Desespero

This film is a solid take on the crazed maniac horror film. It is simply told and soundly directed. There are some really great suspense scenes, good performances, and compelling cinematography. Oh, there is also a confusing ending. In fact, the movie rushes through some really fuzzy plot maneuvering in its last ten minutes, as if it had somewhere to get to in a hurry. That said, the weak ending does not ruin the film. In fact, just tune out five minutes early and you've got a really good movie.

What I want to point out is this film's satisfying dramatic structure. The film's protagonist is a young, handsome member of a late-80s grunge band. He works a tough job to make ends meet and has apparently gotten his friends jobs to help them out. One of his friends is sweet, but unreliable. Another of his friends is reliable, but snarly. Our hero, however, is both reliable and warm. He is eminently likable. The character of George made me care about this horror movie. He drove my interest in the film. I wanted George to make it through the horror.

Other (often new) horror directors could learn from this. A movie needs a likable, rational hero to be any good. Also, tell a real story; do not just string together some mish mash of allusions to other movies. It is fine to repeat imagery from previous horror films, as this film does, but ground your film in a coherent real life situation. Asylum Blackout works because it gives its characters dignity and its story world depth. It kept me in the moment from beginning to end.

You guys are way too critical.

I was watching this expecting it to be another run of the mill low budget flick, especially with the rating which almost convinced me not to watch it at all.

Any movie that has you really thinking about it after its over is way better than the fluff I have seen come out recently and this one had me pondering the ending over and over.

IMDb should start having some categories based on genre that can be rated so the ratings are not so lump sum weighted.

Anyway anybody looking for a good weekend movie this one is worth a watch.

Two aspiring musicians whom are working as cooks in a secluded mental asylum to make ends meet and to further finance their dead-end dream job are in the aforementioned hospital when the power goes out and the patients revolt, leaving the cooks and rest of the workers to fight for their lives.

Apart from some brutal scenes the movie seemed a tad on the tame side considering a promising set-up premise. The acting is merely serviceable for the most part but the main heavy is well-acted and steals every scene he's in. The film also boasts a lame twist ending that was unneeded. All in all I was just left with a Meh feeling, Not good enough to praise nor awful enough to mock. It just... Is.

What horror concept is more traditional and effective than the setting of an asylum for the mentally insane during a thunderstorm and a power blackout? Writer S. Craig Zahler and director Alexandre Courtès may perhaps not have had a lot of financial means at their disposal, but they definitely know their genre classics and they also know how to build up a suspenseful atmosphere and petrify the audience through simple tricks. "The Incident", a.k.a. "Asylum Blackout" which naturally is a much more appealing and appetizing title for a low-budget horror flick, first caught my attention because it's a partially Belgian co-production (I'm from Belgium, hence…) and it premiered at the Brussels' International Festival of Fantastic Films a few years ago. Via this website, I learned that the film was largely shot in Belgium but I can't quite figure out whether the director is Belgian or not. Either way, being a Belgian horror freak, I'm still very proud to see a link with my country, especially because I liked "The Incident" quite a lot. Admittedly the film starts out a little too slow and primitive, while the confusing and open-for-interpretation climax is arguably annoying, but everything in between is a nice demonstration of sadistic, raw and nerve-wrecking terror! George and his two pals Max and Ricky form an aspiring rock-band, but they hardly have the money to pay for a session at the recording studio. Therefore they also work together in the kitchen of the sinister Sans asylum, geographically isolated somewhere in the state of Washington. Near the end of a long working day, a heavy thunderstorm breaks loose and lightening causes a power failure inside the asylum. The cell doors unlock automatically and the patients – all of them dangerous lunatics on heavy medication – turn against the wardens. George and his friend attempt to hide in storage rooms and offices but the crazies, led by the vicious inmate Harry Green, hunt them down as well. "The Incident" features some of the most efficiently disturbing sequences I've seen in a long time. The scene where a couple of nut cases are trying to break through the freezer door, behind which Ricky is hiding, is downright petrifying. And so is the excruciatingly painful murder of a certain character on top of the cooking stove and a torture sequence involving a peeling knife. I must say the supportive characters depicting the mental patients are extremely well-chosen as well. Harry Green (Richard Brake) looks like evil personified and many other unknown actors are aptly cast based on their looks as well (Darren Kent, the hairless guy…). The film allegedly takes place in the year 1989, which is quite clever because this way the writers didn't have to take into account mobile phones, GPS systems etc… I'm not going to go too much into detail about the bizarre ending. It didn't bother me that much because, by the time of the climax, I was already seriously impressed by the level of sickness and disturbance of "The Incident". This definitely isn't for sensitive and/or easily offended viewers!

Anna Skellern is definitely underused in this movie. Just wanted to write that upfront. But it's not a movie about her. It's a movie about an Asylum (as an alternate title does suggest, original title being "The Incident") and the people within. It's also a movie about madness and reality shifting (sort of).

I couldn't really start to explain what the ending is. Apart from the fact it that it would be a spoiler, it's one of those endings that will split the audience. Some will find it amazing, what the director did there and some will think he's full of himself. One thing is for sure: Up until that moment (or rather moments), the movie is pretty straightforward and has an edgy feel to it. And it is pretty good in scaring you (visually with some hard to stomach violent scenes, so not for the faint hearted then), too. If that is something you like, then go ahead and give it a try