Wordiezett So much average

PodBill Just what I expected

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

GazerRise Fantastic!

zkonedog 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.

fedor8 Horrendous dialogue and utterly moronic characters ruin whatever tiny little bit of potential – as a mere time-waster - this standard horror tale had. As if REAL American teens aren't dumb enough; do we really need movies churning out even DUMBER teen zombies than the ones that are currently milling around, saying "yo-yo dude bro" every 5 seconds? I have never understood this incessant urge of bad film-makers to turn U.S. teen sheep into even bigger gits than they really are.The blond guy has got to be the most unfunny bully/sidekick/what-have-you of all time. The writer had taken the moronic, overused cliché of the arrogant, blond, sneering, 80s alpha-male-wannabe hotshot and then placed him in overdrive mode. You won't believe the garbage that comes out of his mouth; literally nobody on the planet talks like that. We are supposed to look forward to his ghastly ghostly execution, we get it; no need for overkill, shmucks.Just as bad is the elderly geezer who plays the killer ghost. When your role model is Robert Englund's cheesy/unfunny Freddy Kruger character you can't amount to much, especially not on the big-screen. The less-is-more principle evidently falls on deaf ears when it comes to incurable dilettante over-actors. Add to that the moronic background story of yet another fictional Dr. Mengele wrecking havoc in a former asylum, and you've completed your collection of totally worn-out horror clichés.The utterly predictable, stereotypical finale was like watching a financial report on CNN: dull as hell. Utterly uninvolving. The acting is horrible, as well.

Jan Strydom 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.

trashgang 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.