Popstar vs Popstar vs Mega-Beasts

Everyone ends up in the Asylum.

Or so it seems.

Hollywood Reporter has revealed that 1980s pop-stars Debbie Gibson and Tiffany are to star together in one of the SyFy Channel’s signature Saturday night original movies — a giant monster mash-up flick made in conjunction with The Asylum. The film is to be called Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. So there’ll be a friggin’ huge snake and something that’s almost (but not quite) a gigantic alligator — not doubt some sort of mutated species. Perhaps an alligator that’s drunk too many sports drinks … (you know, Gatorade. It’s a joke. Sorry.)

If you’re not all that acquainted with 1980s pop, you may remember Debbie Gibson from The Asylum’s giant monster hit Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (US-2009; dir. Ace Hannah) and Tiffany from its hugely successful Mega Piranha (US-2010; dir. Eric Forsberg).

Note: I describe Mega Piranha as “hugely successful” because when it premiered on SyFy in April it drew a reported 2.2 million viewers — making it the Channel’s highest rating film of the year, gaining higher audience numbers than SyFy’s Caprica and even beating the average audience for Stargate: Universe.

Seems the two gals will be sluggin’ it out while the two reptilian monsters do likewise.

Gibson will play a fanatical animal-rights activist who frees illegally imported exotic snakes from pet stores, sending them into the Everglades, where they grow to mega sizes. Tiffany will play an overzealous park ranger who uses dangerous methods to save endangered alligators.

In the script, the pair brawl at a party, then take matters outside into the swamp. (Hollywood Reporter)

But for me the real item of interest is that the film is to be directed by Mary Lambert. Lambert has actually made at least one genre classic in the past — 1989’s Pet Sematary (based on Stephen King’s excellent novel), as well as the less successful Pet Sematary II (1992) and the patchy ghost flick Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005). Hollywood Reporter says that this marks “the first time a woman has helmed a Syfy creature feature” — though the same can’t be said for The Asylum, whose Sherlock Holmes (2010) was directed by Rachel Goldenberg.

Anyway, what with the success of previous monster mashes and the recently reported addition of Mega Shark vs Giganotosaurus and Moby Dick to their schedule, it seems The Asylum has no intention of holding back on their rabid exploitation of the “monster vs monster” subgenre — thankfully.

• Sources: Hollywood Reporter; Dread Central; via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery.
• Writer: Robert Hood  |  News Hound: Avery Guerra