Asylum (1972)

Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Written by Robert Bloch

Rated PG

"Asylum" has been made available to watch for free online by AMCTV here!

I was immediately drawn to "Asylum" because it is based on a series of shorts by Robert Bloch, the man who wrote the book Hitchcock's "Psycho" was based on. He also wrote one of my favorite original series "Star Trek" episodes, "Wolf in the Fold", in which Scotty is possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper.

"Asylum" is actually made up of four short stories held together by an overarching narrative that links the stories together. For this reason, my review will address each story individually as well as the film as a whole.

The frame story starts out in an over-the-top fashion. As the credits roll to the tune of "Night on Bald Mountain" (best known from Disney's "Fantasia" (1941)), we see Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) driving to a job interview at an insane asylum. The music seems inappropriately dramatic for a scene with little or no dramatic action. When he reaches the asylum, he's greeted by wheelchair-bound Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee), who informs Martin that Dr. Starr, the doctor with whom Martin had corresponded about the job has gone insane and been committed as a patient. Rutherford warns Martin that the inmates "can't be cured, only confined."

Apparently, Dr. B. Starr had a breakdown from working with the mentally ill. The doctor has developed an additional personality, with its own life story and false memories. Doubting Dr. Martin's ability to diagnose psychological disorders, Rutherford sends Martin upstairs to meet the asylum's inmates. Rutherford tells Martin that if he can correctly guess which inmate used to be Dr. Starr, he will have proven himself qualified for the job. And so Dr. Martin goes to interview each patient, with the ultimate goal of determining which one used to be Dr. B. Starr.

"FROZEN FEAR"

The first patient Dr. Martin sees is a young woman who calls herself "Bonnie". She had been seeing a married man, Walter, for some time, and plotted with him to kill his wife. Walter, an alcoholic, womanized and abusive husband, installs a large freezer in his basement for storage of his wife's body parts. He takes his wife into the basement to show her a "surprise", then murders her with an ax. Walter wraps up his wife's body parts in brown paper and puts them in the freezer. His task accomplished, Walter calls Bonnie to make further arrangements. By the time Bonnie arrives, however, Walter is dead in the freezer, strangled by one of his wife's severed arms. Bonnie is chased around the basement by her lover's dead wife's limbs and torso and head. The police discover her delirious in the basement and assume she's killed Walter. The wife's body parts are never found.

This story was rather fun. On it's own, I'd give it an 8/10. The "autonomous body part" special effects were fairly decent, with the exception of one scene in which a prop operator's hand is clearly visible holding a severed arm. The story is short but interesting, and there are some genuinely disturbing images.

"THE WEIRD TAILOR"

The second story concerns "Bruno", a tailor who is having trouble paying rent. When a mysterious Mr. Smith commissions a special suit from Bruno, Bruno accepts, even though Smith has some confusingly specific instructions. Mr. Smith has brought his own special material, which is bright white but glows with multicolored light. He instructs Bruno to work on it only according to a schedule Smith has made, between the hours of midnight and 5 AM. Though mystified by the special instructions, Bruno works hard in the wee hours for a week straight to finish the suit.

When he goes to deliver the suit to Mr. Smith, he finds him in an abandoned-looking mansion. Smith refuses to pay for the suit until Bruno allows Smith's son (for whom the suit was intended) to try it on. Bruno says he cannot hand over the suit until he has the money, that he cannot afford to pay his rent. Mr. Smith tells Bruno he's in the same predicament, having recently spent all of his fortune on a very rare book. Bruno opens a door and discovers the body of Smith's son.

Smith tells Bruno his son died in an accident, and the rare book contains instructions for a suit that will reanimate a corpse. Unsettled by Smith's hysteria, Bruno tries to leave, but Smith tries to take the suit from him at gunpoint. In the scuffle, Bruno ends up shooting Mr. Smith fatally. Bruno returns to his tailor shop and tells his wife to burn the fancy suit. Instead, she puts it on a store mannequin in hopes of drawing in more business. The mannequin comes to life and terrorizes Bruno.

I'd give this second story a 6/10. It is well-shot enough, and Peter Cushing ("Count Dracula and His Vampire Brides") always brings something special to each role, but the story is a little hackneyed and not particularly scary. An enjoyable neogothic tale for true horror buffs, but nothing to write home about.

"LUCY COMES TO STAY"

The third story is my second favorite next to "Frozen Fear". Dr. Martin meets "Barbara" (Charlotte Rampling), a sane-seeming woman who insists she's being held for a crime committed by another woman. She goes on to explain that she had been recently released from a hospital for mental illness. She had been released into her brother George's care. Upon returning to his large house, Barbara finds that George has hired a nurse to monitor Barbara's mental state. Barbara is frustrated by his lack of trust, but soon reveals that she's also a recovering pill addict. After taking a pill, Barbara is visited by her friend, "Lucy" (Britt Ekland),  who insists that they run away and free Barbara from her brother's tyranny. But the two get into a fight when Lucy confronts Barbara about her pill addiction. Lucy leaves in a huff and Barbara chases after, only to be stopped at the door by her nurse. George is discovered dead, and then Lucy reappears and kills the nurse too. By the time the police arrive, Barbara is alone and rather insane.

I'd give this an 8/10. It's not the most riveting story ever, but it has the same neogothic feel as the other tales in this collection. Both Rampling and Ekland give decent performances, and though the twist will be no surprise to most modern horror fans, it's still an interesting yarn.

"MANNIKINS OF HORROR"

This is the last story, and in some ways, the worst. It features "Byron", a man who claims to be a former coworker of Dr. Rutherford's. He is immediately the most likely suspect for "Dr. B. Starr". He claims that Rutherford locked him away for building tiny robotic mannikins, into which he claimed he could cast his soul. Dr. Martin doesn't stay long to interview the man, and goes down to speak with Rutherford.

Dr. Martin is appalled at the way the patients in the asylum are treated, and he tells Rutherford as much. Rutherford suggests that if Martin correctly guesses the identity of Dr. Starr, he can take over the asylum and make changes as he sees fit.

But as they're talking, Byron puts his soul into one of his robots. The robot (in painfully unsuspenseful stop-motion) makes his way downstairs by way of the dumbwaiter.

Dr. Martin is just telling Rutherford he's had enough of his games when a nurse comes in with a cart of food. As Martin and Rutherford continue to argue, the robot crawls from the food cart up onto the table where it grabs a scalpel and proceeds to stab Rutherford in the back of the neck, killing him. Horrified, Dr. Martin crushes the robot underfoot, upon which he hears a loud human scream from upstairs. When the orderly lets him back into the patient's area, he discovers that Byron, through some Hollywoodized sympathetic magic, has had his rib cage crushed in.

I'd give "Mannikins of Horror" a 5/10. The sloppy stop-motion lost a lot of suspense points for this story. I also don't buy that a robot less than a foot tall could inflict a fatal wound on the back of a man's neck with a scalpel. Paralyze, maybe, but not kill. The most interesting part of this story is the argument between Rutherford (who symbolizes old, barbaric notions of psychiatry) and Martin (who shows the compassion and empathy of new school psychology).

The story doesn't end here. Dr. Martin does eventually discover the identity of Dr. Starr, and this is an interesting episode in itself. I won't say more.

I'd give "Asylum" a 7/10. It does a great job of combining gothic horror themes and modern psychiatry. The stories are often cheesy and unbelievable, but they are acted with gravity and professionalism by all involved. Robert Bloch's writing is a little uneven at times, it still possesses the power to inspire fear. Watch it for free online right here:














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