Asylum – DVD
Dark Sky Films
Asylum, a film from 1972, tells the story of Dr. Martin who is applying for a job at the Dunmoor Asylum for the Insane. He thought he was going to be meeting with a Dr. Starr, but instead is informed that Dr. Starr has himself gone insane. His replacement tells Dr. Martin if he can figure out who amongst the patients he is to interview is really Dr. Starr, then he gets the job. Dr. Martin proceeds to interview various patients and finds out how they ended up in the asylum, all while trying to figure out which one is Dr. Starr.
The film takes an interesting twist on the classic “who dunnit” story and instead presents it as “who is it” which results with an unexpected twist at the end. Let’s just say the Asylum is no place that I’d ever consider working at having seen this film!
The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The picture has obviously been restored as it looks very sharp, especially for a 34 year old film! I could detect no glaring flaws in the picture quality and the colors all looked quite sharp. The audio is the original mono mix and was also cleaned up as there is really no hiss and everything sits well in the mix and is easy to hear. The film itself was just shy of 90 minutes long.
Bonus features are thin but the one main bonus was interesting – an interview with one of the men responsible for Amicus films, which this movie was part of their collection of fairly successful but rather obscure horror films of the early 1970s. The interview was 20 minutes long. Aside from that there is some bios and trailers for the Amicus films now out on DVD. There is also a commentary track with the director and cameraman from this film.
If you like mysteries, especially those with a bit of a twist, then this is definitely worth 90 minutes of your time. Star Wars geeks take notice, Peter Cushing had a role in this film as well.
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