Asylum

USA, 2008  

ONCE YOU'RE IN. YOU CAN NEVER GET OUT.

** 

Directed by: David R. Ellis 

Starring: Sarah Roemer, Jake Muxworthy, Mark Rolston, Travis Van Winkle, Ellen Hollman, Carolina garcia, Cody Kasch, Lin Shaye, Joe Inscoe, Gabe Wood, Randall Sims

Choice dialogue:  " Who’d want to live in a dorm that used to be a burial ground for teenagers?” 

AMAZON US AMAZON UK

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review: JA Kerswell


Now, ASYLUM could have been a fun slice of blood-splattered popcorn hokum, but it just feels like a Xerox of other better movies. Slasher films, of course, are repetitive by nature, but this is such a pale imitation of the A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series it is difficult to drum up much enthusiasm. Hallucinations substitute nightmares. To no one's great surprise, yes, the ghost of Mackey is real and, for some reason, is wearing leather bondage gear. The group manage to raise him from his eternal slumber (something the movie almost induced in me), and he repays them by summoning up trauma from their childhood and killing them in ways that link to said trauma—with HOSTEL (2005) casting its long shadow. So, String is killed by what looks like Macrame (which is a bit on the nose). Asshole used to be a fat kid, so he sees his mother trying to force-feed him before the good doctor chops off his lips. And so on.
 
Horror films can be very effective in juxtaposing reality and fantasy to create discombobulating unease. However, ASYLUM is just a mess. Dr Burke at least has original killing instruments, as he wields dual lobotomy picks. But that’s it as far as originality goes. Despite his sub-Freddy cracks, Inscoe sometimes tips into genuinely unhinged intensity, but the vortex of generics sucks any remaining life out of the proceedings. Despite its very healthy budget, the film’s laziness extends to not even really bothering to try and recreate the 1930s feel in the flashbacks—with one vigilante teen having hair like Shakira. And to top it off, ASYLUM stumbles to a stand-around-and-watch-some-CGI before finally ending with a ‘seriously, is that it?’ conclusion.
 
Director David R. Ellis made much better popcorn horror movies with FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003) and, to a lesser extent, THE FINAL DESTINATION (2009). He, of course, also helmed the hot-for-five-minutes SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006). ASYLUM was shot independently over five weeks in Carolina in late 2006. It was originally meant to get a sizeable theatrical bow, which its $9 million budget and 2.35: 1 aspect ratio certainly suggests (it did play theatres in some overseas territories). Ellis says it was because horror was underperforming on screens at the time, but it is more likely that it simply wasn’t very good. Critic at the South Carolina paper The Herald—which reported on production—gave the film a negative review saying: “The folks at Hyde Park Films know they’ve got a stinker on their hands.” MGM eventually picked it up for a home video instead.

Aannnnddd, the award goes to … Travis Van Winkle’s abs. 

BODY COUNT 8: 
Female 2 / Male 6

  1. Male shoots himself in the head
  2. Male shoots himself in the head
  3. Female scalps with knives
  4. Male has his lips cut off
  5. Male stabbed in the face with medical equipment
  6. Male stabbed in the face with medical equipment
  7. Female stabbed with lobotomy picks



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ASYLUM trailer

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