Sarah Roemer is the daughter and sister of people who committed suicide, and is now about to attend the same college as her dead brother. If that’s not bad enough, her dorm is apparently a former insane asylum. It was closed down in the 30s after teenage patients gave their evil doctor (character actor Mark Rolston) a piece of their deranged minds. Gee, do you think Roemer and her new college pals (all with their own crosses to bear) are gonna be haunted by the ghost of the loony doctor and picked off one-by-one? Randall Sims plays the schmuck who is assigned to showing the newbies around, and is a lot less charming than he thinks he is.
This horror flick from the reasonably respectable genre specialist David R. Ellis is certainly nothing new. Its central idea is beyond ridiculous- a college dorm that used to be an insane asylum? I mean, come on. And the actual plot steals from ‘Urban Legend’, the remake of ‘The House on Haunted Hill’, and even ‘A Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors’.
Whilst few of these characters are likeable, they are still among the more interesting horror movie protagonists I’ve come across in what seems like forever. Travis Van Winkle as Tommy, the biggest a-hole I’ve come across in ages, is a scream. He’s so unbelievably obnoxious that it manages to be hilarious and very, very entertaining. His first scene has him complimenting a girl’s breasts ‘I’m just puttin’ that out there!’. God bless him. There’s even a little depth afforded to his character, too, later on. Admittedly the performances are forgettable outside of Van Winkle, but like I said, the characters are interesting.
The cinematography is pretty good if a bit filter-happy. I guess I’m just gonna have to give in on that one, aren’t I? ‘Coz everyone’s adopting the technique now, especially in horror. Furthermore, the cinematographer gets points taken off for attractively lensing Roemer’s nude shower scene but filming it in such a way that it’s too cloudy and water-filled to see a goddamn thing! It might’ve been an artistic move, but I’m sorry buddy, nudity before art, always. Nice cameo by the monster from ‘Lost’ though, and a cookie to anyone who gets that joke.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Derivative insane asylum flick, where once again the back-story, clichéd as it is, is still far more interesting than the bulk of the film.
