Asylum (1997)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Not the first thriller to take place in a mental institution, but one of the better. Leading man Patrick does a nice job as an unstable P.I. who goes undercover to find the killer of his shrink. Nice mix of suspense and humor - might have been better without all the laughs.Malcolm McDowell is fun to watch as a murderous patient named Rane. Is he the killer or does he hold the secret to the mystery?? Good acting outshines the slick camerawork. Nice surprise thriller.

If you're the kind that likes watching bad movies (for instance, if you enjoyed "The Postman" in only the most ironic sense), this is a keeper. A ridiculous script is only the start, and you also get Robert Patrick staying in the laxest insane asylum in the world (undercover in the guise of a patient, he seemingly has no problems at all finding access to the staff's private fax machines, computers, satellite dishes, etc.), develops a drippy camraderie with a fellow inmate that leads to some of the more strained, "heartfelt" moments of the film, and a ridiculous character by Acting's own Prince of Ever-Diminishing Returns, Malcolm McDowell. Reviewing this film makes me feel like I'm admonishing the dog for peeing on the rug. "For shame! Bad, bad, bad..."

There is a very interesting plot and one or two reasonably good actors but the script is average and most of the performances are not very convincing. The Idea of something fishy going on in a mental home has been there since the invention of mental homes and should by now have reached a higher level. The shockers in this movie are plump and the pace is really slow. And who has not guessed from the very first that the guy in the surgical clothes was Rane? And who was silly enough to believe that Rane was the bad guy? Who would have considered the director of the mental home (the poor rotter in the wheelchair) to be good and sane? It is altogether rather obvious. I really do not know what kept me watching this movie. Perhaps it was just the hay-fever that prevented me from sleep.

Cool movie. Robert Patrick is awesome as a suicidal detective who must find his shrink's murderer by going undercover in a psych hospital. Performances were above average for this kind of B-thriller and there were some genuinely creepy moments -- although it could have used a few more. Much more of a drama than a horror film, but a lot better than the usual straight-to-video fare. *** out of ****