Asylum Movie Review

Asylum is a 1972 horror movie directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Robert Powell, Peter Cushing,Charlotte Rampling and Britt Ekland.

The movie begins with a Dr. Martin(Powell) who is visiting an asylum for the insane for an interview
with Dr.Rutherford(Patrick Magee). He tells Martin that he has a request. He wants him to identity the former head of the asylum, Dr.B. Starr who is now an inmate as he went insane. He tells Martin that he can talk to the other inmates and determine which one is Starr.

Frozen Fear: 
Bonnie(Barbara Parkins) is having an affair with a man Walter(Richard Todd), who is married to a rich woman, Ruth(Sylvia Sims). She believes in voodoo and she has a magic charm to protect her from evil. She won't give Walter a divorce. She says that she will never let him go. He tells  her that he has a present for her in the basement. He has bought her a freezer. He kills her and he cuts her up and puts the pieces in the new freezer. He throws her bracelet in with her. Walter and Bonnie are going to leave together. Bonnie tells him that they will have to dispose of Ruth on the way. Walter hears footsteps dragging up the basement stairs. Ruth's head ends up rolling around on the floor. Walter finds the freezer open. A hand comes out and strangles him. Bonnie comes over and finds him dead in the freezer. She sees Ruth's head. The body parts come alive and crawl towards her. She tells Martin that it was real. He thinks that she is crazy.

The Weird Tailor:
The next patient is called Bruno(Barry Morse). He was a tailor. He is short of money until a man called Mr. Smith(Peter Cushing) comes in looking for a suit. He has his own material. He needs it for his son. He tells Bruno that he will collect it and that he is to follow his instructions exactly. Bruno makes the suit. He goes to deliver it. He is invited into the house and he tells Mr Smith that he needs payment. Mr Smith says that he has no money at the moment but that he will be coming into it soon.
Bruno sees the son dead in a coffin. There is a fight and Bruno shoots Smith by mistake and he goes home to his wife and tells her to burn the suit. She puts in on a mannequin. It comes to life and it tries to kill Bruno.

Lucy Comes to Stay:
Next patient is Barbara(Charlotte Rampling). She thinks that Martin is a lawyer. She tells him that she is not ill. The story begins with Barbara and her brother George(James Villiers) who are going back to a house. George has hired a nurse,Miss Higgins(Megs Jenkins) to look after Barbara. The nurse gives her a sedative but Barbara doesn't want it. The nurse has to go when she gets a phone call. Barbara is alone in the house. Her friend Lucy(Britt Ekland) shows up and she tells her that she called the nurse on the phone to get her out of the house. Lucy tells her that the nurse is her guard to keep her inside the house. She tells her that her brother George is trying to put her away so that he can have the house for himself. George comes back and he finds Barbara asleep. The nurse calls George and tells him that she will be back soon. Someone spikes his tea and he falls asleep. Lucy tells Barbara that it is time to go. She cuts the phone line. Lucy is mad when Barbara takes her pills and she goes. George is dead. The nurse comes back and Lucy kills her. It turns out that Lucy is Barbara and that she did it all herself.

Mannikins of Horror:
The last patient is called Byron(Herbert Lom). He says that he is a doctor. He makes models of his colleagues. He says that they are alive. He is making a model of himself too. Martin is disgusted with the place. Byron looks at his model and it comes alive. It heads out of the door when the orderly opens it. Rutherford asks Martin who the person is. Martin won't choose. The model comes into the room and he stabs Rutherford with a scalpel. Martin grabs the model and stands on it. Byron is dead. Martin realises that the orderly is Starr. He strangles Martin. He is completely mad. The movie ends with a man calling to the asylum for a job interview. Starr invites him in.

This is really entertaining and it has a great cast. I love these anthologies and this one is great fun.
The stories are fun and the whole movie was very enjoyable from start to finish. I had always meant to watch this movie and I am glad that I finally did. It is a fine example of 1970's horror made well.
Robert Powell was good as Dr. Martin and the twist at the end was pretty obvious, but I liked it all the same. I would recommend this. It is well worth a watch. I will give it a 7/10.