Asylum (DVD, 2008, Checkpoint; Sensormatic)

The movie copies big time from later Elm Street films and has a Dr. Giggles for an antagonist. This was bad and I laughed at an embarrassing script. Characters are groan inducing at best and the juvenile humor peppered with dick and poor jokes does little to ameliorate this. The only thing I think this movie did was offer some curious neon lighting and gratuitous boobie shots for the target demo. That's that.

OK, story... here we go...

Soon after arriving at her new dormitory, Madison (Sarah Roemer) meets Holt (Jake Unworthy), vapid whore Ivy (Ellen Hollman), socially retarded String (Cody Kasch), arrogant loudmouth Tommy (Travis Van Winkle) and feisty Latina Maya (Carolina Garcia). When the gang bonds over booze and a mutual hatred of their RA Rez (Randall Sims), they learn that a locked wing of their fancy new dormitory was once an insane asylum that was led by a kooky doctor (Mark Rolston) who liked to perform violent experiments on his patients. Their decision to explore the locked wing backfires when the very corporeal ghost of the long dead doctor escapes to “cure” their emotional demons.

It is surprising how disengaging Asylum is. It should have been way better. The excess use of low and candid angles was unprofessional and distracting. Alienates, uninteresting and drags. Ending was rushed and unplanned and perhaps out of budget. In addition, the performances from the fresh-faced cast range from bad to irritating. Carolina Garcia fares the best, but is unable to move beyond passable given the material she is working with.

Asylum is essentially a horror film with no scares, unoriginal kills and a lame copied villain. This movie ranks along with Troll 2 cult status—it shares more similarities with a bombs like Puppet Master or Watchers sequel.

Buy another movie on ebay unless you can get this cheap.

DTD