  One of the main female characters must be a doctor, scientist, or stripper.  There are always female doctors, scientists, or strippers in movies from The Asylum.  Sure, there might be slight variations on this rule, but it always turns out to be true.  Well, there’s one exception that I can think of, but it’s the exception that proves this rule.  In Rise of the Zombies, the main character, played by Mariel Hemingway, is a doctor.  There is your female doctor.

Rule 5:  The final essential rule to any movie made by The Asylum is that it has to be more outrageous than what it is based on.  If it is riffing off of a serious mystery movie such as Sherlock Holmes, you add things like dinosaurs.  Rise of the Zombies adds in zombie babies, climbing zombies, and swimming zombies.  These are elements that, as of yet, are not in The Walking Dead.  The Asylum is nutty like that with their productions.

Sometimes, you get sad.

As you can see, Rise of the Zombies fulfills all five of the rules that are outlined.  It is a classic example of a movie by The Asylum.  It plays into each of the standard tropes that exist throughout the company’s filmography.  Doctor woman?  Check.  Based on popular material?  Check.  Bad effects?  Check.  Any recognizable people who aren’t A-list?  Check.  Outrageous?  Check.  Everything is there.  Rise of the Zombies is an Asylum movie through and through.

Is it a good movie?  That’s up to the people who watch it to decide for themselves.  I liked it, but I also like a lot more stuff than most people, and that goes the same for movies produced by The Asylum.  The acting in it isn’t all that great, and the action is fairly standard, but there are a few moments which help it rise above being a lifeless zombie flick.  One that I would like to point out involves a street car rolling down a hill while someone is inside it.  The tone of it felt like it fit Rise of the Zombies, but the idea itself felt like something that could have easily fit into a truly great movie.  It was an excellent scene in something that was not asking for that kind of quality.  I was blown away while watching it.

I’m not going to convince any of you to seek out the movies of The Asylum.  That is not what I am here for.  I’m the person watching the movies.  You don’t have to if you choose not to.  I’m not asking you to.  But I still respect those of you who do want to watch them, so I don’t spoil the movies.  None of their movies are must see movies, by any means.  But I find them enjoyable.  If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be writing about them in as much detail as I just did.  And I guess that’s something.

Sometimes, you get mad.

There are a few notes that I would like to make:

• Danny Trejo was previously featured in two of the Death Race movies.
• Chad Lindberg was previously featured in Alex Cross.
• French Stewart was previously featured in 30 Nights ofParanormal Activity With the Devil Inside the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
• I will always be accepting suggestions about what movies to include.  If you want me to watch something “bad” and write about it, leave a comment, or tweet me the suggestion.
• I’m back to writing whatever I want for this.  Straight reviews get boring.  Sometimes it’s hard to get a theme going.  So I’ll be sometimes doing reviews, sometimes I’ll do posts like this.