Wednesday, October 12, 2011

2011 October Horror Movie Challenge Movie 33: Asylum (2008)



There seems to be a lot of hate for this direct to DVD movie from 2008, but I don't think it's half bad. Sure, the characters are all kind of stupid, but as with a lot of horror movies, they have to be that way to advance the plot, and I've seen characters act a lot dumber in movies everyone seems to like, so people need to stop complaining about that. The acting is also not as bad as everyone says. Sarah Roemer in particular gives a pretty good performance as Madison, a young woman who is afraid that the mental illness that has haunted her family for years may be hereditary as she starts to see scary things at her new dorm at college. Though the characters are kind of types (the slutty girl, the slutty party guy, the deep intense serious brooding guy, the smart nerd, etc.) I still kind of liked most of them and felt bad when they all started to die horrible deaths. From the picture on the cover, I thought this was going to be one of those "we all go to an asylum and then we all start to die" movies, but it's about coeds who find out that their college dorm used to be an asylum for teenagers who were tortured by their doctor. Those images work pretty well (just don't think about the timeline, as it was supposed to be over 70 years ago and they talk to a supposed survivor who is CLEARLY not any older than 60). There are a few scenes that get silly and ridiculous, and the very ending is kind of stupid and clumsy, but the rest of the movie is pretty good (at least not half as bad as everyone is saying it is).

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