Asylum (1972)

Country of Origin: UK/USA
Year of Production: 1972
Running Times: 88m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Directed by: Roy Ward Baker

CREW

PRODUCTION
Copyright: Amicus Productions Ltd. MCMLXXII [1972]
Production Companies: Harbor Productions Inc. presents an Amicus production
Executive Producer: Gustave Berne
Produced by: Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky
Production Manager: Teresa Bolland
Unit Manager: Ivo Nightingale [uncredited]

SCRIPT
Written by: Robert Bloch

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Anthony Waye
Continuity: Pamela Davies

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Denys Coop
Camera Operator: Neil Binney

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Peter Tanner

MUSIC
Music Composed, Arranged and Conducted by: Douglas Gamley

SONGS AND ADDITIONAL MUSIC
extracts from "A Night on Bare Mountain" and "Pictures at an Exhibition" [both uncredited]
By Modest Mussorgsky

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Norman Bolland
Sound Editor: Clive Smith
Dubbing Mixer: Robert Jones
RCA Sound Systems

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Wardrobe Mistress: Bridget Sellers
Chief Make-up: Roy Ashton
Chief Hairdresser: Joan Carpenter

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Ernie Sullivan [uncredited]

TITLES AND OPTICALS
Titles by: G.S.E. Ltd.

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Tony Curtis
Set Dresser: Fred Carter

LOCATIONS
Produced at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Middlesex, England

CASTING
Casting Director: Ronnie Curtis

CAST

opening credits

starring
Peter Cushing
Britt Ekland
Herbert Lom
Patrick Magee
Barry Morse
Barbara Parkins
Robert Powell
Charlotte Rampling
Sylvia Syms
Richard Todd
James Villiers

with
Geoffrey Bayldon
Ann Firbank
Megs Jenkins
John Franklyn-Robbins
Sylvia Marriott
Daniel Jones
Frank Forsyth
Tony Wall

end credits

Frozen Fear
Barbara Parkins (Bonnie)
Richard Todd (Walter)
Sylvia Sims (Ruth)

The Weird Taylor
Peter Cushing (Smith)
Barry Morse (Bruno)
Ann Firbank (Anna)
John Franklyn-Robbins (Stebbins)

Lucy Comes To Stay
Britt Ekland (Lucy)
Charlotte Rampling (Barbara)
James Villiers (George)
Megs Jenkins (Miss Higgins)

Manninkins of Horror
Herbert Lom (Dr Byron)
Patrick Magee (Dr Rutherford)
Robert Powell (Dr Martin)
Geoffrey Bayldon (Max)

Dr Martin arrives at a psychiatric hospital for a job interview. Dr Rutherford and his shifty orderly inform him that one of the staff, Dr Starr, has gone insane and is now incarcerated in the hospital; if Martin wants the job, he must decide which one of four patients is the missing doctor. He hears the stories of a murdered wife who returns from the grave looking for revenge; a tailor who makes a most unusual suit; a woman who comes to believe that her malevolent brother is conspiring against her; and a man who builds toy robots with suspiciously realistic human heads.

One of Amicus' best films, this quartet of Bloch tales has the obligatory duff episode in Lucy Comes To Stay (every omnibus film seems to have one) but makes up for it with Baker's impressive use of the claustrophobic confines of the the asylum and, as ever, Bloch's unique brand of black humour. A superb cast working at the peak of their talents helps too, as does the excellent twist ending.

UK
Video Distributors: Guild; Vipco (VIP034)
DVD Distributor: Vipco (VIP1034DVD)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Cinerama
Laserdisc Distributor: Image (ID 7142 FL)
Video Distributors: Allied Artists Entertainment Group; Facets Multimedia; Image Entertainment Inc; Interglobal Video; Prism Entertainment; TNM

Finland
Rating: banned in 1973

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating X (with no cuts)

USA
Rating: PG
MPAA: 23322

1973
Berlin International Film Festival
Interfilm Award - Recommendation: Forum of New Cinema (Roy Ward Baker) - winner
OCIC Award - Recommendation: Forum of New Cinema (Roy Ward Baker) - winner

1973
January
15: Sweden - theatrical release

2001
February
19: UK - video release (Vipco (VIP034)); DVD release (Vipco (VIP1034DVD))

You have nothing to lose but your mind.

A polite warning: This House is Not a Home!

Asylum - Irrgarten des Schreckens - German title
Hospitalet - Swedish title
House of Crazies - US 1980 re-release title
House on the Strand - German video title
Morte dietro il cancello, La - Italian title
Refugio macabro - Spanish title

PERIODICALS

Ecran 74 no.26 (June 1974) pp.64-65 (France)
illustrated credits, review (by G. Lenne)

Halls of Horror no.27 p.16 (UK)
review

Video Watchdog no.64  (October 2000) pp.6-7 (USA)
illustrated review (by Tim Lucas)

BOOKS

Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood - Editor: Allan Bryce (UK: Stray Cat Publishing (2001))
credits, synopsis, production notes, review

Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror p.246
credits, review

The Director's Cut - Roy Ward Baker (UK: Reynolds and Hearn (2000))
production notes

Elliot's Guide to films on Video p.39
credits, review

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.28
credits, review

Horror Film Handbook - Alan Frank pp.14-15
credits, review

Peter Cushing - Deborah Del Vecchio and Tom Johnson (USA: McFarland (1992))
credits, synopsis, production notes, review

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.18
credits

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

anthologies, psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists, blindness, paranoia, dismemberment, robots

CONTRIBUTORS

Roger Keightley; Kevin Lyons

Last Updated: 4 April, 2010