Exeter

At an abandoned asylum, a group of teens looking to party decide to experiment come face to face with the possessed. Their only chance of survival is to uncover the asylum's mysteries.

Director Marcus Nispel's Exter a.k.a The Asylum and Backmask is not as genre self aware as the Tucker and Dale Versus Evil. It is a humorous in places, scary and well scripted by Kirsten Elms. Nispel's offers his first film that isn't a remake or an adaptation with some slick direction and the story tries to put a new spin on old clichés. It's basically an updated take on the Evil Dead formula.

The makeup and special effects are finely executed with effective sound design delivering some jump scares. Elms's screenplay tries to ensure the characters are relevant and it's played straight by the majority of likable characters as they get possessed one by one.

It has a hard hitting opening where a record playing tattooed lady meets her maker. Then there's the typical drinking, drug taking and sex. A twisted head, suicide and levitation are all thrown in for good measure. The dilapidated asylum location and setting add some atmosphere and Stephen Lang's extended cameo gives it some further weight.

While not ground breaking, it's still an entertaining, big budget well paced piece of horror.

Saw this at Frightfest Glasgow 2015. When I saw Marcus Nispel's name I knew it couldn't be all bad, and right I was! Nispel has made the Friday the 13th-remake, and Texas Chainsaw massacre remake, and I liked both of those so I felt pretty safe.

This is a decent budget, nice, crisp looking movie. Which are qualities I happen to like a lot in horror movies. The actors do their job, nothing special but alright, the effects are good, pacing is pretty solid.

Unfortunately it's nothing special really, it does it's job pretty well, but nothing exceptional. I was kind of waiting for it to "take off" a little more, which it never really seemed to. Had it gone the extra mile, so to speak, it would have been a clear 8 for me.

To sum up: Decent flick, looks nice, good party-factor, some nice gore, couple of laughs, absolutely entertaining.

I do not understand why this movie is so underrated. It's fun, entertaining and for a horror/gore fan it gets the job done pretty well.

Not perfect by any means, but a nice film that kept me from beginning till the end. Did not get bored for one sec. Actors are good, editing, special effects and gore all done well. Again it is not perfect, but not that underrated i see here in IMDb. This is not a drama, or action adventure, so by judging it as a horror/gore film it falls between 6-8. No more or less than that.

Do yourself a favor and check this out. It will not write history, but you will have a good 1.5hour watching this.

I'm not usually a fan of possession type movies, but this one was fun to watch once the 3rd act kicked in. Let me back up.

Basic plot: Some teens are having a party at an old, abandoned, rundown, school /hospital/permanent home, for less than smart children, where horrible things were done to them, and many died. Many, many years ago. During the party, a possession ensues. Ok, I know, an incredibly unique plot. If you watch this movie through the eyes of someone who is expecting: great acting, great dialog, original story, then you will be disappointed. But, if you want to see: things that are supposed to be taken seriously, but make you laugh instead, some really cool gore, and gory deaths with practical.... I will say that again, practical effects for the gore instead of cgi, which looks awesome, and a nice twist ending? Then this is your movie. It can be a little slow early on. But once it kicks in, it's pretty entertaining. I feel like many of these reviewers may not have watched the whole movie. It does ramp up in action. If you do watch it, have fun with it.

An isolated, derelict loony bin, where partying teens spark off a serial demon possession.

Open on a topless drug addict: she sways in her gorgeous panty-clad ass and ... shoots her brains out. Wot? The director doesn't bother to take his time, and you're not given enough information to work this scene through the story - until the final plot ambush.

The next ten minutes is irritating teens doing what teens don't really do. Especially when they're played by mature, beautiful actors. Then totally unrhythmic horror clichés, with poor humour and feeble characterisation, and by 35 mins you want to give up. And die.

But it does settle into a rhythm, and I wonder if that's down to an experienced cinematographer getting to grips with the director (also the writer). But still lots of bad judgment in the storytelling - at 60-65 mins there are four - 4! - jump scares (one with a toilet-roll, followed by a low angle instead of a high angle). In all, maybe 30 jumps in the film (poor Rory plays the jump monkey), and none of them works - a world record. Again, bad timing by the director/writer.

Can't blame the actors. They all seem up for it, so whachagonnado? Many more weaknesses to tell, but I surrender. It does wrap up neatly, as we get back to the prologue. Plus the end credits repeat the song + there's sequel-bait. And now I goes to shleep.

Obviously money behind this production for cintematography and CGI, but I wish they'd spread it around for more talented story tellers. Copyright is 2012. Depressing conservative rubbish.