Director: Jay Woelfel
Writer: Jay Woelfel (Screenplay)
Starring: Tim Thomerson, Richard Hatch, Tiffany Shepis, Amanda Howell, Scott Summitt, Nick Baldasare
Plot: After awakening in a mental asylum, a patient plans an escape to freedom, but finds an even more disturbing, supernatural world on the outside, one that threatens to keep him trapped in madness forever.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Slightly Too Confusing
Story: Asylum of Darkness starts as we meet Dwight (Baldasare) a patient inside the mental asylum who doesn’t believe he needs to be there. When he goes on his own mission to escape he discovers the cryptic truth from fellow patient Van Gogh (Jones Jr) which shows us not everything is as simple as it seems.
Once escaped Dwight finds himself meeting more faceless people before seeking shelter in a house of a man involved in a car crash, only his wife Ellen (Howell) knows who he is as it seems like he has swapped places with a famous author.
The longer Dwight keeps his new life the more Dr Shaker (Hatch) arrives to haunt him as Dwight finds people trying to take over this new body.
Thoughts on Asylum of Darkness
Characters/Performance – Dwight is in a mental asylum patient that is trying to escape only to find himself living someone else’s life, leading to him to question everything in the world he is now living in. Dr Shaker is treating Dwight and continues to follow him after his escape from the asylum. The rest of the characters all add to the puzzle going on through the film.
Performance wise, Nick does a solid job in this role having to be in nearly every scene with Richard Hatch doing a good job as the doctor who keeps appearing.
Story – When it comes to the story we must look at things in two ways, the first is that this does keep us guessing to what is actually going on, but this is also the flaw because it becomes difficult to keep up with each twist going on. While it is great to have a story that keeps you guessing and guessing I do feel this one is slightly too much at times.
Horror – There are good horror moments but it would be fair to say that nothing comes off very scary just a lot of good practical gore effects.
Settings – Each setting is used to add to the mystery for Dwight to go through but they also add to moments of confusion in the story.
Special Effects – The practical effects are all good gore based horror but when the film turns to CGI not everything looks as good.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that will keep you thinking from start to finish even if it is too often in places, the biggest problem I had with this film was the use of Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens as it was used on my favourite comic mystery show Jonathan Creek, this made it difficult for me to take everything serious.
Overall: Solid horror that you will need to give your full attention.
Rating
Movie Reviews 101 