The funny thing about what this documentary, Mockbuster, implies with this term, compared to how others use it, comes down to differing studio agendas. With Netflix, Prime Video, and other streaming services, many consider their big-budget original features to be ‘mockbusters” in the sense that they may have a lot of talent in front of the camera, but those efforts can’t replicate a true theatrical blockbuster. In the case of the American studio The Asylum, they are fully aware that their low-budget efforts to capitalize on popular genre flicks result in commerce-driven crap. However, there’s an art to getting it right (let alone an audience who revels in the silliness of these features), and this documentary does the job in penetrating the system in place that allows The Asylum to function as well as it has.
This documentary focuses on the journey of its director, Anthony Frith. Anthony is an Australian filmmaker who begins the story having worked only on short films and corporate videos. Once given the opportunity to direct a feature for The Asylum, it’s off to Hollywood, with Anthony documenting the process and learning the intensive nature of filming an ambitious genre action-thriller on a shoestring budget in only six days.
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As we quickly learn, Anthony has been given the chance to direct The Land That Time Forgot, which the film humorously notes was already adapted by The Asylum some years prior. In fact, much of what we see at the studio headquarters is quite funny. The various co-founders all have a great sense of humor about the films they are responsible for and do not hold back in noting that artistry is just not a part of the equation when it comes to what they aim to get out of this process.
That light-hearted touch ultimately helps the documentary, as things don’t get any easier for Anthony, who has been tasked to make this film in his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. The preparation for this means finding locations that can somehow serve as environments fit for jungles and submarines. On top of this, it takes a while for Anthony to actually get the script, leaving him, at first, with just a one-pager full of ideas for major setpieces. Keep in mind, this is a film described as a “lost-world dinosaur epic” that will be made for under a million dollars.
As things carry forward, it only gets worse for Anthony. Filmmakers and actors clash. Random issues such as costume approval come up. Other limits regarding the nature of making films for The Asylum arise. And then there’s the matter of filming 30 pages of a script in a day. The documentary captures much of the drama, but given the nature of this doc, balancing the seriousness of trying to get this work done with an effort to keep a sense of humor alive keeps the time spent watching all of this unfold engaging. Sure, one can tell there’s some staging at play to keep the context of various moments clear, but it all fits with the tone of what’s taking place.
Given that Anthony is both the star of his own documentary as well as the director of another film (which means he was directing two movies at once, while also raising a baby at home), it’s either impressive to see just how well he’s able to manage the stress of the situation, or the use of proper editing and narration does a fine job of making Mockbuster the light-hearted look at the studio responsible for Sharknado that it was always meaning to be. Whatever the case, it really is pretty fascinating.
At a time when the home releases of major tentpole films rarely have the large assortment of extra features to fully detail the filmmaking process, it’s actually quite a treat to watch a full exploration of what it means to have a new director work on a “6-day special” for The Asylum. Mockbuster is about as long as it needs to be; much as I’d welcome further thoughts on other aspects of The Asylum, let alone what regard they have to some of their greatest successes. However, given the focus on Anthony and his film in particular, this is quite an enjoyable way to experience a bizarre yet rewarding filmmaking process.
The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival will be taking place from February 4 to February 14, 2026.
