Movies - Mockbuster : How a Six-Day Shoot and The Asylum Turned Chaos into Cinema

By Mulder, 30 january 2026

Mockbuster arrives at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as one of those documentaries that feels less like a standard behind-the-scenes chronicle and more like a front-row seat to a beautifully unhinged creative gamble, tracing Australian filmmaker Anthony Frith’s leap into the famously fast-and-loose universe of The Asylum, the cult B-movie studio behind global pop-culture oddities like Sharknado. Presented in the United States by Giant Pictures, the film captures a moment that feels almost mythical for genre fans: an outsider filmmaker pitching himself directly to the kings of mockbuster and somehow getting a yes. Frith, whose once-promising narrative career had detoured into the safer world of corporate videos, decides to aim straight for the absurd by proposing a lost-world dinosaur epic to the studio most synonymous with rubber monsters, last-minute rewrites, and caffeinated chaos, and the resulting story plays out like a dare taken seriously.

What makes Mockbuster genuinely compelling is that Anthony Frith is not merely observing from the sidelines; he is simultaneously directing The Land That Time Forgot for The Asylum while also documenting the entire ordeal, creating a rare double-layered portrait of creation under pressure. Shot in suburban Adelaide over an almost comically short six-day schedule and on a budget best described as optimistic, the production becomes a crash course in survival filmmaking. Between late-night calls with Los Angeles executives, practical effects that wobble under scrutiny, and a cast doing their utmost to sell prehistoric wonder amid chaos, Frith’s camera captures the fragile emotional line between exhilaration and self-doubt, turning what could have been a simple industry curiosity into a surprisingly tender reflection on artistic resilience.

At the center of the madness is the unmistakable gravitational pull of Brendan Petrizzo, one of The Asylum’s most prolific producers, whose calm pragmatism contrasts sharply with the surrounding mayhem, alongside studio founders David Rimawi, David Michael Latt, and Paul Bales, figures often dismissed as Hollywood renegades but revealed here as sharp strategists of an improbably successful business model. Over more than two decades, The Asylum has turned low-budget, high-concept filmmaking into a global enterprise, with Sharknado evolving from a tongue-in-cheek experiment into a genuine cultural phenomenon, and Mockbuster smartly contextualizes that success without irony, showing how efficiency, instinct, and relentless output can coexist with genuine passion.

Co-written by Sandy Cameron and Anthony Frith, and produced by Naomi Ball, Sandy Cameron, David Elliot-Jones, and Cam Rogers, Mockbuster is also a testament to the strength of Australia’s documentary ecosystem. Backed by Screen Australia, with support from the South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, in association with VicScreen, the film’s highly competitive national funding selection underlines a commitment to stories that are as unconventional as they are revealing. The executive producer lineup alone reads like a statement of intent, including David Farrier, Nick Savva, Madeleine Schumacher, Alex West, Ty Morse, Phil Laboon, Ari Harrison, and Cam Rogers, reinforcing the sense that this is a film about belief—belief in stories, in process, and in creative risk.

The on-screen ensemble further blurs the line between documentary and performance, featuring Anthony Frith himself alongside familiar faces from the genre world such as Bix Krieger, Courtney Palmer, David Margetts, Eliza Roberts, Eric Roberts, Lauren Koopowitz, Michelle Bauer, Michelle Ng Mini, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, and Sev Philippou, all orbiting the production with a mix of enthusiasm and bemusement that the camera never judges. Visually shaped by cinematographer Maxx Corkindale, tightly edited by David Scarborough, and underscored by the subtly playful score of Bryony Marks, the film balances comedy with sincerity, never losing sight of the human cost—and joy—of chasing creative validation.

Produced by Mostly True Media and Walking Fish Productions, with additional support from KOJO Studios, Green Marble Productions, and Time Horse Productions, Mockbuster ultimately transcends its playful title. Running a tight 90 minutes, it becomes a quietly inspiring reminder that success in filmmaking does not always look like red carpets or blockbuster budgets, and that sometimes the most meaningful victories happen amid rubber dinosaurs, sleepless nights, and the strange comfort of realizing that the absurd hustle might just be the dream itself.

Synopsis : 
Anthony Frith examines the eccentric, fast-and-loose filmmaking world of The Asylum, the infamous B-movie studio behind "Sharknado" and other low-rent genre films.

Mockbuster
Directed by Anthony Frith
Written by Sandy Cameron, Anthony Frith
Produced by Naomi Ball, Sandy Cameron, David Elliot-Jones, Cam Rogers

Starring  Anthony Frith, Bix Krieger, Brendan Petrizzo, Courtney Palmer, David Margetts, David Michael Latt, David Rimawi, Eliza Roberts, Eric Roberts, Lauren Koopowitz, Michelle Bauer, Michelle Ng Mini, Paul Bales, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Sev Philippou
Cinematography : Maxx Corkindale
Edited by David Scarborough
Music by Bryony Marks
Production companies : Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund, Green Marble Productions, Kojo Studios, Mostly True Media, Screen Australia, The South Australian Film Corporation, Time Horse Productions, VicScreen, Walking Fish Productions
Distributed by Giant Pictures (United States)
Release dates :  NC
Running time : 90 minutes

(Source : press release)