Asylum (2008)

Brilliant and touching

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A bunch of college freshmen are housed in a dorm that was originally an insane asylum, where the doctor in charge perpetrated horrendous experiments on young patients. Soon enough, he's back from the dead, knocking off the college kids one by one. What starts out as a ghost story devolves into a standard slasher flick, reminiscent of many other such flicks. I wish it had stayed a ghost story, but it is evident that the filmmakers lacked the budget to go that route, as there are virtually no special effects. The first 20 minutes provide a good buildup to what then becomes a disappointing knockoff of the remake of THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, minus any viable spooky effects. The mad doctor simply shows up and kills, and then repeats the process. The college kids are all stock characters. although it's interesting to note two of the female leads are dead ringers for Claire Danes and Angelina Jolie. Couldn't hurt.

When seeing a trailer for this on the net it looked pretty good! Considering that it contained all the clichés that have already been done in other horror films.***Contains Spoilers***It was pretty good! Dark & grim at the start with the creepy theme music & seeing photo's of all the patients back in the 1930's. The death scenes were pretty good & extremely gruesome! Which is what I loved! Also how the doctor brought them back to the time of their torment: Kills them & takes theirs soles! The ending was pretty good as well! Stabbing the doctor in the head then killing him releasing all of the soles he took!A pretty good horror film if you're a horror guru like me!10/10

College kids get together and soon find their dorm was originally the asylum where Asylum movies get made, er, I mean the place where some insane scientist performed experimental treatments on subjects, treatments that surprisingly didn't blind them, but then perhaps human eyeballs are more resilient than I thought. I'm not exactly a biologist, actually the correct phrasing would be to state I'm not remotely like a biologist.Actually the ghost of the scientist goes around murdering people based on their fears. It's kinda like a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel including the small amount of victims. It's actually pretty slow which is surprising seeing as besides budget restrictions, nothing suggests the killer wouldn't try killing everyone, yet he seems interested in specific students only.Kinda uninspired.

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.