Asylum (IV) (2008) User Reviews

"Give Me Your Suffering"

[Slickflix · 5/10 · 23 March 2008]

My oh my. I've been looking forward to this movie for quite some time. I recall it filming back in 2006, and was looking forward to a release sometime in 2007. Slasher movie set in a college dorm. Pretty interesting. And I really dug David R. Ellis' last 3 films. Well, as of this writing, March 2008, the film has yet to be released theatrically, and doesn't even have a date set yet. Now that I've seen the movie, I can see why. This baby has direct to DVD written all over it. If this actually gets a theatrical release, I'll eat my hat. Where to begin?

"Asylum" is horrendously written. I would be surprised if this Ethan Lawrence has actually SEEN a horror movie. I hope he has his film-making license revoked. This film felt like one awful collection of slasher clichés.

1. Cast of formulaic characters out of any B-Slasher. The main girl, her nice boyfriend, the nerd, the jock, the slut, the tough chick, the mean Resident Assistant. I assure you, you already know who will live and who will die before the movie even begins.

2. Typical inept security guards. Also the clichéd old man who warns the kids that their dorm is haunted and that they're doomed.

3. Crazy killer who murders teens as revenge for being killed 50 years ago.

That's just the beginning. The "Script" is riddled with many more problems. EXPOSITION GALORE. Each of the main characters has a brainless troubled back-story which they proceed to explain for 5 minutes each.

"Yada yada, my father used to molest me".

"Yada yada, I used to be a druggie".

"Yada yada, I used to be obese".

"Yada yada, I've always been too awkward to make friends".

"Yada yada, my boyfriend used to beat me".

I'm not making any of this up. If someone can explain to me what the main girl's back-story (the films opening) had to do with ANYTHING, please let me know. Talk about pointless. To make it worse, when the killer confronts each of his victims, the character finds themselves suddenly transported to a place where they suffered years ago. They'll proceed to say something idiotic like, "My old bedroom, how did I get in here?! This has to be a hallucination!"

This is the kind of garbage that used to fly, say, 20 years ago in your typical "Nightmare on Elm Street" sequel. Speaking of which, the villain here is nothing but a Freddy Kruger rip-off. Mad doctor who does gruesome experiments on his teen patients. They revolt and kill him. 50 years later his ghost is murdering the teens using the old Asylum as a dormitory. Although the guy was NEVER burned, his ghost still has gross flesh burns all over. Sometimes he kills people in their dreams, but sometimes his ghost just shows up in the dorm. The man's development is beyond pathetic.

And don't get me started on the atrocious dialogue. Being a college student myself, I can assure you that this garbage is better suited for an 80's teen sex comedy. The clichéd hero girl has all the predictable traits. Tragic past, scary visions, she finds the dead body which disappears when she brings the cops. Everyone thinks she is crazy. And despite being big enough to house several hundred students, the only people ever in the dorm are the same 7 "victims". I dare you not to giggle at the "Day to night transitions", which are all the same stock footage of the exterior of the building with a spooky sky.

Anything good to say about the flick? Sure. The whole thing is pretty well shot, with some smooth camera movements and intense colors. The main cast is all appealing too. Unfortunately the material they're given is garbage. I really enjoyed Sarah Roemer in "Disturbia", she's cute and likable. I hope she starts choosing her roles better or she'll find herself stuck in DTV limbo. Also, the guy that plays Dr. Burke hams it up pretty well. Too bad he has stupid likes like "Give me your suffering". He also gives dim-witted monologues as he tortures people about how this is curing their agony. Bah! Watching this movie is torture enough. There is some OK gore, but nothing very exciting – about on par with an episode of CSI.

Overall, the situation speaks for itself. This movie is pretty mediocre, and has ZERO chance of success theatrically. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets a straight to DVD debut sometime near the end of the year. I suppose if you catch it on TV one day, it might be worth checking out. But don't go out of your way.

