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!

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.

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.

My friend/roommate came home with a copy of this from the local Blockbuster. So we all sat down to watch it. My other roommate fell asleep (shows how much she enjoyed it) within the first few minutes, I was actually intrigued at the intro.The camera-work was interesting, a mix of made-for-TV and artsy-fartsy, and I thought that perhaps it would be a great movie... Well It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't as bad as others have said...Without leaving huge spoilers, I'll say that the end of the movie left me with a huge 'huh?!' and some fairly predictable twists, but the acting was fairly good, and the roles well played...My only main complaint with the movie was that the end made very little sense, and not in a good way... Lost Highway, Memento, those movies left me partially confused, but very thoughtful... This movie just made me want to go and bash my head against something sharp... If you're looking for a head-spin, this may just be the movie for you, otherwise... Check it out if you've exhausted your other choices.