Mid August and I'm looking forward to the Halloween season so I started my usual annual viewing of horror films last night. Looking for free films, I scanned my cable network and found this gem on ScreenPix. Many of the reviews compare it to NOES - not true. If it wasn't for the fact that it was made first I'd compare it in production and style to "Happy Death Day". Story-wise and character-wise I'd also compare it to the earlier "Urban Legend" - which I actually saw a lot of parallels to in the cast of characters and locations that populate the campus setting.
"Asylum" may have had a predictable end-point but I was kept on the edge of my seat by the way it got there. I have been a horror fan since I was a small child and this film kept my heart pounding. I felt that the weaknesses of the victims as they were exploited by the killer were pretty heavy topics and way more thought out than other reviewers are willing to give credit for. Also, "predictable deaths"? Not for my money. A character whose weakness is that he used to be obese is not dispatched like a scene from "Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?". So, no, the writer didn't take the easy way out.
I initially mistook the film's star Sarah Roemer for a young Blake Lively and her acting was pretty much on par with Ms. Lively's so I don't think there was any huge lack of talent in this film, either. Speaking of talent, catch the appearance of "Scream Queen" Lin Shaye ("Sinister").
Bottom line, this film is fine for the genre and does what's expected of it so make a big bowl of popcorn and snuggle up to be scared.
"Asylum" may have had a predictable end-point but I was kept on the edge of my seat by the way it got there. I have been a horror fan since I was a small child and this film kept my heart pounding. I felt that the weaknesses of the victims as they were exploited by the killer were pretty heavy topics and way more thought out than other reviewers are willing to give credit for. Also, "predictable deaths"? Not for my money. A character whose weakness is that he used to be obese is not dispatched like a scene from "Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?". So, no, the writer didn't take the easy way out.
I initially mistook the film's star Sarah Roemer for a young Blake Lively and her acting was pretty much on par with Ms. Lively's so I don't think there was any huge lack of talent in this film, either. Speaking of talent, catch the appearance of "Scream Queen" Lin Shaye ("Sinister").
Bottom line, this film is fine for the genre and does what's expected of it so make a big bowl of popcorn and snuggle up to be scared.