The Doctor Is In… INSANE!!

Title:  Asylum

Actors/Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away:  This movie stars Sarah Roemer, who is best known for her starring role in Disturbia, as well as Travis Van Winkle, who has appeared in both Transformers and the Friday the 13^th reboot.   I most remember him, however, as Jonah Hill’s on screen foe in the comedy Accepted.   Travis Van Winkle is also (to my knowledge) not related to Vanilla Ice.   It also needs to be said that this movie is directed by one David R. Ellis who has directed Final Destination 2, Cellular and, yes, Snakes On A Plane.   Ellis also has a movie in production that is simply labeled as an “upcoming shark movie”.   Awesomeness.     I would also probably lose cool points with Tim Sullivan should I fail to mention that Lin Shaye is in this movie as well.

Introduction:  This DVD was purchased on eBay for an undisclosed amount.

Location:  This movie takes place primarily inside a college dorm, which was rumored to have at one point in time been an asylum.   Not really complicated in the locale nor in the plot.

Plot:  This movie follows six college kids who now live in what was once an insane asylum.  “The Doctor”, who has a Freddy-like origin story, stalks and kills each kid one by one because, hey, why not.   It’s funny because there is a kid named String in this movie who dies first.   I guess since they did the least amount of work making his character, he got to be written off first.    The best part?  The main girl looks up insanity on the internet to see if she is really going insane or not.   Actually, that’s not funny.  I used the internet to diagnose myself as having tourette’s… YA STINKY TURD!

Acting:  The acting isn’t the problem.  The problem here is a cliché plot, things characters say that make you go “Hmmm” and not to mention that this could almost fall into the Final Destination series.  Almost.

Production:  Although I read that this movie was straight to DVD, it has the look that it could have been in theaters. 

Sex/Nudity:  There is a scene where home girl is naked and you can see her blurry naked because she’s in water and believes she is drowning in the shower.   Yes, you read that right. 

Special Effects:  When there is bloodshed (Ivy has a nice stabbing scene), it is done well.   But it isn’t an over the top gorefest by any means. 

Overall Verdict:  This movie isn’t quite as unintentionally funny as Motor Home Massacre, but it still gets the job done.   Who wants to help make David R. Ellis the next Fred Olen Ray?  A couple more movies and he’ll be on his way (almost).   But seriously, if he makes another movie in theaters, I’m going to actually go to the theater to see it just so I can laugh when I’m not supposed to.