Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

spencer_dylan My girlfriend and I were bored by all the obvious choices on the shelf the other night so we picked this one based on the poster... the movie grabs you from the dramatic opening and pulls you into this weird dark world of an asylum/kid's orphanage in the woods (something never made 100% clear, but oh well). flashbacks were spooky, the soundtrack pretty tight, and the claustrophobic scenes in the asylum itself were effective. bottom line: Famous actress is abducted by two misfits and made to star in their home movie about her secret childhood-- before she was famous. the two misfits are brothers with a strange relationship of their own. This movie is entertaining and certainly worth a viewing for those who like like art-house horror. we're sick of wolf creek and all the blood and guts... its a nice change to watch a horror movie that is more psychological and atmospheric than just a blood bath. granted, this movie isn't great, but it sure doesn't suck as much as everyone seems to think either! check it out!

Crap_Connoisseur For a highly talented actor, C. Thomas Howell has appeared in more bad movies than Daryl Hannah. A once promising filmography has slowly transformed into a veritable cornucopia of straight-to-video B grade releases. And I, for one, think it's awesome! C. Thomas Howell is doing things his own way and through some strange miracle always turns the most turgid stinker into an enjoyable experience. Having said all that, the man really had his work cut out for him on "Asylum Days".This film is so ridiculously implausible that it makes other C. Thomas Howell trash epics (Net Games, anyone?) look like Rear Window. A quick run down of the plot goes something like this: Daniel is obsessed with Lori, an actress, and has written a screenplay about her life. When Daniel's psychotic brother, Nathan, gets released from prison, he decides to help further Daniel's film-making ambitions by kidnapping Lori and forcing her to "act" in Daniel's film.John Waters dealt with a similar theme in his far superior Cecil B. Demented. The major difference being that John Waters is a great director with enough intelligence to turn his film into a comedy, while the hack that made this expects the audience to find it vaguely realistic. Things go from bad to worse when a slasher subplot is tacked on to the end of the film, complete with two ridiculous detectives and possibly the most inane conclusion in cinema history.As bad as the film is, it is not without it's (guilty) pleasures. C. Thomas Howell throws himself into the role of psycho Nathan and is, in one memorable scene, hilariously vile to Daniel's Indian neighbour. Deborah Zoe spends most of the film looking like Jennifer Garner on Vicodin, but comes alive towards the end of the film to show some promise as a future scream queen. More than anything, I enjoyed the sheer ridiculousness of the film, everything from the poorly handled flashbacks to the lame scenes on the set of Lori's movie shout out "straight-to-video".Fans of C. Thomas Howell will forgive him for wasting 100 minutes of their life on Asylum Days. I fear that other may not be quite as forgiving.

uds3 Best viewed expecting the worst and let's face it, this title IS only ever going to grace Blockbuster's bargain-bin.Approaching it as I did (having acquired the DVD yesterday, as part of a "4 for $10" special) with not a little trepidation, I would be lying if I said it was not worth a measly two-bucks fifty! Thomas-Howell has a field-day playing an ex-con with a touch of the demented Jim Carreys that crashes his younger bro's pad, then upgrades to murder and kidnapping simply to help his younger sibling finish his home movie.Admittedly the premise is never matched by the wildly offbeat and fully unhinged denouement which by then has descended into a "Blair Witch" meets "Witchfinder General" compromise.Still, the old lady at the gas station upstages the entire cast with HER few moments on screen. Absolute must-see gem of a cameo. What the purpose of her last scene was however, remains totally unexplained. "Someone up there you know?" asks the cop. "My sister," she replies, getting in the car.WAY better than the 3.8 rating accorded here.

AlonzoHarris Having C. Thomas Howell, you'd think it would be halfway decent. But it's not. Everyone remembers Howell as Pony Boy Curtis from the Outsiders. So, they decide they have to make the audience hate him. The filmmakers try to hard by making Howell a raving psychotic racist. The ending is completely messed up. It leaves the viewer wondering what the psychotic killer has to do with the movie. It starts off as a kidnapping caper and turns into a slasher flick before you can say razzy.Avoid this one. There are better C. Thomas Howell movies out there.