It's funny that this article would pop up now, just weeks after I scoffed at the jacket of a Transmorphers DVD, thinking to myself, "Man, what a obvious rip off. Who the heck would buy this in the first place? Whoever made this should have just promptly deposited it directly into the trash after production."

I work in retail part-time. We sell CDs and DVDs and, more importantly, we give people cash for the used CDs and DVDs they bring us. So, I guess it isn't any great surprise that such an item would make its way across the counter. In fact, countless other mockbusters might have come through previously, but a) I was either not paying attention or b) they weren't so flagrant.

Although the mockbuster tag sounds like it refers to the Scary Movie franchise (and others like it), Rolf Potts' explanation of this burgeoning (is it?) genre (is it?) is that they are "cheaply produced straight-to-DVD films with names like Transmorphers and The Da Vinci Treasure — created with the clear intention of trading in on the notoriety of theatrical films. ... These films are deliberately released on DVD just as their blockbuster namesakes hit the big screen, thus creating a niche market based on simple consumer confusion." It's dishonest and just a little brilliant.

But what about the people who aren't fooled by the slightly distorted titles but buy them anyway? I mean, these movies seem like just the type of cinema that even B movie buffs would dismiss. And yet, I can imagine a consumer considering the price of a movie ticket to go see Snakes on a Plane, comparing it to the cost of renting or buying a cheaply made knockoff (Snakes on a Train) and coming to the conclusion that he won't be missing anything by opting for the on the ground version.

And would he be wrong? The only major difference in the badness of those two titles would be the star power of the former. But whether you are watching Samuel L. Jackson in a bad movie or Joe Schmo in a bad movie, it's still a bad movie.

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