Leofwine_draca
ASYLUM is a disappointingly low budget thriller set within the confines of a mental asylum, perhaps wanting to bask in some of the reflected former glory of the likes of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Unfortunately, many of the asylum films made in the last two decades - I'm thinking of the likes of GOTHIKA - have been disappointments and this one's no different. The murder mystery storyline is overly familiar and the direction insipid, leaving the viewers to check their watches on a regular basis.Robert Patrick is the grizzled hero of the piece, revealing how far he had fallen since his breathtaking role in blockbuster TERMINATOR 2 just six years previously. He plays a cop who goes undercover as an asylum inmate to solve a murder. The script is pretty bad, it has to be said, and the stylistics have dated in that '90s way. It's only really worth watching for the various supporting roles for actors including Sarah Douglas (CONAN THE DESTROYER), the reliably intense Malcolm McDowell, and the great Henry Gibson.
Rainey Dawn
This is bad. Really, really bad. Not the so bad, it's good - it's more of so bad I'd rather pluck out my own eyes than finish watching this type of bad - just plain awful.How on earth did they get Malcom McDowell to do this one? He's way too good of an actor for a crappy role and film like this!! I tried to watch - really I did. I had to hit the fast-forward button not to long after the film started. I'm sorry but I can't watch this. This one is too awful for me to view... I'm gonna find another "B" horror to watch... I hope to get at least a few giggles and eye rolls from it.1/10
gavin6942
A private investigator (Robert Patrick), mentally disturbed by his father's suicide, goes undercover in a mental institution to discover the murderer of a friend who was a doctor at the clinic.This film deserves some credit for the attempt at a clever idea, and for bringing together two great genre actors in one film -- Robert Patrick and Malcolm McDowell. Have they been in any other film together? I do not know. And here they were, in one that probably had no budget, with a writer-director who has not gone on to distinguish himself.Sadly, it does seem to be a bit convoluted. Any time you set something in an asylum, and you have a protagonist of questionable reliability... you get some goofy outcomes. You can be straightforward, or full on David Lynch. This seems to try to work between those poles, which is difficult and not fully successful.
ChrisHawk78
There is a very interesting plot and one or two reasonably good actors but the script is average and most of the performances are not very convincing. The Idea of something fishy going on in a mental home has been there since the invention of mental homes and should by now have reached a higher level. The shockers in this movie are plump and the pace is really slow. And who has not guessed from the very first that the guy in the surgical clothes was Rane? And who was silly enough to believe that Rane was the bad guy? Who would have considered the director of the mental home (the poor rotter in the wheelchair) to be good and sane? It is altogether rather obvious. I really do not know what kept me watching this movie. Perhaps it was just the hay-fever that prevented me from sleep.