Asylum of Fear

Really not much to say here. It is what it is, I mean there are a 100 asylum movies and another 1000 movies about paranormal investigation teams, this movie has both. I do think it's in the better half of these movies (for whatever that's worth). Mainly above average because it was pretty well made, good effects and not horrible acting. Personally, I actually liked the team and individuals (as cliche as they are). So yes, it's a team of paranormal investigators going in to document a haunting, but I don't think it's a waste of time. Oh yeah, there's also a missing children angle thrown in, which is a little different. Btw that's where the worst acting occurs. The female cop must be the producers sister or something because she is awful.

Im almost sure the ratings that brought this film in the high 5's in the horror category were from crew members/actors and their family members. This movie is a solid 3, maybe 3.5 at best, giving it a 2 because of the false ratings. The storyline is mediocre, and the acting is 80% cringeworthy.

Kudos to new director's, actors etc in the learning process, but stop with the false ratings to gain views. It doesnt bring you any legitimacy or respect in the film world.

Let me start off by pointing out the good in this movie. The five main leads are the best point in the film. They work well off of each other and they do throw their all into their acting, even with the movie's cliched premise. Even the guy at the end (won't spoil who) threw his all into his performance. I genuinely became attached to these characters and was upset when things happened to them. Which is WAY more than most standard horror flicks.

The production value is also really nice, even though some of the effects can be lackluster (at one point, a guy's head is bashed in, but you can clearly tell it's just a mannequin).

Now for the bad, and there's quite a bit. Any actors that aren't our leads. The guy who plays Dr. Pender is horrible. He's supposed to play this scary psychotic, but it comes off so phoned in anytime he's on screen. Whenever there was a flashback scene, it just sucked me out of the film entirely, and I wanted to return to the present with the investigation. The deaths scenes during the flashbacks were hilarious. One person gets stabbed in the stomach with a scalpel and immediately dies. So many of the deaths were caused by injuries that wouldn't kill someone - literally flesh wounds. It's cheesy, it's great.

Also, the kid actors. I hate knocking child actors because they are children, but any time they have a speaking role, you'll find yourself asking if they ever bothered with a second take.

Again, the premise is cliched, but what do you expect for an asylum haunting flick?

Overall, I did enjoy this film for what it was. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't that bad. Half of it truly had my interest, while the other half kept losing it. If you're looking for something mindless, yet entertaining, I recommend it.

This reminds me of those paranormal tv shows you see every night on travel channels. Once the film gets to the asylum it was a fun watch. Good paranormal scares and the ghost hunting crew were cast really well. This film is not perfect, it's a plot that has been done repeatedly and some of the supporting characters could have been replaced. I like ghost stories and those paranormal tv shows so this was a good one. If you enjoy those as well I would recommend this movie.

Some of these reviews are terrible and unjust. Seems more like people with an axe to grind. Full disclosure, I am friends with someone attached to this movie, but i will still give my honest opinion. There are a few issues that concern me, the story and premise are obviously not very original but that can really be said about most of the fare in this genre. The acting may not be great but it's not bad and certainly not as bad as some make it out to be. Some of the pace issues could've easily been addressed in editing. The special FX are very good, especially for an indie, the art department and production design team did quite well on this and there really aren't any glaring technical issues that you tend to find in a lot of indie projects. I'm glad I gave it a whirl.