Cliché Cliché Cliché

[freaky_dave · 3/10 · 23 July 2008]

I wasn't expecting anything when I saw this movie for free. If I would've had to pay for it I wouldn't have watched it in the first place. The story copies everything from other horror movies. This one feels mostly like Nightmare on Elm Street though, but done incompetently. You have the usual stereotypes, and none of them can act well enough to make you care about them. One of the things I did like at first was the rapid dialog. I found it hysterical at first because it seemed almost natural the way it was spoken, but then it becomes totally repetitive and soon falls apart when the killer finally shows up. And when I say falls apart, I mean it for all the characters. I think maybe the director realized he was just making another useless horror movie and decided to stop caring.

This movie had cliché written all over it. All the ideas have been done to death, and the director offers nothing more to the table to make it work in anyway. THe killer was laughable as was most of this movie. I would not recommend this pile of Pooh to anyone.

I Would Like to Give My Suffering for Watching This Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 2 September 2008]

The teenager Madison McBride (Sarah Roemer) is traumatized by the loss of her deranged father when she was nine year–old and the suicide of her beloved brother Brandon one year ago. She decides to join the Richard Miller University, where Brandon committed suicide, to overcome her demons. While walking to her dorm, she meets the weird janitor Wilbur Mackey (Joe Inscoe) that tells her that the place is haunted. Madison befriends the recovering drug addicted Holt (Jake Muxworthy); the geek outcast String (Cody Kasch); the sexually abused Ivy (Ellen Hollman) and Maya (Carolina Garcia); and the joker athlete Tommy (Travis Van Winkle). All the schoolmates have traumas and the veteran Rez (Randall Sims) is responsible for them. String discovers in Internet that in 1935, their dorm together with an attached abandoned section was an asylum administrated by Dr. Magnus Burke (Mark Rolston) and considered a safe refugee for troubled teenagers with state-of-art treatment. However, in 1939, the interns uprose against the insane doctor, killing and disclosing the truth about his treatment. Sooner they find that their dorm is haunted by Dr. Burke that is seeking for tortured souls.

The lame "Asylum" is a forgettable collection of clichés that do not frighten or make laugh. The villain Dr. Burke slightly recalls Freddy Krueger with his sharp blades and bringing nightmarish memories to his victims. The characters are destroyed the same way they appear, without any development or care with the consequences. In accordance with the story, Mackey was eleven year-old in 1939. Therefore, in 2007, he would be seventy-nine year-old, still working and in an excellent shape. In the end, I would like to give my suffering for watching this terrible movie. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Asylum – Não Estamos Sozinhos" ("Asylum – We Are not Alone")

Nightmare on Campus on Haunted Hill

[tex-42 · 1/10 · 27 February 2012]

If you saw the late 90s movie, House on Haunted Hill, this movie will seem oddly familiar. An asylum is run by a doctor/mad man who tortures his patients until they revolt and kill him. As is often the case, the asylum is later turned into a college dorm. However, one wing has yet to be converted and thankfully remains filled with scary asylum stuff and the murderous ghost of the doctor.

We then meet our characters, and it's like The Breakfast Club meets Nightmare on Elm Street. Every kids fits a cliché and has a back story that sets up how they will be killed. It will take you about five seconds to figure out who survives. As one would expect, the students are picked off one by one and we end up with our heroes v. the murderous ghost doctor. I won't spoil it for you as to what happens. Suffice it to say, it's completely expected.

Asylum isn't a good movie, and its made worse by the fact that it feels like everyone from the writers to the cast just gave up at some point. The horrors here are not original, the storyline feels like someone literally fed a bunch of different horror movies into a typewriter and even the people we are supposed to root for aren't all that interesting. In short, use this film as a way to make yourself appreciate better movies.

by the numbers and too dark

[pmcguireumc · 2/10 · 9 November 2008]

OK, I am getting sick of the recent trend in horror movies - that of every film being a Rembrandt picture (that is, no source of light and the background being all black). Between "The Descent", "The Ruins", and "Asylum", I have not been able to see what was happening on the screen in a long time.

