''Apocalypse Pompeii'' is a 2014 American

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as ...

produced by

The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...

and directed by Ben Demaree. The film stars Adrian Paul, Jhey Castles, John Rhys-Davies, Dylan Vox, Dan Cade. It was filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Pompeii, Italy. The film was released direct-to-DVD on 8 February 2014. In the tradition of The Asylum's catalog, ''Apocalypse Pompeii'' is a mockbuster of the Paul W. S. Anderson film ''

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

''.

Premise

When a former Special Ops commando visits

, Italy, his wife and daughter are trapped as Mount Vesuvius erupts with massive force. While his family fights to survive the deadly onslaught of heat and lava, he enlists his former teammates in a daring operation beneath the ruins of Pompeii.

Cast

* Adrian Paul as Jeff Pierce *Jhey Castles as Lynne Pierce *Georgina Beedle as Mykaela Pierce * John Rhys-Davies as Col. Carlo Dillard *Dylan Vox as Kal *Dan Cade as Cade *Constatine Trendafilov as Gianni *Assen Kukushev as Naveen *Alexandra Petrova-Emisti as Rashida *Yordam Yositov as Rosso *Harry Anichkin as Italian Colonel *Vrunda Patel as Christina *Jonas Talkington as Paul *Ralitsa Paskaleva as Alita *J.R. Esposito as Smith *Michael Straub as Herricane *Ivan Panayotov as Soldier *Malin Marinov as Police Officer *Owen Davis as Pilot *Plamen Petkov as Man 1 *Deyan Tsuyathov as Man 2 *Boris Vashev as Man 3 *Lolita Nikolova as Woman *Iveta-Luis Contreras as Mother *Velislav Pavlov as Little Girl's Father *Elayah Roth as Little Girl *Ivo Tonchev as Businessman

Production

This film marks the directing debut for Ben Demaree. Previously he had been a cinematographer on numerous films, including the Sharknado franchise. Shooting took place for 12 days in Sofia, Bulgaria during the month of Sept., and then a few splinter unit days at the real Pompeii in Italy. Most of the crew were local hires, with only a handful of people flown in from the US, including the sound mixer and steadicam operator. The cast was a mix of US, UK, and local Bulgarians. There were financial advantages to filming in Bulgaria, allowing the film to do bigger stunts including full body burns, setting cars on fire, and using cork bombs for explosions from 'flying volcanic rock'.

Reception

Reviewer Frank Veenstra gave the film 4 out of 10 stars saying "The writing isn't all that great and to be honest, it's a very ridiculous movie but at the same time, it's also a pretty creative one." Martin Hafer of ''Influx'' gave the film one out of five stars, citing that "the plot is stupid and the characters are shallow—often coming off as caricatures."

References

External links

Official site
at The Asylum * * {{rotten-tomatoes, apocalypse_pompeii 2014 direct-to-video films 2014 films The Asylum films 2014 action films 2010s adventure films 2014 independent films American action films American adventure films American disaster films Films about volcanoes Films set in Naples Films shot in Bulgaria American independent films Pompeii in popular culture Films shot in Italy 2010s English-language films Films directed by Ben Demaree 2010s American films