Main cast: Kelly Blatz (Patrick), Brittany Curran (Reign), Brett Dier (Brad), Gage Golightly (Amber), Nick Nicotera (Brian Knowles), Nick Nordella (Drew), Michael Ormsby (Rory), Kevin Chapman (Greer), and Stephen Lang (Father Conway)
Director: Marcus Nispel

There are many horror movies out there sharing the same title as The Asylum, so I don’t know why they didn’t stick with  the originally planned title Exeter. It seems like this thing wants to be like everything else… but then again, that’s what it ends up being, heh – something that’s like everything else.

There is a ruined asylum in Exeter, which was a site of terrible atrocities committed on the inmates. The place burned down ages ago, and for some reason, Father Conway thinks that it is a great idea to restore the place. Didn’t this guy see any horror flicks before? He enlists Patrick, one of his parishioners, to help him with the heavy work. Catching wind of the place, Patrick’s friends Brian, Drew, and Brad as well as Brad’s girlfriend Amber think that the rubble and dirt make a perfect place for a party, and hence, Patrick finds himself in the middle of a booze and drug orgy that is going way out of control. Still, he meets Reign, a girl who suggests that they do some summoning ritual using Patrick’s brother Rory as a guinea pig. Before these dolts can say “Klaatu barada nikto!”, Rory is indeed possessed and oh boy.

This one starts out pretty interesting, but once Rory gets possessed, The Asylum morphs into a standard teen horror flick which sees everyone competing to be the biggest idiot of them all. Seriously, these characters have the knack of doing the worst possible things in every situation, from splitting up unnecessarily to turning their backs to a possessed kid. The movie becomes repetitive especially in the middle act, when these dolts just go around in circles being chased and looking to get chased all over again.

Still, the late third is pretty gory, if the twist can be seen coming from a mile away, and there is some interesting homage to Evil Dead and The Exorcist. Plus, Brett Dier bulks up considerably to show off those pretty biceps here, and one of the other guys is in his underpants all the time, which is nice even if his character is easily one of the more annoying ones. As for the acting, it’s pretty wretched, but that’s par for the course.

All in all, this movie is borderline forgettable with a few interesting moments here and there to save it from being a complete loss.