That being said, based on what i could hear of this film, i didn't miss much. If you took out the F word, the script would have been about 10 pages with narratives reading, "characters show up. meet each other. some you like some you don't. bad things happen. characters run through darkness. lights go out. creepy doctor appears. run. lots of unnecessarily gory deaths. meet background character who appears to know back story. run. defeat bad guy. semi-happy resolution. final pointless scare." oh for the days of "the Friday the 13th series". it is sad when Jason is the barometer of good quality. the bad part is, they don't even meet the Jason quota of nudity and deaths.

the only thing that saves this is some witty dialogue in the beginning during the orientation scenes. otherwise, pointless and too damn dark. did i mention how unnecessarily dark it is?

a lame entry into the already inundated 'teen scream' sub-genre

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 15 September 2009]

Madison McBride (Sarah Roemer from Disturbia & Fired Up) has been newly enrolled in Richard Miller University despite the protestations of her mother. It seems the university used to be an controversial mental institution specializing in teenagers. Her and a few other teens residing in her dormitory decide to check out the abandoned section of the school. But seeing as all the new resident's have had 'troubled pasts' the ghost of the doctor of the aforementioned asylum decides to 'cure' them.

This is a typically awful 'teen scream' flick with the requisite bland teenagers. This, in itself, didn't really surprise me as Director David Ellis seems to specialize in this kind of generic fare, having done Final Destination 2, Cellular & the recent the final destination 3-D) The sad thing is, is that the plot did have some potential but it was just handled so overwhelmingly badly that the film comes across as trite, badly acted & lifeless. If it wasn't readily available on Instant Netflix which i simply streamed on my Xbox 360 I doubt I would have bothered with it at all.

Eye Candy: Sarah Roemer provides some fairly quick T&A)

My Grade: D-

What the hell did I just watch

[yazmino · 1/10 · 16 December 2019]

As a horror movie lover I was utterly dissapointed with this film. Not only is it generic, but it is complete crap. I think I'd much rather relive my dads alcohol abuse and suicide than to watch "Asylum" for one more minute. I am unsure as to why I watched the whole film, maybe it was to learn what not to do in film school, or how not to write a storyline, but overall I will never watch this again as even just thinking about it makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

A mad doctor haunts an asylum...

[crazybadbastard · 1/10 · 24 January 2008]

Common teenager horror movie... Teens go to college, first everything seems to be fine, but soon they finds out the dorm they stays in used to be an asylum for mental patients that was tortured by an insane doctor. It also seems that all the new students that lives in the "asylum" has had some issues in their earlier lives, and now the doctor has come back to "cure" them.

The plot is very lame, and it is very hard to find anything in this movie interesting. useless effects, bad mood, terrible acting... this movie is not scary, and its not bad in a way that makes it funny, it is bad in a way that makes you wanna cut open your wrists just so you have no possibilities to watch it ever again.

See this if you want to be more bored than you were before you did anything, yes, it is actually better to do nothing than watch this piece of crap.

Decent Horror flick!

[Indifferent_Observer · 7/10 · 14 November 2010]

If you got this movie expecting a $100 million production costs and over the top gore your going to walk away disappointed. If you are like me, a genre fan than you may be pleasantly surprised. The acting in this flick, along with production, and everything else was well above expectations. The script is decent and not as flawed as some would like you to believe. If you pay attention it all makes sense in the end.(This isn't a movie that requires 2-3 watches to get it). Good genre movies like this are constantly passed over by a lot of people(including myself) due to the backslapping phenomenon here at IBMD that ruins the rating system.

You know the one where one person says, "Worst movie ever", then gets followed by 50 other sheep who can't think or form an opinion for themselves saying the same thing and voting the same way even though more then likely they never even saw the film. I wish I could say that this type of behavior will stop, but it never will and it works on both sides. If you notice, a lot of movies at IBMD will be rated terribly long before they are even released to anyone. Then a few people with backbone will stand up and eventually the ratings will rise. I see this with almost EVERY release that goes straight to DVD and even some big Hollywood releases.

