mockbusters are not a current phenomenon. The trend started in the 1960s Godzilla was ripped off Gamera and continued through the next few decades. What is sometimes assumed to be the basis of inspiration becomes outright mockery when filmmakers and producers take a movie’s premise and twist it into something new, but only remotely. It’s awful, really. Shameless, in fact, when mockbusters roll out the most horrendous storylines with low production value, terrible casting, almost non-existent voice editing, and gruesome special effects.
Because sometimes imitation isn’t as sincere as flattery. B-movies are simply trying to piggyback off the success and profits of an original film. While some studios, like Disney, have expressed concern about the mockbuster trend and sued the creators, others are simply escaping the scene because, ultimately, these movies are just trying to make a laugh.
Movies like The Da Vinci Treasure, ratatouingor android agent are actually quite harmless. If you ignore the timing of their releases, these B-movies gain nothing from audiences. There’s a reason most of these movies go straight to DVD. In addition, their packaging is usually a copy of the original movie’s poster design. That is why the opportunistic ideas of small production companies only briefly succeed in piggybacking on the big blockbusters.
While most of the movies on this list are cheap shots and win with their stories, some of them can end up being your guilty pleasures if you’re looking for something that makes no sense and is so bad it’s hilarious. So, without further ado, let’s dive in and explore the sheer brutality of these movies and their amusing attempts to retain the viewership of big hits. Cue the most shameless mockbusters of all time!
10 Atlantic Edge (2013)
by Guillermo del Toro Pacific edge was a moderate success upon release. And around the same time came the knock-off, Atlantic edge. The film depicts sea monsters ravaging the Atlantic Ocean, and in an attempt to stop them and defend the east coast, three robots controlled by humans are sent. The three pilots are insanely unsettling, with their terrifying military skills and understanding of a toddler. The acting is terrible, non-existent even; the movie also has bad dialogues, and the characters just talk for a long time, and nothing else changes on the screen. Overall, the film is really transparent in its mockery.
9 Bound (2015)
Despite ultimately losing its footing in the later installments, the film adaptation of E. L. James’s book had garnered popularity and expectations from moviegoers and readers alike. Be bound to used to be released about a month earlier Fifty Shades of grey, very much trying to capitalize on the expectation. The film revolves around Michelle, a real estate agent, who enters into a submissive relationship with Ryan, who is much younger than her. The film is an excellent mockery of the genre and storyline. Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, directs the film, but unsuccessfully, making this another one of her industry failures.
8 Sunday School Musical (2008)
Almost two years after the original movie and the same year as the sequel, The Asylum, which is known as one of the largest manufacturers of low-budget mockbusters, released the Sunday School musical. Same setting as High school musicalexcept that instead of high school we have Sunday school, and a church choir enters a song and dance contest to raise money so the church doesn’t go bankrupt. Sunday school musical feels like following a school project, messy and under-planned in places, with a larger portion immersed in teenage angst as a result of growing up and moving away from your friends and the pressure to compete and ultimately win. They call it the Christian version of High School Musical, and on the front it stays honest.
7 Rise of the Black Bat (2012)
Justice is no longer blind. That is the central message of the film. Emergence of the black bat Tony sees Quinn as the victim of an experiment gone wrong, in which he goes blind. For some reason, Quinn decides to pose as Black Bat, a superhero who takes down criminals, a savior in the night. The movie posters contain pictures of The dark knight rises in a way that is misleading to many audiences – the mask and cape, the flashy bike. But the movie is unbearably bad. The camera work is unstable and the sound editing is almost nil. Overall, the movie seems like a cheesy mix of Batman and Daredevil, ruining the central aspects of both franchises.
6 AvH: Stranger versus Hunter (2007)
AvH: Alien versus Hunter was released a week before the highly anticipated 20th Century Fox sequel to the sci-fi thriller Alien vs predator. The plot goes like this: an alien spacecraft lands on Earth and releases a bunch of ferocious and predatory aliens who start a killing spree on the planet. There is also a galactic hunter who has a fight with the aliens. William Katt from The Greatest American Hero plays the journalist who witnesses everything that moves. Taking many elements from the Fox original but making it worse, AvH uses bad special effects, unreasonable action sequences, and completely destroys the script. However, if you’re looking for a lot of laughs, it can be a fun watch with friends.
5 Snakes on a Train (2006)
It’s not like the original Snakes in an airplane was also a hit. Turning a vacant lot and enthusiastic action into a B-movie and swapping the location for a train is not creativity; it is an intentional accident. Asylum production Snakes on a train follows a cursed woman who boards a train to see a Mayan shaman and cure her hideous condition. But on the way to LA, the snakes that were in her body broke free and started attacking the passengers. With a fair amount of gore, the film is disturbing. We even see the metamorphosis of the woman into a snake. The film also has inconsistent pacing and set pieces that barely resemble a train and CGI snakes that are all rattling.
4 Transformers (2007)
from Michael Bay Transformers grossed quite well, leading the director to create four more installments in the franchise. Transformerstold as blatantly as the title, set 400 years ahead, in a post-apocalyptic future, where robots have occupied the Earth and are wreaking havoc. As a superior force, they enslave people and even drive them to underground camp. While sci-fi fans may accidentally stumble upon the film and expect some robotic action, the film barely features the electro-mechanical bodies for fifteen minutes. The editing and special effects are so sub par; they seem to be done using YouTube tutorials. It’s surprising how the studio even released a titled prequel Transformers: The Fall of Man to dive deeper into the story.
3 Paranormal Entity (2009)
Released as an attempt to capitalize on the anticipation and promotion of Paranormal activitythe movie takes a rather unsettling and sickening take on horror. Paranormal entity is a found footage film about Samatha Finley and her family. The family believes they are being haunted by a supernatural being, and when they try to investigate the matter and search for answers, they find grim and horrifying. Because it is a found-footage film, you cannot expect the video quality to be good. But the movie changes the theme of the original movie to something more sinister and violent. However, horror fans still consider it pretty good at delivering the scare, especially for a rip-off.
Kyle Finn is part human, part machine, all hero. Thus introduces the film Metal mana shameless rip-off of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first and one of its most popular films Iron Man. The film was canceled almost half a year after Robert Downey Jr. introduced the world to the iconic hero and his iron suit. The plot is simple – Finn is an ordinary man who puts on a metal suit and fights for the good. He fights ninjas (yes) and his enemy Reed. There’s also nothing exceptional about the special effects or dialogue in the movie, and even the metal suit that’s supposed to be the highlight of the movie looks like a Halloween costume. It’s as ignorant as they come.
1 Almighty Thor (2011)
Another rip-off of Marvel’s original superhero movie, Almighty Thor blatantly twists the plot of the original into something completely unwatchable. The film’s attempt to fund Marvel’s success was timely as the studio thrived on the results. As such, the mockbuster centers on the God of Thunder as a young warrior who battles Loki, the god of deceit, after destroying the city of Valhalla and making off with the Hammer of Invincibility. The movie shows Thor in the dumbest ways, and not the kind that Marvel laughs at. It also contains nonsensical elements such as the Tree of Inventory and a trip to Hell, none of which help elevate the film’s stature. We only recommend it if you’re a fan of crappy content.