BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Nigel P 'Asylum' is an anthology film from the Amicus Company, based on stories by Robert Bloch. It has the distinction of proving more popular than the Hammer films of the time. The bombastic strains of 'Night on Bald Mountain' by composer Modest Mussorgsky accompany Dr Martin (Robert Powell) as he drives towards an imposing, mist-drenched asylum where he is to attend a job interview with Doctor Rutherford (Patrick Magee). This 1867 score is used again as Martin explores the corridors of the stately building – to be honest, the music is certainly rousing, but is too much to accompany what is after all, a man looking at some pictures, no matter how unsightly the images of early psychiatric treatments may be.Rutherford sets Martin a task. If he can identify former medical specialist Dr Starr amongst the inmates, the position is his. He has to visit a selection of cases – first, guided by the orderly Reynolds (Geoffrey Bayldon, in a role for which Spike Milligan was also considered), he meets Bonnie (Barbara Parkins). What follows in 'Frozen Fear', is that Walter (Richard Todd) and Bonnie agreed to dismember Walter's wife, occult practitioner Ruth (Sylvia Syms) and live off her money. Despite this, she escapes from the freezer into which her various body parts have been stored, and her assorted limbs, head (which is still breathing) and torso, carefully wrapped in brown paper and string, attack first Walter and then Bonnie … apparently (we see this in flashback, and it is one of this film's greatest and most effective scenes. It is intentionally horrific and hilarious, perfectly balanced). This is Bonnie's story, but she has no proof, only gaping wounds on her face where she axed her alleged attacker/s. Chances are, if you have seen this film, then the scene of the dismembered limbs scuttling across the floor is what will stick in your mind.'The Weird Tailor' is next. Barry Morse plays Bruno, a struggling tailor who accepts an order from 'Mr Smith' (Peter Cushing) to create a suit made from special material, and to work on this at specific times over four nights. Smith promises a great deal of cash, but when the suit is delivered, is revealed to live in a house empty of furniture: Smith is penniless. Both actors are at a peak here and ably ed by Ann Firbank as Bruno's wife (Bruno is a lot more sympathetic here than in Bloch's original story and our sympathies are with him throughout as a result). Even the (enjoyable) silliness at the end of the episode doesn't detract from its deep sense of melancholy and longing. Directed often in close-up, the squalidity of the two men's desperation is expertly conveyed. This is not only my favourite segment from 'Asylum', but from any Amicus production.Any tale that follows that would be hard pressed to match it, and sadly 'Lucy Comes to Stay' (originally planned as the first instalment, but moved to third place at Producer Milton Subotsky's insistence) is the weakest of the three. This is by no means a bad story, the climax nevertheless shares similarities with 'Frozen Fear'. It contains a terrific cast including James Villiers, Charlotte Rampling, Megs Jenkins and Britt Ekland.Another Doctor – Doctor Byron – features next. Played by the always brilliant Herbert Lom, Byron has created tiny mannequins based on former colleagues of his. 'These are not ordinary figures', he explains, and goes on to explain that each figure is living and perfectly capable of functioning. He can bring them to life with his 'conscious', and his final model is based on himself. Absurdly (the viewer has to go along with this for it to be effective), this last mannequin travels downstairs and kills Doctor Rutherford, who is responsible for Byron's incarceration.And yet who is the elusive Dr Starr? The answer is brilliantly directed by stalwart Roy Ward Baker. It is the Bayldon's orderly. Starr killed the original Reynolds, and does the same to Dr Martin. We finally see him as he truly is, frighteningly deranged, holding a stethoscope to Martin, cackling furiously, an insane child-like laughter. Bayldon is terrific throughout. Often a player of secondary characters, he is unassuming and courteous – and that is why the reveal is so very effective.Finally, another candidate for the job arrives at the asylum and is greeted by Bayldon, echoing an earlier line about closing the door and keeping out the draughts. 'As Dr Starr used to say' he remarks with a knowing glance to the audience. Witty and unnerving, this is my favourite Amicus film.
blogmonstermike This is a very interesting anthology that takes you on a tour of twisted minds behind the walls of an asylum. This is not what it seems at first, and has a wild finale! You will not forget watching this shocker any time soon.I wrote the plot synopsis and that has some spoilers by this review does not. What I liked about this is there are many stories and characters that are obvious where others are not. The acting was excellent, the story was intriguing and the setting was creepy. It leaves you wanting more until the very end. Like all suspense movies with good endings, it has a few problems, but there are small and few. If you like psychological thrillers that are a bit different then the norm, do not this one by!