<---snip--->

About this movie, It definitely DOESN'T deserve the rating it has. It should at least be in the 5-6 range. This isn't some ridiculous movie made by some idiot kid with no talent and a camcorder with a bunch of his no talent friends attempting to act. This is a low budget above par scare fair with good effects, a decent story, and great acting. Obviously a movie like this won't ever win any awards, but if you take it for what it is and your a genre fan this movie wont disappoint at all.

I gave this movie a 7. I wish I could give it more, but it really is only deserving of a 5, maybe 6 at most. I added another star to try and make up for the pitiful IBMD zombies who refuse to think for themselves.

For the Horror buffs who follow my reviews for their horror pics, I would give this one a watch. Don't expect a "classic" or "gem". Its just a "Decent horror flick" thats totally undeserving of IBMD's rating.

Disney Channel's Attempt of a Horror Movie

[dfmapalo4 · 1/10 · 22 March 2009]

Okay, so first of all, this movie was made in 2008. It shouldve been better since we have improved with special effects over the years. Horror fans seek something new and different than all this "Re-imagining crap we keep getting of a lot of classic horror films. Anyway, throughout this movie, I saw a lot of scenes and themes from older, better and classic movies. For example, our "Killer" is bacially a phsycopath man who goes around killing teens in twisted and nasty ways. Just like the "Saw" series, except the dude is already dead. What the hell? So he is a ghost that is miracurosly alive and in good shape coming back for his so called "Revenge" just like Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th. Burke is the killer's name and he has the Kruegar/Voorhees/Black Christmas theme to him. Next...we have our "wonderful" death scenes. Which are just like Black Christmas with the gouging of the eyes, ripping of the lips and tongue, hanging someone hanging from a string, chopping a girls head off...typical nasty crap. It is also very much Nightmare on Elm Street. The killer appears to his victims after the lights go out and he is able to transform into people's parents and make them re-live their worst nightmare. Just like Freddy Krueger.

So I have made this clear that I hate this movie. Its plain stupid and retardedly messed up. I will explain more on the message boards.

Directors...don't mess with the classics!!!! ~Sam~

The Doctor Is In!

[dooga22 · 8/10 · 3 May 2011]

Terrifying from the opening scene, Asylum grabs you and locks you into a roller coaster of bone-chilling thrills. The story follows young Madison (Sarah Roemer) and 5 new friends (and one not-so-friendly Resident Assistant) as they arrive at Richard Miller College for Freshmen Orientation. Plenty of college hijinks provide a fun back drop for the soon-to-follow horrors. The new students quickly learn that their brand-new dormitory was once a mental asylum where teenage patients were tortured beyond belief by a brilliant, but sadistic psychiatrist, Magnus Burke. He's back, and bringing his new prescription… death.

If you love jolting surprises and gruesome violence, then you will love Asylum. There are several scenes guaranteed to make you cringe, and plenty of "out-of-the-blue" frights. The acting is good enough, and the direction is pretty good for the genre. The dialogue is a little off, but the comedic one-liners make-up for it. Overall, this is a solid horror flick.

Should Have Excelled, Ended up Average

[dimarinc · 6/10 · 2 March 2012]

Looking back on Asylum, it did a lot of things well. The mood was set right, the viewer was able to get familiar with the group of teens before they go, and the deaths were deep and interesting. However I had the vibe during and after the movie that it was not above average. A few more big name actors could've helped. Also the story is forced on you, a little unbelievable and makes no ammends.

Asylum does a good job of setting up a scary plot. They are college students who are living in a dorm that was once an insane asylum run by a doctor who was killed by his patients for his brutal techniques. The deaths were very well thought out. The mood emanates very well and there are plenty of scary moments.

The biggest problem with asylum was the linear, predictable and unforgiving and under explained plot. A little twist here and a cliff hanger there really would've helped. The acting was good for a horror movie, but no one really stuck. Maybe if there was a little more focus on the main character and a bigger named actress it may have stuck more.

I would recommend this movie to any horror movie fan. It's not great but will have at least a couple parts you admire. If anything at the end you wont be upset you watched it.

