Isegoria

Mansquito was just the beginning:

Syfy started making these breezy films back in 2002, but the channel has stepped up its reliance on them as a loyal audience has developed. Last year it churned out 25, allowing Syfy to match the Hallmark Channel as the leading producer of original television movies. Budgets have stayed the same, about $2 million each, less than most hourlong dramas. But Syfy is devoting more marketing dollars to the franchise. For instance “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid” will receive a red-carpet premiere, the first in the network’s history, on Jan. 24 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

Routinely high ratings have helped make the movies an indispensable part of the Syfy schedule. An average of two million people watch, according to Nielsen, with some of the movies (“Pterodactyl,” “Dragon Storm”) attracting more than three million, on par with Syfy’s biggest hit series, “Warehouse 13” and “Eureka.” The Saturday night mayhem also fits snugly with the channel’s effort to broaden beyond science fiction. In 2009 the channel re-branded itself Syfy (dropping the Sci Fi Channel name) in a bid to capture the full landscape of fantasy entertainment: the paranormal, the supernatural, action and adventure, superheroes. Recent movies have tackled unexplained phenomena (“Stonehenge Apocalypse”), furry beasts (“Red: Werewolf Hunter”) and horrific experiments with nature (“Mega Piranha.”)

“Sharktopus,” the blood-soaked tale of a hybrid shark-octopus developed as a secret military weapon, was one of Syfy’s biggest hits last year. (The monster goes haywire and terrorizes bikini-clad women along Mexican Riviera beaches; 2.5 million people tuned in.) Roger Corman, known as the King of the B’s for pumping out movies like “The Wasp Woman” and “Humanoids From the Deep,” said he reluctantly agreed to produce the film, which got its start when a Syfy marketing executive, brainstorming ideas for new creatures, came up with the aquatic crossbreed.

I find that Mansquito is still a fun allusion to drop into conversation, but it may be on the verge of jumping the sharktopus:

Syfy’s movies follow a fairly rigorous formula. About 40 percent of the time, by Mr. Vitale’s estimation, a movie starts with a title. Think of “Mansquito.”

The topics generally fall into tightly defined categories. There are monster hybrids (“Dinoshark”), nonrealistic natural disasters (“Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York”) and giant creatures (“Mongolian Death Worm”).

Scripts need a quick start to the action, and plenty of room for “Baywatch”-style musical montages. Most important, plotlines must maintain (some) logic. How do you create an alligator the size of a skyscraper? Steroids, of course! “People want to have some quasi-logical explanation for their suspension of disbelief,” Mr. Corman said.

Finally, the movies are populated with actors who are familiar but not expensive: Bruce Boxleitner, Lou Diamond Phillips, David Hasselhoff. Syfy works with about 10 production companies to make the movies, which typically take 14 months from conception to completion, Mr. Vitale said.

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