Asylum

   
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Year: 1972
Rating: 7.0
Welcome to the creeping horror of Amicus - Latin for friends. They were an English film company but owned by two Americans - Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky - who in the mid-1960s saw an opportunity to hitchhike on the popularity of Hammer's horror films. They didn't really have the resources or the in-house staff that Hammer had but they made some fine horror films for a decade. The first was Dr. Terror's House of Horrors in 1965 and the success of the portmanteau format - a fancy word for anthology - became a staple of their films. They produced seven of them, this film being the fifth. I generally don't like this format - I appreciate films that have time for character development, complicated plots and such. Most of the segments ran for about 20-minutes which is often just when films begin to get interesting - but it really works well with this one. The first one is brilliant and the unnerving mood it creates carries over to the three other segments. The script came from Robert Bloch famous at the time for his novel, Psycho. As a teenager, Bloch had been encouraged to write by none other than Lovecraft. He was to script a few other films for Amicus. Directing is Roy Ward Baker who had worked for Hammer - Quatermass and the Pit, The Vampire Lovers, Scars of Dracula. And the filmmakers put together a stellar cast for the film.  A lot of talent here and it shows.



The four segments are held together by an overriding story.  Robert Powell comes to an asylum to apply for a job as a psychiatrist. He was invited by Dr. Starr to come interview but the man he meets, Patrick Magee, tells him that Dr. Starr is upstairs with the patients. "He is tending to them?", "No, he is one of them. He went crazy and if you can tell me which one he is, the job is yours." Ever since Clockwork Orange, Magee has given me the creeps. Powell talks to all four patients, and it is their stories that become the film.



The first one had me jumping for joy. I just wasn't expecting it and it would play well if remade today with a little more gore. Richard Todd is in an unhappy marriage with Sylvie Simm and having an affair with Barbara Parkins. The wife tells him that she will never give him a divorce - words a wife should never utter. He tells her he has bought a gift for her. She is thrilled. One of those long freezers people keep in the basement. He has another surprise for her. A hatchet to the head. Enjoy the freezer. He quips, rest in pieces. Cuts her up and packages her for disposal. But he has a surprise coming as well.  Barry Morse plays a tailor who can't make his rental payment until a customer comes in asking for a suit to be made quickly. He has the material and has specific instructions. You can only work on it from midnight to 5am. The customer is Peter Cushing and things don't go well. And keep an eye on that mannequin.



In the weakest segment, Charlotte Rampling has been brought home by her brother, James Villiers, after a stay at a mental institution. She seems fine now. Asks if Lucy (Britt Ekland) is there. He answers no. Later she takes some pills hidden in the drawer and Lucy appears and Lucy is very naughty indeed. And psychopathic.  The final one is a treat as well. Herbert Lom is locked up and tells Powell that he has created these dolls that have human organs and brains inside them. Powell scoffs and leaves - then the doll that looks like Lom (but to my eyes looks like Trump) begins to walk. He has business to tend to. The final twist probably doesn't surprise anyone, but I want it on the record that I guessed who Dr. Starr was.