Ellis is a hack director

[krachtm · 4/10 · 11 August 2012]

When given a good script and actors, Ellis can make half decent, watchable movies, but I think he's basically doomed to make derivative, highly clichéd horror movies for the next ten years, with most of them probably going direct-to-video, before fading into deserved obscurity.

Asylum is an annoying pastiche of past horror movies, drawing most of its influence from Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street. It's populated by tired stereotypes (the jock, the nerd, the slut, the weird girl, etc) who dutifully recite their two minutes of back story prior to their grisly death. Yes, it's nice to find any degree of back story whatsoever in a low budget horror movie, but the writing is so terrible and the characters are all so annoying that I just wanted them all to just shut up.

The special effects and gore were fairly well done, which might make up for the terrible writing and directing, if you're obsessed with slasher movies. If all you want out of a movie is to see annoying, stereotypical teens butchered by a ghost, then you could do worse than this movie, but I'm not sure why you would waste your time.

Competently shot and edited, but everything else sucks.

[innocuous · 3/10 · 15 January 2009]

"Asylum" isn't actually offensive or incompetent, so I couldn't give it a single star. In fact, the film is shot fairly well (if you like dark scenes where you can't tell what's going on) and the direction is acceptable. The acting varies wildly, but is certainly a step up from most of the horror trash being churned out these days. The SFX range from pretty scary and subtle to just plain laughable (see the last scene, for example.)

What really makes this film a bore is the lousy plot and script. It truly does play like it was filmed from a script assembled by throwing the scripts from classic horror movies (and some that aren't so classic) up in the air and then picking up random pages after they fall. Not every horror film cliché appears in this film, but there are no scenes in this film that are not horror clichés. The dialogue is just totally unrealistic. No suspense...no character development...no logic.

So who's fault is this big mess? I've got to pick on the director. He had to have seen what he was working with. It's possible to film a decent story from a weak script, but he apparently decided not to put forth the effort. The result is, to use a cliché, "cliche-ridden."

Final recommendation...you probably won't hate it or throw beer cans at the screen, but it's not going to surprise you or scare you. I'd suggest avoiding this film.

My Review

[joemamaohio · 2/10 · 20 September 2008]

Back in the 30s, Doctor Burke (Mark Rolston) tried to treat teenagers suffering from craziness, but his methods proved more deadly than helpful, and the other patients killed him.

Now, in modern time, the building is now a college dorm. Six unwitting students - each with their own deep, dark secret - have the dumb luck to be living in that dorm.

We got our stock characters, including the survivor girl Madison (Sarah Roemer), the brooding bad boy with the heart of gold Holt (Jake Muxworthy), the shy computer geek String (Cody Kasch), the whorish Ivy (Ellen Hollman), the dumb jock Tommy (Travis Van Winkle) and the Spanish kick-butt-and-take-names girl Maya (Carolina Garcia). One by one they become victims (or survivors) of the mad doctor, with only one outrageous way of killing him.

Let's go through our checklist of horror movie clichés: 1) Stock characters - check 2) Characters with seedy pasts that you know will come into play - check 3) A cop who has no clue what he's doing - check 4) A creepy janitor who knows the whole history - check 5) A supernatural killer - check

Yep...basically this is just yet another horror flick that will be easily forgotten an hour after watching it.

I feel like I sacrificed myself so you don't have to suffer

[samanthawhite · 2/10 · 29 October 2017]

The film opens with an 8 year old girl hearing shouting, walks out of her room to sit on the stairs where her 9 year old brother is already watching their parents having a screaming match. The Father ends up grabbing a gun & shooting himself whilst the Mother yells & begs for him to stop.

Flash forward, the little girl is now all grown up & leaving the nest for college. Madison (Sarah Roemer) walks to her new dorm, the janitor warns her of this building which is disregarded by the security man.

We soon learn from String (Cody Kasch) - a fun loving little geek - that the building was an Asylum back in the day where the Doctor performed experiments on teenagers with the belief he could cure mental illness brought on by childhood trauma.

