Projet 666

At an abandoned asylum, a group of teens looking to party decide to experiment come face to face with the possessed. Their only chance of survival is to uncover the asylum's mysteries.

Director Marcus Nispel's Exter a.k.a The Asylum and Backmask is not as genre self aware as the Tucker and Dale Versus Evil. It is a humorous in places, scary and well scripted by Kirsten Elms. Nispel's offers his first film that isn't a remake or an adaptation with some slick direction and the story tries to put a new spin on old clichés. It's basically an updated take on the Evil Dead formula.

The makeup and special effects are finely executed with effective sound design delivering some jump scares. Elms's screenplay tries to ensure the characters are relevant and it's played straight by the majority of likable characters as they get possessed one by one.

It has a hard hitting opening where a record playing tattooed lady meets her maker. Then there's the typical drinking, drug taking and sex. A twisted head, suicide and levitation are all thrown in for good measure. The dilapidated asylum location and setting add some atmosphere and Stephen Lang's extended cameo gives it some further weight.

While not ground breaking, it's still an entertaining, big budget well paced piece of horror.