Train "Snakes"
What's with the Hispanic heritage of the four top-billed stars of Asylum's Snakes on a Train -- Alby Castro, Ryanne Ruiz, Giovanni Bejarano and Al Galvez? Obviously Asylum's looking to steal some of the heat from New Line's Snakes on a Plane (8.18) by releasing their straight-to- video knockoff three days earlier (Tuesday, 8.15). But any cheapo outfit making a ripoff DVD knows that spreading around the ethnicity of the lead actors -- a couple of Anglo leads with one or two African-American and Hispanic actors rounding things out -- broadens the commercial appeal.
The reason for director Peter Mervis 's decision to cast four Latino leads is all about the Snakes on a Train milieu -- a Mexican train headed for the U.S. Eric Forsberg's screenplay is about a Mexican woman coping with "a powerful Mayan curse" that has caused little snakes to be hatched inside her ("slowly devouring her from within"), and so she takes a train heading for "the border" and into Los Angeles to get the help of a shaman who will provide an antidote. Except the snakes -- flesh-eating-vipers -- somehow crawl out of her and start terrorizing the passengers.
The problem is that the copy on the poster says "100 trapped passengers -- 3,000 venomous vipers." (Wait a minute....is it 2000 or 3000? The copy is too blurry to read.) One little Mexican woman has 3000 worm-sized snakes inside her, and then they instantly hatch and grow into full-sized fearsome creatures once they've slithered out of the womb-like body? Even a ludicrous tongue-in-cheek monster movie (my all-time favorite is Tremors ) has to make some kind of stupid sense.
Mervis's last Asylum knockoff was The DaVinci Treasure, which apparently opened in theatres last May on the heels of The DaVinci Code. It starred C. Thomas Howell, Lance Henriksen and Nicole Sherwin. A IMDB poster from Israel named "ruberoid-tk" called it "the most cheap, cheesy and useless movie [of the] last decade."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 17, 2006 at 2:07 PM
comment #1
James says ...
I happen to know the guys at the Asylum. They started their "knock-offs" with their HG Wells War of the Worlds adaptation last summer, and it did so well for them, they figured, "Why not?" They make 20-30 films a year and about a third are rip-offs (including one this August called "The 9/11 Commission" - god help us!). Their films are cheap, cheesy, but mostly fun and profitable enough for them to stay in business, raise families, etc etc. Snakes on a Train is going to do very, very well for them. More power to them. My karma likes them more than Lionsgate's direct to video crap.
Posted by James at July 17, 2006 3:40 PM
comment #2
Steven R. SIlver says ...
Go back in Jeffrey's archive or the Snakes-on-a-Blog website and you will find a video clip of "studio execs" discussing possible Snakes on a Plane sequels. I'm almost positive Snakes on a Train was one of them.
Never underestimate the ripoff capabilities of film studios.
Posted by Steven R. SIlver at July 17, 2006 4:17 PM
comment #3
Telemachos says ...
LOL -- it really is a small world. I know these guys too; I worked for 'em a few years back on a Stuart Gordon movie. They had a very savvy business plan, and it looks like it's still working.
Posted by Telemachos at July 17, 2006 4:28 PM
comment #4
Lisa says ...
"the most cheap, cheesy and useless movie [of the] last decade" - so it was better than the DaVinci Code, huh?
Tremors was a funny movie but the sequels were a bad bad thing
Posted by Lisa at July 17, 2006 4:57 PM
comment #5
Scott Weinberg says ...
I recently interviewed David Latt, the head inmate at The Asylum. Interested parties can see the article here:
http://www.cinematical.com/2006/07/06/king-of-the-asylum-speaks-out-a-chat-with-latt/
Posted by Scott Weinberg at July 17, 2006 5:21 PM
comment #6
Anonymous says ...
Great interview, Scott. David sounds exactly like I remember him. :)
Posted by Anonymous at July 17, 2006 6:07 PM
comment #7
BL says ...
What's next: "Snakes in an Ipod"?
Posted by BL at July 18, 2006 1:24 AM
comment #8
Mike Gebert says ...
I read that interview, and they sound like fun crazy guys, and it'd all be delightful if they weren't in the business of making total ripoff bullshit mental pollution crap. Roger Corman did better than that. Larry Cohen did better than that. These guys are sort of like Roger Ebert's story about Sam Z Arkoff-- Ebert complimented Cohen's Q for having a funny, naturalistic performance by Michael Moriarty amid the mindless dreck and Arkoff beamed proudly, "The dreck was my idea!"
Posted by Mike Gebert at July 18, 2006 9:24 AM
comment #9
Anonymous says ...
The DaVinci Treasure a "the most cheap, cheesy and useless movie [of the] last decade?" Come on! Lance Henriksen has boat payments to make.
Posted by Anonymous at July 18, 2006 9:03 PM
comment #10
Roger says ...
With movies like Snakes on a Train and H. G. Wells War of the Worlds, these coat tail projects are meant to sell and promote small independent movies in a marketplace where the big boys have tens of millions in advertising to crush the competition. And whatever the Asylum does to sell their movies, packaging, marketing and such, there are still real craftsmen and artists working damned hard to make the project good, the best that it can be for the money they have to work with. 100 passengers, 3000 vipers? I am sure that is just to build excitement in their potential audience. But I have seen a copy of the script, and to me the story is good and it all makes sense. I'll bank that Peter Mervis and Eric Forsberg did a fine job. And I wouldn't be surprised if, after all is said and done, this film isn't just as good as Snakes on a Plane given the vast budget differences.
Posted by Roger at July 21, 2006 1:36 PM
comment #11
Anonymous says ...
Check out the trailer to SNAKES ON A TRAIN at:
http://www.theasylum.cc/video/SNAKES.mov
Posted by Anonymous at July 26, 2006 5:20 PM