- Release Date: July 15th, 2008
- Genre: Horror, Suspense
- Price: $19.99 on Amazon
- Run Time: 93 Minutes
- Rated: R
- Publisher: MGM
- Starring: Mark Rolston, Cody Kasch, Jake Muxworthy, Carolina Garcia, Sarah Roemer
- Similar To: Pretty much any other horror movie ever made
Before beginning this review I should tell everyone that I am far from a horror fan. Due to this fact I wasn’t really going into this movie with very high expectations. While I didn’t think the movie would be very good I still gave it a fair shake like every other movie. After watching the movie I can honestly say that I didn’t enjoy the movie that much.
It’s time for Madison and all her friends to begin college. Things are going great as they move into their new dorm rooms but things aren’t as they seem to be (just like in every other horror movie). It turns out that the dorm rooms use to be part of an asylum where a doctor performed tests on human beings. If that isn’t enough, their fellow students keep disappearing. In order to stay alive Madison and her friends need to figure out what happened in order to be able to survive the harrowing experience.
If you could tell by the plot description, Asylum is far from an original movie. The horror genre in general is not that original since most horror movies are very similar to many other horror movies. I don’t even watch many horror movies (since I am kind of a wimp) and I could tell that this movie was far from original.The story of Asylum is not terrible but if you aren’t a fan of the horror genre you won’t get a whole lot out of it and there are many better horror movies out there.
There are a couple things I do give Asylum credit for. While the movie is pretty violent (it is R after all) at least it doesn’t resort to the gross out standards that most horror movies resort. I personally think it is pretty ridiculous how some moves just try to push the envelop just to push it. It is good to see an R rated horror movie that has a little restraint at least (the movie is still very violent though).
As far as everything besides the story is concerned you really don’t get anything more than average. You get average acting (which isn’t a surprise since horror movies never have that great of acting), average sound/audio, and average visuals.
At this point I pretty much have to call it as it is. Asylum is nothing more than a completely average horror movie. Combine that with the fact that I personally don’t really like horror movies I just couldn’t give Asylum a great rating. This doesn’t mean that no one should check out the movie. If you are a horror fan and know going in that the movie is far from original you should get some enjoyment out of the movie so I think it would be wise to check it out.
My Rating: 
Horror Fans: 
