ASYLUM (1972)

Okay, confession time: this one actually made me stay up all night. It's probably because I started watching it at midnight this past Saturday, and I'm easier to scare after 12 o'clock. But MAN, this got to me for some stupid reason.

This is one of those many, many Amicus anthology pictures that I've already mentioned (TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD), and while the *stories* aren't the best in this one, the *framing story* is. The setup is this: Dr. Martin is sent to an asylum for the incurably insane to interview for a job. One of the inmates is the former head doctor of the institute, Dr. Starr. But Dr. Starr has taken on another identity, and Dr. Martin has to guess which one of the inmates he is by interviewing each of them, accompanied by the attendant Max Reynolds. There's really only 3 stories in this: the first one is about a voodoo-practicing wife that gets murdered and takes her revenge from beyond the grave!!! The second is about a tailor who is hired (by Peter Cushing!) to make a strange suit out of a material that can bring things to life, but it winds up accidentally on his store's mannequin for a bit too long. This is probably the best story in the whole thing. The third is some lame split personality (or is it?) BS. The final one isn't really a story -- it's just a link back to the framing story, and is about a guy who makes tiny, anatomically correct (down to the organs!) dolls. He brings one that's supposed to be him to life, and it stabs the current head doctor of the asylum, and all hell breaks loose. In the end, we find out who the real Dr. Starr is, and there's this extended laugh that he does that goes on for FOREVER. And let me tell you, that laugh SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH. It's the craziest thing. Monsters, slashers, whatever...I can handle 'em. But this guy laughing just jangled all my nerves. Crazy.

So then I was up all night.

That's my story. Anyway, ASYLUM is great. It's a whole lot of fun, even if it's not the best Amicus anthology, but from what I've seen, you can't go wrong with any of them. Some are more hit than miss, but they're always goofy and lively.