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Thursday, February 13, 2020

Asylum (1972)

A young doctor (Robert Powell) arrives at an asylum to interview for the position of chief doctor. In order to determine his suitability for the posthe is asked to interview four patients. This framing device constitutes the frame work for an anthology of four stories: 1) a man (Richard Todd) and his mistress (Barbara Parkins) plot to murder his wife (Sylvia Syms). 2) A tailor (Barry Morse) is hired by a stranger (Peter Cushing) to make a suit out of a mysterious material. 3) Returning home after being released from the hospital due to a breakdowna young girl (Charlotte Rampling) engages with her best friend (Britt Ekland)who is a bad influence on her. 4) A doctor (Herbert Lom) experiments with soul transference using automatons. Written by Robert Bloch (PSYCHO) and directed by Roy War Baker (QUARTERMASS AND THE PIT). This is one of the very best of those portmanteau horror films of the 1970s made by both Hammer and Amicus. Because anthology films have more than one storythey can often be uneven but in this case all four stories and its framing device are excellent and well acted. It's an accomplished piece of pulp horror and what more can one ask for? With Geoffrey BayldonMegs Jenkins and James Villiers.  

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