Slashing with a snicker, slaughter with a smirk...
The first thing you need to know about Doom Asylum is that it's a film that's willing to make fun of itself, which is one of the main thing I enjoy about 80's B-grade horror films. The acting is overdone, the lines are cheesy, and the kills are practical effect splatterpieces. Doom Asylum feels just like a Troma film...and I fucking love it!
After being in a freak (and very dramatic) car accident that kills his lover, Mitch survives and awakens on the coroner’s slab, he kills the doctors that are dissecting him and takes up residency in an abandoned asylum. Filmed on location at the long-abandoned Essex County Sanitarium in Verona, NJ. The film features an incredibly creepy and realistic atmosphere. The asylum itself is enormous, scarred by neglect and vandalism, and rather scary even though the film takes place in broad daylight. The filmmakers definitely struck gold with this location.
Moving on. A group of teens with nothing better to do decide to check out the place and see if the legend of an insane guy killing people with coroner instruments is true. Surprise! It's true and they're killed off one by one, along with a band that was having "band practice" in the asylum. The kills are rather creative, gory, and have a comical side to them, the killer spouts off one-liners with each kill that are terrible but fitting for this flick. Doom Asylum is an enjoyably bad late 80's amateur effort and is very entertaining if you set your standards low and know what your getting yourself into.
One of the biggest reason that I love Arrow Video is that they take overlooked gems like Doom Asylum and give them new life. This Blu-ray continues Arrow's trend of fantastic releases. The 2K restoration is beautiful and crisp, the clear mono audio works for this film and adds to the hollow setting in the asylum, and like all Arrow releases, there's plenty of bonus features. We get two brand-new commentary tracks, new interviews with actress Ruth Collins, director of photography Larry Revene, and special effects artist Vincent J. Guastini, and various other archival interviews and galleries.
If you love campy, gore filled, and senseless but fun 80's slashers then look no further than Arrow Video's Doom Asylum Blu-ray. I guarantee that you'll end up being completely entertained!
If you thought Sex and the City 2 was a stomach-churner, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Long before playing one of Carrie Bradshaw’s best gal pals, actress Kristin Davis found herself up against an altogether different kind of horror in 1987’s Doom Asylum: a riotous mix of gore, gags and goth girl groups galore!
When a group of horny teens wind up on the grounds of a creepy abandoned asylum, they think they’ve found the perfect place to party. Little do they know that inside the building’s crumbling walls lurks a freakishly deformed maniac, driven to madness by the tragic loss of his fiancée in a car accident. With an array of grisly surgical tools at his disposal, it’s only a matter of time before the youngsters begin meeting various splattery ends at the hands of the ghoulish Coroner.
Helmed by director Richard Friedman (Scared Stiff and Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge), and also starring Penthouse Pet of the Year 1988 Patty Mullen (Frankenhooker), Doom Asylum combines outlandish gore and a wise-cracking villain to create one of the most wildly entertainingly blood-spattered slashers of the late ’80s.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
1.85:1 and 1.33:1 versions of the feature
Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary with screenwriter Rick Marx
Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
Tina’s Terror - a brand new interview with actress Ruth Collins
Movie Madhouse - a brand new interview with director of photography
Larry Revene Morgues & Mayhem - a brand new interview with special make-up effects creator Vincent J. Guastini
Archival Interviews with producer Alexander W. Kogan, Jr., director Richard Friedman and production manager Bill Tasgal
Still Gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourne
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Amanda Reyes