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By Eugene Fomin March 27, 2012 |
Not everyone can afford to make a blockbuster. Those take lots of money, connections, time and effort. It's far easier to cash in on the release of a blockbuster by releasing a nigh-identical film and hoping that confused people will pick it up instead of the movie it rips off. Check out a few of these ripoffs, and know to stay well away when you see them at your local video shop.
What's your favorite mockbuster of all time?
| 11 | Snakes on a Train |
Can you guess which movie this is ripping off? Probably not. It's Snakes on a Plane. Although the crux of the story is the same, how the snakes got to be on the train is very different. It involves a Mayan curse which causes snake eggs to hatch inside you and... you know what, forget it. Stupid premise, stupid budget movie. Granted, Snakes on a Plane was not an Oscar-worthy megahit, but Samuel L. Jackson's presense alone made it a film worth seeing. This one stars the considerably less famous Julia Ruiz. Who? Yeah, don't bother.
| 10 | Transmorphers |
Again, not hard to guess where this movie gets its inspirations. The plot's pretty different, though. The titular Transmorphers invade Earth and run the human race underground. They shroud the earth in darkness and search for underground human settlements. All this continues until the humans decide to rebel. Want to know the worst bit? There's a SEQUEL. Transmorphers: Fall of Man. The only thing that could make that movie better than its predecessor is if it were somehow related to Resistance: Fall of Man... but something tells me it isn't.
| 9 | Sunday School Musical |
Yep, they changed one word of the title. That's pretty much it. This film is about a group of teens who hope to save their church from bankruptcy by entering a talent contest. Why? So that your religious grandmother buys it for you instead of High School Musical. That's what cashing in is all about. Mind you, I've got a few harsh words to address to High School Musical itself, but its fanbase of rabid teenage girls will eat me alive -- literally -- so I'll refrain. In fact, I will appease those same rabid fans by ending on a positive note. High School Musical is BETTER than this movie. Much better. If you get a choice between the two, you should absolutely go ahead and watch High School Musical.
| 8 | Almighty Thor |
Loki is the asshole villain in this, just like the real Thor. The difference is, of course, that he is even more badass. How? He destroys Valhalla, takes the Hammer of Invincibility and kills Odin and then Thor's brother. Oh, and fake Thor's got an uzi. Suck on that, real Thor. What baffles me is that these people try to rip off films that are very firmly rooted in quality CG and other things that mockbuster studios just don't have the cash for. Why not do a mockbuster of The King's Speech instead?
| 7 | Alien Vs Hunter |
This is most like AvP but even worse. The Alien - yeah, they didn't even bother getting original here - comes to Earth and fights a Hunter, which is some sort of cyborg. That's pretty much it. Lots of fake blood and very obvious use of dummies... oh, and the acting isn't horribly stellar either, but you know that. I'd recommend watching the original, but that would be almost as bad. Watch Alien or Aliens instead.
