Asylum (1997)

Slightly maladjusted, due to a troubled childhood, private investigator Robert Patrick (as Nicholas "Nick" Tordone) is suspicious when his psychiatrist, Peter Brown (as Frank Meyers), is reported to have hanged himself. Mr. Patrick thinks his shrink, who happened to have been a good friend of his suicidal father, was murdered. So, Patrick goes undercover at the "Fallbrook" insane asylum where Brown worked. There, he meets mental Malcolm McDowell (as Sullivan Rane aka "Doc"), crazy costumed Jason Schombing (as Tommy aka "Captain Destructo"), and Deborah Worthing (as Amanda aka "Mary Pickford").Patrick (as "Magnum") teams up with Mr. Schombing to solve the mystery. Institution head Henry Gibson (as Edward Bellichek) and patient doctor Sarah Douglas (as Emily Hill) are among those considered to be sane. James Seale's "Asylum" seems curiously unattended - patients are free to wander around without much supervision. Additionally, the building has been equipped with loose, human-sized vents for easy escape, spying, or travel - even in a solitary confinement room. This is all more laughable than suspenseful, but the scene where Patrick goes to the edge of the roof is nicely done. Passable on late night TV.**** Asylum (5/6/97) James Seale ~ Robert Patrick, Malcolm McDowell, Jason Schombing, Henry Gibson

Not the first thriller to take place in a mental institution, but one of the better. Leading man Patrick does a nice job as an unstable P.I. who goes undercover to find the killer of his shrink. Nice mix of suspense and humor - might have been better without all the laughs.Malcolm McDowell is fun to watch as a murderous patient named Rane. Is he the killer or does he hold the secret to the mystery?? Good acting outshines the slick camerawork. Nice surprise thriller.

If you're the kind that likes watching bad movies (for instance, if you enjoyed "The Postman" in only the most ironic sense), this is a keeper. A ridiculous script is only the start, and you also get Robert Patrick staying in the laxest insane asylum in the world (undercover in the guise of a patient, he seemingly has no problems at all finding access to the staff's private fax machines, computers, satellite dishes, etc.), develops a drippy camraderie with a fellow inmate that leads to some of the more strained, "heartfelt" moments of the film, and a ridiculous character by Acting's own Prince of Ever-Diminishing Returns, Malcolm McDowell. Reviewing this film makes me feel like I'm admonishing the dog for peeing on the rug. "For shame! Bad, bad, bad..."

There is a very interesting plot and one or two reasonably good actors but the script is average and most of the performances are not very convincing. The Idea of something fishy going on in a mental home has been there since the invention of mental homes and should by now have reached a higher level. The shockers in this movie are plump and the pace is really slow. And who has not guessed from the very first that the guy in the surgical clothes was Rane? And who was silly enough to believe that Rane was the bad guy? Who would have considered the director of the mental home (the poor rotter in the wheelchair) to be good and sane? It is altogether rather obvious. I really do not know what kept me watching this movie. Perhaps it was just the hay-fever that prevented me from sleep.