After that, one by one, each of the college kids are killed. Beginning with String - where he is choked by his own string... to Maya ( Carolina Garcia) where her abusive ex cuts her to death, & more, in what comes across as a hallucination to them.

Meanwhile, Madison is dealing with the demons of her past, the suicide of her brother who attended the very same college - as well as trying to defeat the Doctor so the remaining students can live on.

With odd & ominous rock music, sad background of each character & weird Doctor guy... This film was repetitive & sub par.

The opening scene really drew me in & set the tone for the film, a dark & unsettling one. But it failed to impress me for a movie of this genre.

The end was.. an end. It finished with Holt (Jake Muxworthy) & Madison escaping the dorm/asylum & running in the forest (cliché?) then Madison sacrificing herself for Holt only to release the spirits from the Doctor, thus ending his reign of terror & ultimately his existence. Then, after getting out of the forest, the two lovebirds casually hold hands & walk on the road like nothing life altering just happened to them...

Overall, the development of the characters was lacking or rushed & the typical Frat guy Tommy (Travis Van Winkle) felt forced & the humour wasn't there despite them trying.

• Lacking character development - Forced cliché characters - Weird Doctor in bondage with bad make up & a big grudge on everyone just cause - Repetitive - Awful, awful music

End vote for this film is a 2

Samm.Wise

A Total Mess In Every Conceivable Sense

[zkonedog · 1/10 · 14 August 2017]

It is very, very rare that I give a film one out of ten stars. I'm usually pretty picky when it comes to which movies I watch, and as such I'm usually always able to find a kernel of something (plot, idea, acting, effects, music, etc.) to enjoy. Sadly, watching "Asylum" provided me none of those things, and ended up being the worst film I've seen in quite some time.

For a basic plot summary, "Asylum" focuses on the character of Madison (Sarah Roemer), who goes off to college at the same place her brother took his own life (mental illness runs in the family). Once in her dorm, Madison does some of the typical freshman orientation bonding as befitting a new student...but also discovers that the grounds may be haunted by ghost of The Doctor (Mark Rolston), who years early ran an insane asylum on the premises.

The main problem with "Asylum" is that it is little more than a combination of every horror movie cliché you've ever seen in your life. Dimly lit corridors, insane asylum lore, ghosts, characters that spew cardboard backstory to try to give their deaths significance/meaning...this one has them all. None of these approaches work, of course, as they are only wallpaper for the fact that the film has perhaps the most embarrassing "plot" I've ever seen.

This brings up the next major problem: I don't think I've ever seen a film do a worse job at creating an interesting plot, developing characters, or dialogue in general. To be completely honest, I thought (while watching) that this must be a student film project or something on the very lowest rungs of film-production. That would be the only way this utter lack of quality could be reconciled in my brain. But, consider this:

-"Asylum" was made on a budget of $9 million. -It was distributed by MGM Studios. -Its director (David R. Ellis) has directed other major Hollywood films. -Roemer was likely a big draw (coming off her role in "Suburbia"), and Rolston is an acting veteran. -The credits feature an entire slate of a film team.

So, it is pretty clear that this film isn't just a low-independent production or one made by students. This was meant to be a major production that turns into an utter embarrassment. Even those who are up for the cheesiest of B-horror movies will cringe at "Asylum" (we are talking cringe-worthy at the level of Mystery Science Theater 3000 here).

As I've mentioned, I hate giving (most) films the bottom-feeding 1 star review, but this one deserves not an ounce more. I knew it was going to be bad after 15 minutes, and only a 90-minute runtime kept me in my seat for the duration. Look literally anywhere else for your suspense/horror fix.

Should be 0/10.

[eabowen-95646 · 1/10 · 8 June 2020]

I literally just created an IMDB account just to write this review and say how god awful this movie is. It's boring, predictable, trite, and it does nothing to satisfy a horror fan. It's like Wish.com tried to make a horror movie. Seriously, DON'T waste your time.

