Asylum Days (2001) User Reviews

Bad Acting, Awful Screenplay

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 24 September 2007]

After losing her parents in the age of five in a car accident, Laurie Cardell (Deborah Zoe) is sent to an orphanage where she stays for two years, until a fire burn down the place. Years later, she becomes a famous Hollywood actress, but traumatized and haunted by her past. When the small time criminal Nathan (C. Thomas Howell) is released after spending most of his life in prison, he goes to the house of his brother Daniel (Jason Widener), a young man that works in a rental and worships Laurie. Daniel has researched the entire life of Laurie and written a screenplay with her biography. Nathan decides to please his younger brother and asks Laurie to read the script. She refuses and he kills her manager and friend and abducts her. Nathan locks Laurie in the trunk of his car, and calls his brother to go to Saint Claire orphanage to shoot the movie. Once in the destroyed spot, secrets from the past are disclosed.

"Asylum Days" is an impressive movie, but in the worst sense: the acting is terrible, and I feel sorry for the once promising C. Thomas Howell. The awful screenplay seems to be written by a moron or for morons, or both, using clichés and an absurd and non-plausible story. The cameo appearance of the old lady in the gas station gives the best moments of this forgettable and ridiculous film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Casa do Medo" ("House of Fear")

creepy!

[spencer_dylan · 8/10 · 15 February 2007]

My girlfriend and I were bored by all the obvious choices on the shelf the other night so we picked this one based on the poster... the movie grabs you from the dramatic opening and pulls you into this weird dark world of an asylum/kid's orphanage in the woods (something never made 100% clear, but oh well). flashbacks were spooky, the soundtrack pretty tight, and the claustrophobic scenes in the asylum itself were effective. bottom line: Famous actress is abducted by two misfits and made to star in their home movie about her secret childhood-- before she was famous. the two misfits are brothers with a strange relationship of their own. This movie is entertaining and certainly worth a viewing for those who like like art-house horror. we're sick of wolf creek and all the blood and guts... its a nice change to watch a horror movie that is more psychological and atmospheric than just a blood bath. granted, this movie isn't great, but it sure doesn't suck as much as everyone seems to think either! check it out!

A wholehearted 'huh'?!

[daemonlotos · 6/10 · 25 May 2005]

My friend/roommate came home with a copy of this from the local Blockbuster. So we all sat down to watch it. My other roommate fell asleep (shows how much she enjoyed it) within the first few minutes, I was actually intrigued at the intro.

The camera-work was interesting, a mix of made-for-TV and artsy-fartsy, and I thought that perhaps it would be a great movie... Well It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't as bad as others have said...

Without leaving huge spoilers, I'll say that the end of the movie left me with a huge 'huh?!' and some fairly predictable twists, but the acting was fairly good, and the roles well played...

My only main complaint with the movie was that the end made very little sense, and not in a good way... Lost Highway, Memento, those movies left me partially confused, but very thoughtful... This movie just made me want to go and bash my head against something sharp... If you're looking for a head-spin, this may just be the movie for you, otherwise... Check it out if you've exhausted your other choices.

Even "Oliver" never had it this bad!

[uds3 · 6/10 · 27 November 2005]

Best viewed expecting the worst and let's face it, this title IS only ever going to grace Blockbuster's bargain-bin.

Approaching it as I did (having acquired the DVD yesterday, as part of a "4 for $10" special) with not a little trepidation, I would be lying if I said it was not worth a measly two-bucks fifty! Thomas-Howell has a field-day playing an ex-con with a touch of the demented Jim Carreys that crashes his younger bro's pad, then upgrades to murder and kidnapping simply to help his younger sibling finish his home movie.

Admittedly the premise is never matched by the wildly offbeat and fully unhinged denouement which by then has descended into a "Blair Witch" meets "Witchfinder General" compromise.

