The Amityville Asylum

B Movies seem to be making a big come back this year and this one fits right in there with other legends of the genre ticking every box to ensure that it'll mark low and leave you wondering why you bothered.

Woeful script? Score. Actually the script wasn't so bad although more than a little clichéd. If only the delivery wasn't so abysmal. Acting? Hackneyed characters with poor back-stories. Brought to "life" through the art of people pretending to be someone they're not. Or maybe they were good characters, hackneyed in to existence through bad acting. Scares? You'd think that borrowing the Amityville legend would lend some worthwhile thrills, but you'd be wrong.

The best thing I can say about this movie is that it was only 86 minutes long. Which was plenty.

This movie has a very alluring title, and it was what drew me in. However, don't be fall for this fools' gold trick, because you will be sorely disappointed. "The Amityville Asylum" cashes in on the older and more successful movies with its title. And the story does seem to have some meat on its bones, I mean, a mental institute built upon the grounds where the old Amityville house once stood. But whatever prospects the story did have, it failed miserably. This story dragged on in excruciatingly long scenes that took forever to get nowhere. And as for this being a horror movie, well you need to look long and far for the scares and any real horror moments. As such, then "The Amityville Asylum" is a real killer to sit through to the end. The story in the movie is about Lisa (played by Sophia Del Pizzo) who starts a new job as a night shift cleaner in a mental asylum. Without knowing of the prior history, things happen at the asylum and Lisa starts to question her own sanity. When she finds out about the tragic past of the land upon where the asylum has been built Lisa may very well wish she never took the job. The entire storyline fell to the ground given the soul-crushing slow pace the movie trotted along in, plus the story seemed a little bit pointless. There weren't any elements or things to lure in the audience and keep then riveted to their seats. Actually, the two things that worked in favor of the movie was the acting, because people really did convincing jobs with their given roles and characters - both sane and insane. And also the camera-work was quite good. "The Amityville Asylum" gets a mere 3 out of 10 stars rating from me, given the acting and camera-work, but these were hardly enough to salvage the movie and make it the least bit interesting.

I should have known when I saw "Amityville" in the title......

I thought the pace was iceberg-slow, the acting terrible and the plot didn't hang together. What was all that stuff about Lisa's mother? She was mentioned several times, but there was no real explanation as to how she fitted into the story. Then they threw in ghosts, presumably when they couldn't think what else to do. If you're going to do that, people, don't bring them on screen and then just dump them! Like the mother, you're left wondering as to their purpose. And just a small, silly point, but you tend to notice things when the film is irritating you - what was with Delaney, played by a British actor, who seemed to be sporting some sort of German or Middle European accent? Just asking.

Very disappointing.

As I am currently on a trek trying to find some decent horror/thrillers I have been scouring the web high and low for movies that fit into that genre and after a quick read of the synopsis of this I thought I would give it a try. I actually lasted 47 minutes, after wanting to turn it off after 8 minutes then again at the 14, 23 and 31 minute marks I could not harm my television or my eyes anymore as to be brutally honest this is just plain bad. I have shown a lot of patience in my quest to find some decent horror movies but I could not bring myself to watch anymore as the acting was atrocious although I did learn more about cleaning products than what the actual movie was supposed to be about so I guess that is a plus. So my recommendation?? don't even consider watching this as the 1/10 I gave it is more than I wanted to give it.

Lisa Templeton is hired as part of a cleaning crew at a hospital for the mentally disabled. She soon discovers that things are not what they seem.

I enjoyed a few things about the movie. The story kept me interested the entire time and it took a turn I was not quite expecting. With low budget films we cant expect great acting and this film is no different. The horror scenes are not well supported by the special effects. Overall I would put this film at the bottom of my list on horror movies to watch. Definitely not something I would watch twice but its worth an hour to kill.