I'm not quite sure what I'm going to write as I start this review as I'm making up my mind what I think about it as I type.
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Hmmmm. Well as I started watching I thought 'This is going to be monumentally shite'. The way it was shot, the acting, the characters.... as it continued though it developed an odd kind of charm. Its the kind of movie, I thought that I would like to see remade in the modern day. I have been reliably informed that it is indeed being remade. THAT I would be interested to see. The reason for this is that in retrospect, I enjoyed the actual storyline and the concept and the 'idea' of the characters in this movie, I just wasn't overly keen on the execution of the story.
The basic premis here is an open asylum for the insane (of all descriptions) where the patients are encouraged to 'act out' their hallucinations and imaginations to help cure their illnesses. Oddly one of the patients (an ex judge) is encouraged to 'vent' by chopping things up with a huge axe. I'm sure you can figure out where thats going..... There is no security, no bars, no locks, no-one to look after these guys apart from a surly female doctor (Dr Masters) who seems to have a love of cruelty and inflicting pain. She is the only one left following the dispatch of the head doctor (Dr Stephens) by way of axe by aforementioned patient.
Amongst the other patients are a nymphomanic, an irritating screaming woman who is convinced a doll is her baby, a hallucinating ex vietnam vet (yup, yet another one!), an old woman who spends her time being freaky and spouting old rhymes, a lobotomy patient with a childlike innocent nature but a massive stature, an extremely irritating screeching ginger twat and a really dull, seemingly depressed young woman.
We are however later joined by the gorgeous young nurse to complete our set who says that Dr Stephens took her on several weeks ago and she was arriving to commence her employment.
We get to know our characters and strange things start to happen... patients are murdered (along with a visiting telephone repair man), the old dear has her tongue ripped out (it seems she knows something and someone is trying to silence her).
We find out late on in the movie that Dr Masters, our remaining doctor, is in fact not a doctor, but a patient, who is 'acting out' her illness as with the other patients. Dr Stephen used to allow her to pretend to be a doctor. I didn't see this coming at all and was pleasantly suprised by this twist.
The rest of the movie concentrates on the young nurse Charlotte trying to escape as suddenly the entire asylum is under lock-down with no means of escape.
The film as you can imagine ends messily and well actually. I won't break it down completely for anyone wanting to watch the remake, but our lobotomy victim seems to be the only one left at the end after dispatching with all the patients. He does however help Charlotte to escape the madhouse.
This little movie wasn't too bad at all. It was ruined by the camera work, some of the script and some very cheesy acting performances, but the plotline was solid enough and I will be really interested to see the remake. I would definately recommend it to people who like weird or odd little movies.
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