Still, the old lady at the gas station upstages the entire cast with HER few moments on screen. Absolute must-see gem of a cameo. What the purpose of her last scene was however, remains totally unexplained. "Someone up there you know?" asks the cop. "My sister," she replies, getting in the car.

WAY better than the 3.8 rating accorded here.

Bizarre

[Crap_Connoisseur · 5 January 2006]

For a highly talented actor, C. Thomas Howell has appeared in more bad movies than Daryl Hannah. A once promising filmography has slowly transformed into a veritable cornucopia of straight-to-video B grade releases. And I, for one, think it's awesome! C. Thomas Howell is doing things his own way and through some strange miracle always turns the most turgid stinker into an enjoyable experience. Having said all that, the man really had his work cut out for him on "Asylum Days".

This film is so ridiculously implausible that it makes other C. Thomas Howell trash epics (Net Games, anyone?) look like Rear Window. A quick run down of the plot goes something like this: Daniel is obsessed with Lori, an actress, and has written a screenplay about her life. When Daniel's psychotic brother, Nathan, gets released from prison, he decides to help further Daniel's film-making ambitions by kidnapping Lori and forcing her to "act" in Daniel's film.

John Waters dealt with a similar theme in his far superior Cecil B. Demented. The major difference being that John Waters is a great director with enough intelligence to turn his film into a comedy, while the hack that made this expects the audience to find it vaguely realistic. Things go from bad to worse when a slasher subplot is tacked on to the end of the film, complete with two ridiculous detectives and possibly the most inane conclusion in cinema history.

As bad as the film is, it is not without it's (guilty) pleasures. C. Thomas Howell throws himself into the role of psycho Nathan and is, in one memorable scene, hilariously vile to Daniel's Indian neighbour. Deborah Zoe spends most of the film looking like Jennifer Garner on Vicodin, but comes alive towards the end of the film to show some promise as a future scream queen. More than anything, I enjoyed the sheer ridiculousness of the film, everything from the poorly handled flashbacks to the lame scenes on the set of Lori's movie shout out "straight-to-video".

Fans of C. Thomas Howell will forgive him for wasting 100 minutes of their life on Asylum Days. I fear that other may not be quite as forgiving.

Putrid

[AlonzoHarris · 24 November 2003]

Having C. Thomas Howell, you'd think it would be halfway decent. But it's not. Everyone remembers Howell as Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders. So, they decide they have to make the audience hate him. The filmmakers try to hard by making Howell a raving psychotic racist. The ending is completely messed up. It leaves the viewer wondering what the psychotic killer has to do with the movie. It starts off as a kidnapping caper and turns into a slasher flick before you can say razzy.

Avoid this one. There are better C. Thomas Howell movies out there.

Couldn't Finish

[motophile · 26 November 2004]

Fresh off the coach from watching the Hitcher, I saw Asylum Days staring at me from the rental shelf. "Cool", I thought another C. Thomas flick to trip out on a little. Couldn't even begin to stay interested in a movie that seemed to be my forte after reading the box. You would be better off watching Strangeland starring the dude from Twisted Sister (If that tells you anything).

Ditto: Fresh off the coach from watching the Hitcher, I saw Asylum Days staring at me from the rental shelf. "Cool", I thought another C. Thomas flick to trip out on a little. Couldn't even begin to stay interested in a movie that seemed to be my forte after reading the box. You would be better off watching Strangeland starring the dude from Twisted Sister (If that tells you anything).

suspenseful and weird...

[vckyvirginia · 17 February 2007]

not your average horror flick which might be what's turning some people off. liked the old lady in the gas station! Who IS that? the soundtrack was cool, but who are they? direction and acting were strange, the story however was suspenseful and weird and did keep me interested throughout.

This is a different kind or horror movie than what most people are used to seeing. Looks like it was shot in Europe with American actors like that movie Hostel.

it was good to see C. Thomas Howell doing something different. Loved him ever since the Hitcher! He has made some terrible movies it's true but this isn't one of them.