If you'd like further reasons as to why this movie is absolute trash, precious reviews lay it out really well. Don't listen to the 4+ star reviews; they clearly haven't seen enough movies to know what's good vs. what's tired out and just plain bad (in the worst possible way).

A Nightmare on Campus

[Mr_Censored · 6/10 · 15 February 2010]

From director David R. Ellis (whose prior credits include "Final Destination 2" and "Snakes on a Plane") comes "Asylum," a psychological horror film in which a group of college students come to find that their campus was once the spot where a mad-doctor practiced his own twisted brand of medicine. A Freddy Krueger type whose patients eventually turned on him, the doctor still haunts the halls, preying on the students and tapping into their deep-seeded emotional scars.

The film hinges on an assortment of clichés, but that's not to say that some enjoyment can't be milked from it. While you can see nearly every moment coming from miles away, the film gets by with a bit of style and energy, courtesy of Ellis. Its story is really "A Nightmare on Elm Street"-lite, but fans of the 80's franchise (as well as other similar films from the era) may just get some thrills from seeing a film pay tribute to or at least attempting to live up to its legacy (they'll also appreciate a role by Lin Shaye as the mother of one of the students).

The true weakness of the film is in its paper-thin script and characters and its over-reliance on gross-out gore over suspense. You might squirm in your seat during a scene where a character gets his lips ripped off and his tongue cut-out, but you won't necessarily care about the character himself, which is always a bad thing for a horror movie. Also, the final act reaches some ridiculous territory and will no doubt leave your eyes rolling. Go into "Asylum" with low-expectations of some fluff-horror, and you might just appreciate what the film has to offer.

give me your suffering

[trashgang · 4/10 · 3 February 2009]

What to think of this movie. It's Mark Rolston who makes the movie, appeared before in Corman's Humanoids from the deep and Saw V he gives a perfect performance, made me even think a bit of pinhead from hellraiser. He's got the face to play a killer. But the hardest part is the storyline. Too poor. They could have made an excellent flick but there isn't enough "suffering" in it, not that much gore or blood. The youth that is going to be killed are the typical kind of kids appearing in a horror movie. The oversexed mr macho guy, the sexy girl, the nerd, the thinking girl, the bastard boss,...They all play very well but again, their own storyline isn't worked out enough. Even the usual nudity doens't give it a surplus value. It's a shame because in a time of torture porn they could have made a classic one. They should have known when you use a sentence like "give me your suffering" that you should give people real suffering. Watch it for Rolston's performance, no more no less.

Better Than Most

[virtual-93888 · 8/10 · 15 August 2021]

Mid August and I'm looking forward to the Halloween season so I started my usual annual viewing of horror films last night. Looking for free films, I scanned my cable network and found this gem on ScreenPix. Many of the reviews compare it to NOES - not true. If it wasn't for the fact that it was made first I'd compare it in production and style to "Happy Death Day". Story-wise and character-wise I'd also compare it to the earlier "Urban Legend" - which I actually saw a lot of parallels to in the cast of characters and locations that populate the campus setting.

"Asylum" may have had a predictable end-point but I was kept on the edge of my seat by the way it got there. I have been a horror fan since I was a small child and this film kept my heart pounding. I felt that the weaknesses of the victims as they were exploited by the killer were pretty heavy topics and way more thought out than other reviewers are willing to give credit for. Also, "predictable deaths"? Not for my money. A character whose weakness is that he used to be obese is not dispatched like a scene from "Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?". So, no, the writer didn't take the easy way out.

I initially mistook the film's star Sarah Roemer for a young Blake Lively and her acting was pretty much on par with Ms. Lively's so I don't think there was any huge lack of talent in this film, either. Speaking of talent, catch the appearance of "Scream Queen" Lin Shaye ("Sinister").

Bottom line, this film is fine for the genre and does what's expected of it so make a big bowl of popcorn and snuggle up to be scared.

Not a bad horror film, part ghost story, part slasher.

