Movie Review: Stonehearst Asylum (2014)

Going into this movie, I thought I would get an asylum thriller in the same vein of "Girl, Interrupted" or "Shutter Island."  It turned out to be so much more than that.  Truly it looks and feels like a horror film and the gothic setting lends to that, but it featured nothing that would make one turn away.  Essentially, a doctor shows up to work at an Asylum, meets some squirrelly people and then discovers the inmates have taken over.  You'd think I just gave the story away, but no, not even close.

The film pulls you along with the struggle between who is worse?  The mentally deranged patients who are now in control or the locked-up staff who made up methods of 'curing' said patients?  The problem is, like with any good story, both sides have people who take things too far as well as people you are hoping will come out on top.  Nail-biter!!

If this twisty little story isn't enough to interest you in this eerie conundrum, maybe the cast will?  It stars Kate Beckinsale (Underworld series) and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe), as well as Sir Ben Kingsley and Sir Michael Caine.  Dude, that's two knights, for real.  David Thewlis and Brendan Gleeson also make appearances (Americans will know them both from the Harry Potter series).  So, you know-'dat cast.  It's based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe called "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether."  Having read the story, they took what was there and built an entirely new story around it.  The ending left me grinning.  Well done.

MEMORABLE SCENE:
So many memorable scenes...possibly the bonfire scene?  So much was happening then.

QUOTE:
Edward Newgate: "You're mad!"
Silas Lamb: "We're all mad Dr Newgate.  Some are simply not mad enough to admit it."

RATING:
I'll recommend this to anyone as I had a wonderful time watching it.  For that, I'm giving it a 9 out of 10.  I know, right?  High praise.  Watch it and tell me if you agree.