After a young man, Jack (Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives), loses his sister to a mental asylum due to her illness after their parents' death, he turns himself 'crazy' to be able to enter the hospital himself and protect her. However, once he enters, he and his new friend (Kevin Sussman) discover that there is something much more sinister going on. . . the doctor (Peter Stormare) has been using his patients as guinea pigs by turning them into vicious cannibalistic murderers. Now, it's up to Jack to rescue his sister and escape from the Hell that is the asylum.
Asylums & hospitals have always been my favourite settings for horror films above anywhere else. There's something about psychiatric hospitals that can be simply terrifying. Even in real life. The madness within can really get to the sane. So, needless to say, this film had at least a few points going for it before it even started. And, luckily, it wasn't just the idea and the setting that was good: the film wasn't too bad either. Utilizing a few good actors (Metcalfe, Stormare, Kevin Sussman), some very good gore, a hell of a lot of violence, a little bit of a nudity, and a whole lot of crazy people, writer/director Jeff Buhler (Buhler... Buhler... Buhler...) delivers to us an above-average infected horror with enough blood and severed limbs to keep gorehounds satisfied, at least for a short while. The direction was fairly good, although the writing did hurt the film a bit. Between one too many 'action hero' lines ("You're a knock-out!" / "You deserve this!" / etc.), more than a few out-of-place scenes (random 'sex' scene with Peter Stormare?), and a few glaring plot holes, it's quite apparent the script could've used a bit of a shine up before production. But, some awkward writing aside, Insanitarium ends up being an interesting, entertaining, and occasionally scary horror film that is well worth checking out.
Final verdict: 5.5/10.
Asylums & hospitals have always been my favourite settings for horror films above anywhere else. There's something about psychiatric hospitals that can be simply terrifying. Even in real life. The madness within can really get to the sane. So, needless to say, this film had at least a few points going for it before it even started. And, luckily, it wasn't just the idea and the setting that was good: the film wasn't too bad either. Utilizing a few good actors (Metcalfe, Stormare, Kevin Sussman), some very good gore, a hell of a lot of violence, a little bit of a nudity, and a whole lot of crazy people, writer/director Jeff Buhler (Buhler... Buhler... Buhler...) delivers to us an above-average infected horror with enough blood and severed limbs to keep gorehounds satisfied, at least for a short while. The direction was fairly good, although the writing did hurt the film a bit. Between one too many 'action hero' lines ("You're a knock-out!" / "You deserve this!" / etc.), more than a few out-of-place scenes (random 'sex' scene with Peter Stormare?), and a few glaring plot holes, it's quite apparent the script could've used a bit of a shine up before production. But, some awkward writing aside, Insanitarium ends up being an interesting, entertaining, and occasionally scary horror film that is well worth checking out.
Final verdict: 5.5/10.