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For all great success, there are many imitations. The American film studio called The Asylum has produced many movies over the past two decades that capitalize on the success of popular movie titles by creating similar low budget films to be released around the same time. The movies are typically direct to DVD productions like the Transmorphers which was released right before the opening day for Transformers in theatres. Independent and low budget films provide a break from the repetition of main stream movies.Though oft-criticised, here are 6 movies by the asylum that we thoroughly enjoyed:

1 ) The War of the Worlds

If you don’t know the original story of the War of the Worlds, it started as a radio broadcast story that unintentionally convinced many of the people listening that the world was actually being invaded by aliens. This movie may not be the highest rated on some review sites, but it is worth mentioning since it was the start of a new direction for The Asylum after a string of Mockbuster straight to DVD successes. Check out the trailer here.

2) King of the Ants

Movies based on novels often make some of the best storylines as a book has more space to develop characters and plot. King of the Ants was a movie produced by the Asylum that was based on a novel written by Charlie Higson. The movie had such intense and raw content that it was not released wide theatrically. Check out the trailer here

3) Expired

This unrated film by The Asylum was released in 2008 in theatres and 2009 on DVD. While Asylum started out mainly producing horror movies, this comedic drama is a unique love story between a parking enforcement offer and a sheltered meter maid. The meter maid is struggling with the lack of respect that comes along with the job while the traffic officer loves his job because it is an outlet for his anger. Check out the trailer here

4) Dead Line

The horror genre in movies is notorious for producing many similar titles as fads come and go. The move the Dead Line is remarkably similar to The Ring and Fear Dot Com. All three movies start with communicating through some type of modern technology, whether it be a phone or a computer, that turns out to be a death sentence. Horror movies are typically corny, but that is not why people watch them. They watch them for the suspense and the thrill. So what if the story line isn’t 100% original, you still don’t know what is coming right around the corner to scare you out of your seat. Check out the trailer here.

5) Paranormal Entity

Guess which movie this one was released with? Movies about the paranormal can be particularly scary because many people believe the types of events that take place in the movies to be possible in real life. This movie even claimed to be “actual” footage of supernatural events that lead up to the murder of Samantha Finley in 2008. Check out the trailer here.

6) Merlin and the War of the Dragons

There aren’t enough good fantasy movies around. Merlin and the whole Camelot storyline is one of the best fantasy epics of all time. There is a reason the story has been created over and over in children’s books, movies, novels, and comics. This particular spin on Merlin is about the rise of his magical powers to save the world against a war between Vendiger, a warlord king, and 5th century Britain. Check out the trailer here.

Asylum started out making mostly low budget horror films, but adapted its business model after Blockbuster ordered over 100,000 copies – the most of any of their titles – of The Asylum’s adaptation of the War of the Worlds. They believed the success to be due to the existing hype about Steven Spielberg’s version of the same story being released that same year. What are some of your favorite Asylum movies?

This post was written for DangerousLee.Biz by Legoland Holidays in the UK.

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