Asylum (1972)

In order to secure a job at a mental institution, a young psychiatrist must interview four patients inside the asylum.

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writer:

Robert Bloch

Stars:

Barbara Parkins, Richard Todd, Sylvia Syms

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barbara Parkins	...	Bonnie (segment "Frozen Fear")
Richard Todd	...	Walter (segment "Frozen Fear")
Sylvia Syms	...	Ruth (segment "Frozen Fear")
Peter Cushing	...	Smith (segment "The Weird Tailor")
Barry Morse	...	Bruno (segment "The Weird Tailor")
Ann Firbank	...	Anna (segment "The Weird Tailor")
John Franklyn-Robbins	...	Stebbins (segment "The Weird Tailor")
Britt Ekland	...	Lucy (segment "Lucy Comes to Stay")
Charlotte Rampling	...	Barbara (segment "Lucy Comes to Stay")
James Villiers	...	George (segment "Lucy Comes to Stay")
Megs Jenkins	...	Miss Higgins (segment "Lucy Comes to Stay")
Herbert Lom	...	Byron (segment "Mannikins of Horror")
Patrick Magee	...	Dr. Rutherford (segment "Mannikins of Horror")
Robert Powell	...	Dr. Martin (segment "Mannikins of Horror")
Geoffrey Bayldon	...	Max (segment "Mannikins of Horror")

Storyline

A young psychiatrist interviews four inmates in a mental asylum to satisfy a requirement for employment. He hears stories about 1) the revenge of a murdered wife, 2) a tailor who makes a suit with some highly unusual qualities, 3) a woman who questions her sanity when it appears that her brother is conspiring against her, and 4) a man who builds tiny toy robots with lifelike human heads.

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Plot Keywords:

mental institution | british horror | anthology | blindness | insanity | 

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Taglines:

It's not easy breathing in a paper bag...especially if you're only a head.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vermicelli was used for the robots' insides.

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Goofs

When Lucy leaves Barbara's bedroom the first time, the shadow of a moving boom mic is visible against the white bedroom door.

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Quotes

[Barbara's imaginary friend Lucy has just stabbed Barbara's brother and nurse to death]
Lucy: There, Barbara, now you're free. Free of all of them.

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Connections

Follows Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

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Soundtracks

Pictures at an Exhibition
(uncredited)
Music by Modest Mussorgsky
Arranged by Douglas Gamley

User Reviews

Adapting Robert Bloch

4 short story adaptations of Robert Bloch stories. I will look at them in order they appear...

"Frozen Fear": short story of a man who attempts to cut himself off from a loveless marriage in order to take up with his mistress by a rather inventive means of murder only some things don't seem to want to stay dead. Short, but effective and creepy with a terrific ending even if we are required to suspend disbelief quite a bit in a few scenes.

"The Weird Tailor": a tailor desperate for money agrees to, at the request of an unusual elderly customer (played by Peter Cushing), to make a special suit out of a very strange type of fabric. Only when he delivers it, he discovers the elderly customer actually has no money to pay and even more shocking is the true purpose of this bizarre suit. This is the best of these tales. However, to be honest, I much prefer the adaptation from the "Thriller" series.

"Lucy Comes To Stay": a tale of psychosis as Lucy (Charlotte Rampling) returns home from the mental hospital, presumed cured, only it seems the naughty girlfriend who landed Lucy in trouble to begin has started to visit her in secret as well. Actually this is not at all bad, it just runs a little too long for my liking. Still there's some quality about Charlotte Rampling I find irresistible.

"Mannikens of Horror": the framing story for the others in the series as a new doctor visits a mental hospital and discovers that the Doctor who called him there is now a patient in the ward. He's told he can have the job if he can identify which patient upstairs is that Doctor. Finally he comes to believe the individual is a strange fellow who makes small lifelike figures, into which he plans to place his conscience and use as his means of escape. A number of startling twists here, fine stars like Patrick Magee and Herbert Lom, make this both entirely unpredictable and honestly quite good.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 November 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

House of Crazies

Filming Locations:

Burwood Park, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harbour Productions Limited, Amicus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1