[jhpstrydom · 7/10 · 2 January 2010]

I found ASYLUM sitting on a shelf at the local DVD store, I didn't know a thing about this movie but that hasn't stopped me before, I rented it, took it home, popped it in the player and as the pre-credits rolled I noticed two familiar names, one was that of the producer Ashok Amritaj whose other credits in the horror genre includes a more popular film called TRICK'R'TREAT and the second was David R. Ellis whose credits include FINAL DESTINATION 2 and 4 and CELLULAR, so I reckoned this film should either be interesting or it should really suck since I never heard of it.

The film turned out to be good after all, it wasn't something I would tell everyone about, it starts off as a ghost story setting up the mood developing the characters but later it turns more into a slasher and of course you get the usual set of clichés, but on the plus side the characters are of course your typical young teen slasher types but some of them are actually likable (halelluja a slasher with likable characters) it features pretty good cinematography that succeeds in creating atmosphere, it has a pretty cool villain that reminds me a bit of Freddy Kreuger and it doesn't resort to showcasing a bunch of tits and ass to make up for its poor script, although the script isn't that poor but its not that great either.

In way after watching this film I also thought if people wanted to know how would A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET be if it was brought out today, I would say just watch this film and I'm mainly saying that because of the villain of the story who preys on his victims fears, Freddy also preys on his victims fears but he does it through their dreams, I might be wrong but that's what I think.

The most horrifying horror movie (in a bad way)

[markokvar · 1/10 · 30 January 2009]

This must be the worst "horror" movie i've ever seen and i've seen a lot of horror movies.

Hmm i guess you could compare this crapp**y piece of shi**t to Disaster Movie if anyone has seen it. The main difference is that D.M. has its highlights where you can at least smile a bit, at Asylum there is no single scene where you could be just a bit frightened, well maybe just at the thought how much of good old money was spent for making this, while it could be put to better more not-stupid things, like i don't know THROWING IT TO GARBAGE! I apologize for bad language but see the movie and you will understand.

Don't waste your time.

[Hey_Sweden · 3/10 · 20 November 2012]

Only the most dedicated fans of asylum horror may want to bother with this one. It's not bad enough that it reeks of familiarity throughout, but the writing and direction are genuinely bad, the characters are far from being interesting or original, and director David R. Ellis ("Final Destination 2", "Snakes on a Plane") seems utterly incapable of coming up with some half decent atmosphere for this thing. It just falls flat, right from the start. The acting is uninspired right across the board, which is a shame, since there are two reliable veterans in the cast: Mark Rolston ("Aliens", "The Shawshank Redemption") and Lin Shaye ("There's Something About Mary", "Insidious"), both of whom are wasted, especially Shaye. The story deals with some typical college students assigned to a dorm that, wouldn't you know it, used to be an insane asylum decades previous. Not surprisingly, the doctor who was in charge (Rolston) was a barbarian who had disgusting ideas on how to "cure" troubled kids. So his restless spirit is delighted to be able to victimize these students, each of whom has psychological baggage. The good moments in this movie are few and far between; it does get somewhat more watchable as it goes along, but it never, ever generates any suspense or fright, even as our victims are confronted with images of their worst fears. The dialogue is ridiculous, as are some of the characters; Tommy (Travis Van Winkle, "Friday the 13th" '09) and Rez (Randall Sims) are the worst offenders. Sarah Roemer ("Disturbia") at least has some appeal as the female lead Madison, who witnessed a traumatic incident as a child, experienced another tragedy as a young adult, and who is afraid that she could have inherited the insanity of one of her parents. With not a single thing standing out in this unsatisfying mess, it's extremely forgettable, with a weak and groan-inducing ending to boot. This viewer can be pretty forgiving and not too hard to entertain, so the fact that he couldn't find anything to enjoy about this movie should warn you of just how bad it is. Three out of 10.

Better than doing the ironing...probably.

[joelhart-43153 · 4/10 · 24 May 2019]

It started off badly, petered out in the middle and the less said about the end the better. Apart from that, I can't fault it. Worth a watch if you're trying to avoid the ironing or some other mundane task.