Fan Films Better Than Big Budget Blockbusters

In this animated short, we're not only seeing a Frank Miller-inspired older version of Batman. We're seeing Miller's tough-as-nails Bats mowing down T-800 skeletons in his tank-like Batmobile in the post-apocalyptic, machine controlled earth James Cameron created for the first two Terminator movies. It's a simple story: human resistance fighters try to survive out in the wilds of the wasteland. When all hope is lost and death is certain, they're rescued by the one man crazy enough to fight murder-bots while dressed as a bat, and the end result is five minutes of fan film glory.

In 1997, the grungy Heaven-vs-Hell story of the popular Spawn comics was given a big-screen adaption—and it was a disaster. No one's come close to finishing a Spawn movie since—that is, until the fan film Spawn: The Recall. In it, a child and his mother come face-to-face with Spawn himself, who has a dire message that must be delivered. Spawn is a complicated character to get right, visually. The most difficult part is his seemingly endless, supernaturally flowing cape, which can fill a room with its flowing ripples of tattered red. The Recall not only nails the cape, it sets the bar for how to tell a Spawn story on film.

The second season of Netflix's Daredevil gave us the gritty and tonally perfect onscreen version of Marvel's vengeful vigilante the Punisher. But before that, actors Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, and Ray Stevenson brought the character to life—with varying degrees of success in a trio of generally disappointing films. Whatever letdown we felt while watching Jane's take on the Punisher, however, he more than made up for by starring in a well-made (and totally unofficial) short fan film called Dirty Laundry. All of Frank Castle's rage and capacity for lethal violence is unleashed when a normal day of laundry is interrupted by a local street gang. It's brutal, it's bloody, and in 10 minutes it did what three official Punisher movies couldn't: make him fun to watch.

It's not just super-famous main characters that get the fan film treatment—occasionally even side characters and villains are afforded the honor. From the same people who brought us Dirty Laundry comes Truth in Journalism, a Man Bites Dog-inspired look at Eddie Brock, Peter Parker's rival at the Daily Bugle and the man who will eventually succumb to the addictive call of the inky black alien symbiote known as Venom. It's bold, it's different, and it's a comic book story that might change the way you think comic book adaptations should be handled.

Batman: Dead End packs a ton into eight minutes. It's a lot more than a showdown between Batman and Joker. Just when their fight is about to reach its peak, a new fighter enters the match: a Xenomorph, a.k.a. the alien from the Alien movies. When the Xenomorph has Batman pinned down...well, someone else shows up. And then some others. It's the mashup battle royale that nerds everywhere have been dreaming of for years. It doesn't really make much sense, but somehow, impossibly, it works.

Severus Snape and the Marauders could have coasted on its Harry Potter pedigree, but no: its strongest assets are its writing and a terrific cast. That being said, the movie definitely jumps up a notch once the special effects start whizzing around. Set in 1978, this 25-minute film tells the story of James Potter (Harry's dad), Sirus Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin, as they attempt to bully a young Severus Snape after he tries to meet Lily Potter (Harry's mom) in a bar. The short perfectly captures Snape's inner rage, and his inner conflict as a man who walks the thin line between good and evil. If you're not choking up a little by the end, you just aren't human.

Dragon Ball Z is a tricky property to make into a fan film—the action scenes feature superhuman, lightning-fast martial arts and anime-style energy blasts, and translating it all to live action requires a skilled hand. Hollywood gave it a shot with its 2009 Dragon Ball movie, but it failed miserably. Yet with a significantly shorter running time than the movie, Light of Hope perfectly captures everything fans love about the anime series—especially the fight scenes. If you've ever wondered what a DBZ fight would look like in real life, look no further.

Casey Pugh was a Star Wars fan like any other until he came up a wild idea: a crowdsourced shot-for-shot remake of A New Hope. He set up a website where fans could claim 15-second segments of the film, then go off and make their own 15-second fan films. Once uploaded, other fans could vote for their favorite 15-second segments. Thousands of people participated, and in the end, all the scenes were pieced together into one film. One second you're watching Han, Luke, and Obi-Wan as Legos on the Millennium Falcon, and 15 seconds later it's a bunch of kids in their backyards with broom handles for lightsabers. Every 15 seconds you're hit with a fresh take on a movie that's a classic from beginning to end, and it all adds up to one of the best fan films ever made.