ASYLUM
(1972)Director: Roy Ward Baker
Image Entertainment
ASYLUM
(1972)Delivering an entertaining assortment of hauntingly omnibus tales, as well as some individual allegories, England's Amicus Films was rivaled only by Hammer Films during the productive 60s and early 70s. Although so far Hammer has been well represented on DVD (almost exclusively due to Anchor Bay), Amicus titles have not been obliged to the format, until now that is. Ironically, ASYLUM was the very first title that I purchased on the now nearly extinct laserdisc format!
Tying together four inoffensive, yet chillingly satisfying tales, ASYLUM takes its source from Robert (PSYCHO) Bloch, who previously collaborated with Amicus on THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1970). The wrapping segment introduces us to a young psychiatrist, Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) who goes for a job interview at an asylum run by the wheelchair-bound, humorless Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee). Rutherford tells the young protégé that in order to be eligible for the position, he must examine each of the four patients and discover which is the real "Dr. B. Starr," the former administrator who went mad and is now an inmate.
Martin is greeted by an odd orderly, Max Reynolds (familiar Hammer/Amicus bit player, Geoffrey Bayldon), who literally leads him into a world of insanity as he unlocks the doors to each patient's cell. First off is Bonnie (Barbara Parkins), a young woman who was mistress to the brandy swilling Walter (Richard Todd). When Walter disembodies his wife and locks her in a freezer, the neatly packaged parts come back to life to terrorize Bonnie.
The second tale involves a "Weird Tailor," Bruno (Barry Morse) that makes a suit using an unearthly material, following instructions culled from a diabolical book. The suit is meant to bring back to life the son of Mr. Smith (Peter Cushing), but the results of course are deadly. The third and least interesting story involves Barbara (Charlotte Rampling) who suffers a dual personality crisis in the shape of shapely Britt Ekland.
Lastly, Herbet Lom plays Bruno, an eccentric who builds tiny robots modeled after various colleagues, as well as one that resembles him. He sends his mini alter ego to execute Rutherford, and the dark secret behind Dr. Starr's identity is soon unveiled.
ASYLUM makes for fun Saturday afternoon viewing. Roy Ward Baker is arguably the best working British horror director of the 70s, and this entry firmly lives up to that assessment. His usage of a string of macabre drawings, complimented by twisted camera angles that illustrate Powell's entrance into the film's demented proceedings, is particularly innovative. With his knack for tight pacing and surprise shocks, Baker has a firm grip on the macabre without having to resort to pointless gore.
The performances are all top notch, as the excellent cast manages to handle their small parts with relish. Veterans like Todd, Magee, Morse, Lom and Cushing (whose mournful tears for his late son are all too real) and younger thesps like Powell and Rampling (who went on to become international arthouse favorites to this day) make ASYLUM triumphant. One complaint I have is that the stories should have been placed in a better order, as the first is so much more stirring than the third. Also, the excellent score by the underrated Douglas Gamley ingeniously incorporates classical music to overstate the general madness of the film.
Previously available on video through several now defunct companies, most notably Prism, whose transfer was picked up by Image for the laserdisc a decade ago. This DVD utilizes the very same transfer. The color is now much more vibrant, and there is far more picture detail (I noticed some whiskers on Patrick Magee's face that I never noticed before, plus the outlines of the toupees of Todd, Lom and Cushing are now more prominent than ever). There are some scratches and other marks, but these are mostly confined to the film's early moments. The mono sound is also pretty good, but there is some minor soundtrack scratches during several quieter moments.
The film is presented full frame, probably a good idea since letterboxing it would just over matte it and there would be a loss of picture information on the top and bottom. There is a video-generated title insert, which was probably added to disguise an old copyright or perhaps even the ridiculous alternative title, "House of Crazies." There are no extras, but Image nicely managed to use the original poster art to furnish the cover of the snapper case.
Since Image has already announced the release of AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, and with Anchor Bay already unleashing a number of titles from the company that theatrically distributed more of their films than anyone else-Cinerama--the DVD future looks good for Amicus. But with MGM owning MADHOUSE, LAND THAT TIME FORGOT and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (being released only on VHS again--thanks a lot MGM), and Warner owning FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (Warner, uh oh, say goodnight to this one!), some persuading might have to be done to get these films out! (George R. Reis)