2/10
Horrible in an entertaining way.
2 November 2011
My vote reflects the real quality of this movie, though I do have to say that it was that sort of horrible that actually encourages watching. I hate to make the train wreck analogy for fear of the cliché, but it crossed the line from horror to humorous within the first 10 minutes or so and that is one of the many varieties of cheap horror flick that keep me glued to the screen.

The plot is at the same time simple to the point of boredom and yet strangely convoluted, and one of the film's few good points is that it does attempt to wrap up these loose ends rather neatly by the end. Unfortunately, the conclusion is weak and unsatisfying and it is almost impossible to take anything that happens seriously because the acting is about as bad as it gets without it ACTUALLY being a joke.

The premise revolves around a group of community college students who spend the night at an abandoned insane asylum for an extra credit report for their local history course. Their professor planted the idea in their minds because of a lecture she had given about urban legends, and apparently the asylum has a pretty interesting legend. Unsurprisingly, a handful of the characters have a past that ties in with the asylum in an eye-rolling way and the overnight visit reveals these secrets.

My favorite character had to be Wendel, if just for his absolutely stunning role as the insane man who stands in a room and tells a bunch of 30-something-actors-playing-20-something-college-students not to go into the cellar because there is a murderous psycho down there (and they subsequently do, without fail).

Whatever. Point is, the acting is horrible, the story is horrible, the cinematography is so horrible it must have been intentional (so many dramatic ~angled up behind some woman's butt~ shots) but it all adds up to a mediocre dose of bad movie glee. Recommended for that reason if for nothing else.
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