Mockbusters

This is a term that I'm seeing more and more of these days. It is used to describe those incredibly awful - yet oddly compelling - movies on the Syfy channel that mimic real blockbusters (think The Da Vinci Treasure, Transmorphers, Alien vs. Hunter, Invasion of the Pod People, The Day The Earth Stopped, Almighty Thor, etc.).

These are the movies that make you wonder how the producers ever got the funding to make them other than the draw of their near-to-famous-movie titles. But it is a boring, rainy Friday night, so you'll take a risk with hackneyed scripts, stereotyped characters, unknown actors and the cheesiest of special effects (similar to those you or I could produce on our laptops).

You want to change the channel, but you can't. You long for a commercial break, but know you'll return with a new beer and popcorn for more of the mockbuster. You are ashamed of yourself, but you are entranced, beholding its awfulness.

We'll just call it the *sigh* fy channel.