Indeed, in his scenes, Ben Syder gives us a Holmes who is neurotic and subdued to the point of being too polite, not one who commands a scene with his intellectual presence. He almost never taps into the one characteristic that is associated with the character – his dazzling mental agility.
The film’s downside is the casting of Ben Syder in the title role. It all makes for one of The Asylum’s more entertaining films, particularly during the climactic scenes. These sections of the film throw in some completely madcap elements – robots, dinosaurs, mechanical dragons, balloons with copter vanes and Dominic Keating turning up in an Iron Man-type steam power suit. Most of Sherlock Holmes here starts out as a standard mystery adventure but the latter half takes a leap off into Steampunk territory, which makes for rather interesting bedfellows. Cinema hasn’t quite coined onto these as yet – apart from the adaptation of The Seven Per Cent Solution (1976) wherein Sherlock Holmes met Sigmund Freud or in having Sherlock Holmes solve the Jack the Ripper murders in Murder by Decree (1979). There have been a spate of what might be termed gonzo Sherlock Holmes books and stories since the 1970s – ones that pit Holmes up against everybody and everything from Count Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera to H.G. (l to r) Sherlock Holmes (Ben Syder) and Dr Watson (Gareth David-Lloyd) In this case, Sherlock Holmes was quickly shipped out by The Asylum at the same time as the big-budget cinematically released Guy Ritchie version Sherlock Holmes (2009) starring Robert Downey Jr. The Asylum have also made a number of copies of works that are in public domain at the same time as other big-budget adaptations come out with the likes of Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), 3 Musketeers (2011), Grimm’s Snow White (2012), Hansel & Gretel (2013), Jack the Giant Killer (2013),d Hercules Reborn (2014), Sleeping Beauty (2014) and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (2017). Zombies (2012), Age of the Hobbits (2012), American Battleship (2012) and Atlantic Rim (2013), all riffing off other big budget hits with soundalike title. The Asylum’s other mockbusters include Exorcism: The Possession of Gal Bowers (2006), The Da Vinci Treasure (2006), Halloween Night (2006), Hillside Cannibals (2006), Pirates of Treasure Island (2006), 666: The Child (2006), Snakes on a Train (2006), When a Killer Calls (2006), AVH: Alien vs Hunter (2007), The Hitchhiker (2007), I Am Omega (2007), Invasion of the Pod People (2007), Transmorphers (2007), Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls (2008), The Day the Earth Stopped (2008), Death Racers (2008), 100 Million BC (2008), Sunday School Musical (2008), The 18 Year Old Virgin (2009), Paranormal Entity (2009), The Terminators (2009), 2102: Supernova (2009), Almighty Thor (2011), Battle of Los Angeles (2011), Abraham Lincoln vs. The success of this allowed The Asylum to create an industry of what they call ‘mockbusters’ – films with soundalike titles that come out a day or two before a big-budget Hollywood release.
ANESIDORA IVORY FREE
Wells novel, which they released one day before the Steven Spielberg film hit theatres – the book was in public domain and this allowed them to sneakily capitalise on the free publicity of the bigger film, letting unsuspecting renters think they were about to watch the big-budget film. The US production company The Asylum had modest success after making War of the Worlds (2005), a low-budget copy of the H.G.
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