Asylum (1972)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1972
Running Times: 88 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Amicus Productions/Harbour Productions
Executive Producer: Gustave Berne
Producers: Max J. Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky
Production Manager: Teresa Bolland
Unit Manager: Ivo Nightingale

SCRIPT
Script: Robert Bloch

DIRECTION
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Assistant Director: Anthony Waye

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Denys Coop
Camera Operator: Neil Binney
Labs: Technicolor, London, UK

EDITING
Editor: Peter Tanner

MUSIC
Music: Douglas Gamley; Modest Mussorgsky (from A Night on Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition - uncredited)

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Norman Bolland
Sound Editor: Clive Smith
Dubbing Mixer: Robert Jones

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Roy Ashton
Hair: Joan Carpenter
Wardrobe Supervisor: Bridget Sellers

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Ernie Sullivan

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Tony Curtis
Set Decorator: Fred Carter

OTHER CREW
Continuity: Pamela Davies

LOCATIONS
Studio: Shepperton, Middlesex, England, UK

CASTING
Casting: Ronnie Curtis

CAST
Linking Story
Patrick Magee (Dr Rutherford)
Robert Powell (Dr Martin)
Geoffrey Bayldon (Max Reynolds)

Frozen Fear
Barbara Parkins (Bonnie)
Sylvia Sims (Ruth)
Richard Todd (Walter)

The Weird Taylor
Peter Cushing (Smith)
Barry Morse (Bruno)
Ann Firbank (Anna)
John Franklyn-Robbins (Stebbins)

Lucy Comes To Stay
Britt Ekland (Lucy)
Charlotte Rampling (Barbara)
James Villiers (George)
Megs Jenkins (Miss Higgins)

Manninkins of Horror
Herbert Lom (Dr Byron)
Frank Forsyth (Porter)

Dr Martin arrives at a psychiatric hospital for a job interview. Dr Rutherford and his shifty orderly inform him that one of the staff, Dr Starr, has gone insane and is now incarcerated in the hospital; if Martin wants the job, he must decide which one of four patients is the missing doctor. He hears the stories of a murdered wife who returns from the grave looking for revenge; a tailor who makes a most unusual suit; a woman who comes to believe that her malevolent brother is conspiring against her; and a man who builds toy robots with suspiciously realistic human heads.

One of Amicus' best films, this quartet of Bloch tales has the obligatory duff episode in Lucy Comes To Stay (every omnibus film seems to have one) but makes up for it with Baker's impressive use of the claustrophobic confines of the the asylum and, as ever, Bloch's unique brand of black humour. A superb cast working at the peak of their talents helps too, as does the excellent twist ending.

UK
Video Distributors: Guild; Vipco (VIP034)
DVD Distributor: Vipco (VIP1034DVD)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Cinerama
Laserdisc Distributor: Image (ID 7142 FL)
Video Distributors: Allied Artists Entertainment Group; Facets Multimedia; Image Entertainment Inc; Interglobal Video; Prism Entertainment; TNM

Finland
Rating: banned in 1973

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating X (with no cuts)

USA
Rating: PG

1973
Berlin International Film Festival
Interfilm Award - Recommendation: Forum of New Cinema (Roy Ward Baker) - winner
OCIC Award - Recommendation: Forum of New Cinema (Roy Ward Baker) - winner

1973
January
15: Sweden - theatrical release

2001
February
19: UK - video release (Vipco (VIP034)); DVD release (Vipco (VIP1034DVD))

You have nothing to lose but your mind.

A polite warning: This House is Not a Home!

Asylum - Irrgarten des Schreckens - German title
Hospitalet - Swedish title
House of Crazies - US 1980 re-release title
House on the Strand - German video title
La morte dietro il cancello - Italian title
Refugio macabro - Spanish title

MAGAZINES

Halls of Horror no.27 p.16 (UK)
review

Video Watchdog no.64  (October 2000) pp.6-7 (USA)
illustrated review (by Tim Lucas)

BOOKS

Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood - Editor: Allan Bryce (UK: Stray Cat Publishing (2001))
credits, synopsis, production notes, review

Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror p.246
credits, review

The Director's Cut - Roy Ward Baker (UK: Reynolds and Hearn (2000))
production notes

Elliot's Guide to films on Video p.39
credits, review

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.28
credits, review

Horror Film Handbook - Alan Frank pp.14-15
credits, review

Peter Cushing - Deborah Del Vecchio and Tom Johnson (USA: McFarland (1992))
credits, synopsis, production notes, review

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.18
credits

KEYWORDS

anthologies, psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists, blindness, paranoia, dismemberment, robots

CONTRIBUTORS

Roger Keightley; Kevin Lyons

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008