Asylum

Asylum is the fifth of seven anthology horrors from Amicus Productions. As with The House That Dripped Blood, the script comes courtesy of Robert Bloch, who adapts several of his own stories, some previously produced for television. To the film’s detriment, all but one story adapt Bloch’s more fantastic horror—and thus rely on special effects—versus the psychological terror that launched him to fame with Psycho.

The framing story adapts Bloch’s 1961 story “A Home Away from Home,” previously adapted for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour television series. It follows Martin, a young doctor interviewing for a position at an asylum for the “incurably insane”. He’s greeted with several surprises. The asylum head, Dr. Starr, has gone insane himself and is now counted amongst the asylum’s patients. Starr’s replacement, Dr. Rutherford, is wheelchair-bound after a patient attack. As if those weren’t enough red flags, Rutherford makes Martin an unusual offer: Martin can have the job provided he deduces which of the patients is Dr. Starr. Martin protests, but heads upstairs to interview the patients. The bulk of the film illustrates their stories.

The first segment adapts Bloch’s 1946 story, “Frozen Fear.” It concerns a man who murders his wife, chops up her body, wraps the parts in packing paper, and stores them in a basement freezer. Unfortunately, said wife had a magic bracelet. When the husband tosses the bracelet into the freezer, the body parts come to life, attacking him and his mistress.

These types of stories always fail to suspend my disbelief. Not the resurrection part—which features a creepy shot of a severed head sucking air through its paper wrap—but the physics of those body parts moving around. Just because they’re reanimated, it doesn’t give them the ability to fly. Yet, how else to explain a severed head climbing a flight of stairs? We see arms and legs lurching about and it looks laughable.

The next segment adapts Bloch’s 1950 story, “The Weird Tailor,” previously adapted for the Boris Karloff hosted television series, Thriller. We meet Bruno, a former tailor. Broke and facing eviction, Bruno finds salvation in a mysterious gentleman named Smith. Played by Peter Cushing, Smith offers an extraordinary sum for Bruno to make a suit for Smith’s son. Smith insists Bruno must work according to Smith’s precise specifications. These include such oddities as only working on the suit during the late night and early morning hours. Bruno agrees to Smith’s demands and, a few nights later, arrives on Smith’s doorstep with the suit. To Bruno’s horror, Smith reveals he has no money to pay. This will prove to be Smith’s smallest surprise.

In what will become a running theme, the special effects are the story’s undoing. Cushing, who had lost his beloved wife the year prior, brings a convincing gravitas and the story’s mystery held my attention, but the finale relies on another effect I couldn’t swallow.

The third entry adapts Bloch’s 1952 story, “Lucy Comes to Stay.” It concerns a young woman named Barbara, played by Charlotte Rampling. Barbara is fresh from psychiatric care and under the careful watch of her brother and a nurse. Soon, Barbara’s mischievous friend Lucy shows up. Lucy urges Barbara not to take her medication. Not good for Barbara’s brother and nurse.

This story proves the most grounded, but one surprise death scene drags on long enough to veer into camp and the big reveal will be obvious to horror fans.

The last segment adapts Bloch’s 1939 story, “Mannikins of Horror.” The tale involves Dr. Byron, played by Herbert Lom. Byron has perfected soul transference and transfers his essence into a small effigy. The figure resembles a soda-can-sized robot with a plastic Herbert Lom head. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds. The stop-motion animation reminded me of the Rankin Bass Christmas specials. Despite its appearance, it’s quite deadly, as Dr. Rutherford soon discovers.

What to make of this final tale? I can’t imagine anyone finding it frightening. Did director Roy Ward Baker give up and try for camp?

And what of Asylum as a whole? Given the talent involved, it’s a letdown. Instead of exploiting its able cast, Asylum’s script relies on special effects the production can’t deliver. The one time it does lean on its cast, it forces poor Charlotte Rampling through a tired trope. It held my attention, but only barely. If you’re in the mood for a Robert Bloch scripted Amicus anthology horror, watch The House That Dripped Blood instead.