[Insanitarium]
Plot:After he's institutionalized in order to cover for his sister, a young man encounters a doctor who is turning his patients into flesh-eating psychopaths.

Cast:Jesse Metcalfe, Kiele Sanchez, Olivia Munn, Molly Bryant, Peter Stormare, Dale Waddington Horowitz.

My Thoughts:Pret-ty good.

Review:Jesse Metcalfe (John Tucker Must Die) stars in "Insanitarium", a film about a young man who after being denied and turned down his visiting requests - numerous times by the mental hospital where his sister resides...decides the only way to see her now is to become one of the mentally handicapped. So he stages a scene in a park where he's immediately apprehended by authorities and taken to the mental clinic. Now that he's been commited...he can try and talk to his sister. But while there...Jack discovers that the head of the insanitarium played by Peter Stormare is conducting unethical, dangerous, and downright evil experiments on the patients.

Now Jack has to find and then talk his sister out of staying before she becomes the Doctor's next patient. "Insanitarium" as a horror film doesn't get into the thick of things right away. Whether that's for better or worse, that depends on what kind of viewer you are. If you like things to get off to a fast start in your films, then "Insanitarium" isn't for you really. But if you don't mind movies which gradually move closer and closer to unleashing total madness during the final 30 minutes...then you'll like this movie. The film relies mostly on the performance of Jesse Metcalfe through it's early and middle parts.

Metcalfe carries the film well enough, as the young kid who has placed himself in a screwed up situation just to rescue a loved one. This part of the story really puts you at ease with his character, and allows you to root for him the entire way without second guessing anything. A few genre familiars make an appearance in the film, including two familiar faces from the old "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" tv show...and one from one of After Dark 2006's better films "Penny Dreadful". Only one of them gets a significant amount of screentime though, and plays one of the betetr villains I've seen in a B horror film in quite some time.

The supporting cast around Metcalfe do a decent job, but like I mentioned...the few genre familiars, and Stormare as the mad doctor are the cream of the supporting cast crop. But it really isn't that necessary for this film considering it only focuses on a few characters, those of which are the focal point of the story and who just so happen to be it's best performers. What really gives "Insanitarium" it's edge though are the mental patients inside the facility which Jack confines himself to to rescue his sister. Two of them stand out amongst the others, and are extremely entertaining to watch...especially when they interact with Jack.

This gives the film some dark humor at times when things get a bit too intense or slow down a tad bit too much. The patients in the hospital are already crazy as it is...but the experiments by the doctor, which involve dosing them with a serum, with a side of electroshock...are both making them worse. In fact, it's making them so much worse that they are slowly deteriorating mentally and becoming flesh and blood craving cannibalistic lunatics. Now I'm sure most will find this part of the films plot to be stale, boring, and overused.

As there are a ton of B-horror films which use this same plot arc of some drug, serum, or related liquid-creation turning otherwise normal people into zombies. I didn't mind that subplot too much though, as the fact most of these people were crazy already was an interesting wrinkle thrown into the overall story design. "Insanitarium" eventually lets the blood and gore fly, and the insane asylum loons loose in it's very lengthy, intense, and exciting finale which is one of the coolest climaxes I've seen from a B-horror film in quite awhile. The performances by what's left of the cast at that point are also stepped up and taken to the next level, which further enhances the pictures final act.

There are also some really funny lines uttered during the pics closing act which add a bit of humor to the otherwise chaotic, blood, and gory finish of the film. I was a bit disappointed with how the films final minute or two unfolded though. I really thought they had a great thing going had they chosen to end it differently, but the films last 60 to 120 seconds are for the most part, overdone.

"Insanitarium" is a unique film, and certainly doesn't look to past horror efforts for ideas but instead, does it's own thing and has fun doing it. Couple the original plot and story with the above average performance of one Jesse Metcalfe...and you've got quite the entertaining 90-minute gorefest for a slow Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Positives:Metcalfe's performance, two in particular of the asylum patients are funny, creepy, and entertaining for most of the film, the films final half hour are loaded with blood, gore, and nastiness. A decent story.

Negatives:Like I said...the films final minute or two ruined what could've been a good ending.

Overall:Three stars.





( Talk about it in the Forums!)



( Back to the main page)