Rainey Dawn Quite a fun horror anthology. Four horror stories that are corny in their way yet enjoyable to watch. A mystery is involved too - who is Dr. Star?! Out of the four stories it is the third story that I like the best, the story of Lucy.The first story, "Frozen Fear", is of a murdered wife that gets her revenge. This is not a typical ghost story - it's quite different. I found humor in this one - a bit silly.The second story, "The Weird Tailor", is about an unusual suit that a tailor has to make. Really it's not the tailor that is so weird - it's more the man that ordered the suit that is odd (played wonderfully by Peter Cushing).The third story, "Lucy Comes to Stay", is about a woman who thinks her brother is plotting against her and wonders if she's gone insane. Her 'friend Lucy' shows up to help her out.The fourth story, "Mannikins of Horror", is of a man who creates robots but makes the heads of them very human - life-like.Then we find out who Dr. Star is. Can you figure out who he is before the answer is reveled? Pretty fun - campy in a way.6.5/10
TheRedDeath30 I'm a big fan of classic horror and really enjoy the anthologies that were produced by Amicus in the late 60s and early 70s. This particular movie has its' entertaining moments, but by and large is not one of their best efforts, in my opinion.To me the problems stem from the screen writing in this movie, which is a little dull. They assemble an all-star cast, but don't really give them a lot to work with as there are no great characters in this movie. The biggest problem, though, is that most of these stories feel very well-worn. I will fully it that part of that is the origins of the stories that they were adapted from, though. Robert Bloch goes back to the 30s, writing for some of the biggest pulp mags of the time like WEIRD TALES. He was a very popular horror writer and a lot of these stories are now more than 50 years old, if not older. As a result, they've been stolen and re-used many times since in the horror genre. While I recognize that the ideas originate in these old stories, I'm just being honest when I feel like a lot of them are "been there, done that".The framing story in this anthology is one of the better ones and a creative way to wrap them all together. A doctor is interviewing at a loony bin. The shrink in charge tells him that the former head is now a patient and his test is to meet all of the patients and determine which is the former director."Frozen Fear" is the first of the segments and is your standard story of a love triangle gone bad. A husband kills his wife to escape with his mistress and, in true old school horror fashion, the wife gets her vengeance in the end. The segment definitely could have stood to have a little more gore. I'm not usually one to judge an older movie on lack of grue, but this one just calls out for it. The biggest issue is that none of the characters have any depth so that I feel anything for their fates. Further, the effects of the body parts don't stand up very well."The Weird Tailor" features a stereotypical Yiddish man who's tasked with creating a special suit by Peter Cushing. He's given special fabric and instructions that it must only be worked on after midnight. It's a fairly tame story that woefully under-utilizes the talents of Mr. Cushing. It ends with a twist and some more bad effects."Lucy Comes to Stay" may be the most generic of the segments, featuring Charlotte Rampling and Britt Eklund as two friends out to set her free from the confines of her brother's over-protection. It's fairly obvious, right from the start, what the final twist is going to be as it's just been done so many times over. That would be forgivable if the journey there were a little more entertaining, but the run time of the segment is too short to give the characters any depth and it just falls flat."Mannikins of Horror" is the final segment, which bleeds back into the framing story. Herbert Lom stars as a doll maker and he's another great actor who's given about 5 minutes of screen time and nothing much to do. This kind of story goes all the way back to THE DEVIL DOLL in the 30s and just isn't very interesting to me.Then, the final twist comes during the last of the framing narrative, which I will it I didn't see coming the first time I viewed this movie.I'm not a modern jaded viewer who's just bashing an old movie because I "don't get it" at all. As stated before, I like these old movies. I'd put Amicus' TALES FROM THE CRYPT as one of the best horror films of the 70s. I've watched this one a few times and just find the ideas the most boring and the stories to be the least interesting of the Amicus films I've seen.
