Asylum (1972)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Roy Ward Baker (Director) And Neil Binney (Cameraman) Featurette-Inside The Fear Factory Trailer-The Amicus Collection
Rating
Year Of Production	1972
Running Time	88:55
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (57:16)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Roy Ward Baker
Studio Distributor	Harbor Productions Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Peter Cushing Britt Ekland Herbert Lom Patrick Magee Barry Morse Barbara Parkins Robert Powell Charlotte Rampling Sylvia Syms Richard Todd James Villiers Geoffrey Bayldon Anne Firbank
Case	PUSH-1 (Opaque)
RPI	$24.95	Music	Douglas Gamley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This is yet another portmanteau horror film from Amicus, again from a screenplay by Robert Bloch based on his short fiction. In this one, Doctor Martin (Robert Powell) arrives at an asylum where the wheelchair-bound director Doctor Rutherford (Patrick Magee) sets him a task to prove that he is up to the job: determine which one of the inmates is Doctor Starr, who has recently gone mad and whom Martin is expected to replace. Of course, this is how interviews are conducted in all asylums, isn't it?

    The first story concerns Walter (Richard Todd), who seeks to do away with his wife Ruth (Sylvia Syms), so that he can take up with his mistress Bonnie (Barbara Parkins). Walter cuts Ruth into pieces and puts her into the freezer after wrapping her dismembered bits in brown paper. However, he fails to take into account the fact that Ruth has been seeing a voodoo teacher, with dire consequences. This story is based on Frozen Fear, a Bloch story that first saw the light of day in Weird Tales in 1946, though in that story the wife is trying to kill her husband by voodoo, so she is not as blameless as in the film version.

    The next inmate is Bruno (Barry Morse), who was a tailor. About to be convicted, he is commissioned by Mr Smith (Peter Cushing) to make a suit for his son, out of a weird fabric and only between the hours of midnight and dawn. When Mr Smith fails to pay, there are dire consequences for everyone. The original story, The Weird Tailor (Weird Tales again, in 1944), had the Bruno character as deserving of his fate. There was use of a refrigerator in this story in much the same manner as the previous tale in the film, so this part had to be changed to avoid repetition.

    Third up is Barbara (Charlotte Rampling), who returns home from hospital with her brother George (James Villiers). A nurse (Megs Jenkins) is engaged to take care of her, but none of them have counted on the resourcefulness of Barbara's "friend" Lucy (Britt Ekland). This story is based on Lucy Comes to Stay (Weird Tales, 1952), and is quite in keeping with the original story.

    The fourth and last tale is integrated with the framing story, as Byron (Herbert Lom) makes small dolls with heads made up to look like real people. He seeks revenge on Doctor Rutherford. The tale is based on Mannikins of Horror, which appeared in the pages of Weird Tales in 1939, and in which the Doctor Starr of the framing story appeared.

    This is slightly better than it should be. Some of the stories are a little silly, and the sight of dismembered body parts wrapped in brown paper wreaking their horrible vengeance is more funny than scary. The film has an excellent cast, also including Geoffrey Bayldon as the orderly Reynolds. Barbara Parkins is quite poor in her role, Morse overacts (but then he almost always does), while Cushing looks as if he has just been bereaved, which he was, his wife having died the previous year. He gives a fine albeit brief performance nonetheless. Ekland is unusually convincing, while Rampling had yet to learn to act with her eyes - in any case she looks about 18. Roy Ward Baker directs quite well apart from the dismembered limbs sequence. Overall this is enjoyable enough without being a classic.

Video

    This transfer is in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, not far from the original 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer afforded to the film is quite good in most respects. The level of detail is very good, with a sharp image virtually throughout. Contrast is good, and the video is nice and bright. Colour is a little on the overdone side, with flesh tones a little too ruddy and the red part of the spectrum a little too intense.

    Dot crawl is visible on the opening yellow credits, while the grille of George's Jaguar/Daimler in the second story shows aliasing. There are a number of film artefacts, with frequent white flecks and dark spots, plus occasional faint scratches. Otherwise there are no significant artefacts, and this is a quite good transfer, despite a lot of grain.

    No subtitles are provided.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted with the layer break positioned at 57:16, when Barbara goes into her bathroom. While the screen is dark, the music is interrupted by the layer change, as is therefore the viewer. It could have been better placed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sole audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    This is a satisfactory soundtrack that does the job required. While dialogue is slightly sibilant at times, it is clear and I had no trouble understanding any of it. The sound is thin at times but there is sufficient body and bass to make it a reasonable listen. Effects and music come across well.

    A loud music score by Douglas Gamley graces this disc. While it is effective at times, the repeated use of familiar music by Mussorgsky detracts from the overall effect. The opening credits have Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration of A Night on Bald Mountain, while throughout the film there are snippets from Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition. Neither are credited.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

    The main menu features some of the soundtrack music.

Audio Commentary-Roy Ward Baker (Director) and Neil Binney (Cameraman)

    Marcus Hearn moderates this interview with the director of the film and its cameraman (Denys Coop was the DOP). Baker is quite forthcoming about the film and his career, and between the three of them a lot about the film is revealed. This is almost a model of a good commentary, let down only by regular gaps lasting up to a minute or so. The menu renames the director Barker.

Featurette-Inside the Fear Factory (17:03)

    A feast of octogenarians, as Amicus money-man Max Rosenberg (now deceased), Baker and Freddie Francis reminisce about Amicus - though the interviews were conducted separately. Interesting stuff, though the two directors disagree with Rosenberg over the latter's contribution to the film.

Trailer-The Amicus Collection (3:28)

    Trailers for The City of the Dead, The Beast Must Die and And Now The Screaming Starts. The first two are letterboxed and look quite poor, especially the second, while the last is 16x9 enhanced and looks a lot better in comparison. These trailers seem to be the same on every one of the discs in this set.

    The Region 4 is nearly identical to the UK Region 2 release, which likewise is available as part of a set called The Amicus Collection but not separately. The Region 2 set has only the five films omitting The City of the Dead.

    The major difference is in the audio section, with the Region 2 having two surround mixes, in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1, as well as the authentic monaural soundtrack.

    The US Region 1 release from Image is in 1.33:1 and has no extras, so there is no need to consider it as an alternative.

    There appears to be no difference between the Region 2 and Region 4 editions of this film, but as neither are available separately you would need to purchase the box set, and the Region 4 has the edge as it contains an extra film.

    An entertaining anthology, but not the best of its type.

    The video and audio quality are good..

    There are some worthwhile extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall