Ah, the 80’s, a decade when horror flicks were at their peek.  Well, if you consider a cinematic peek to be slasher movies getting churned out every weekend capitalizing on young movie goers and making a bloody mockery of various holidays (April’s Fools Day, Happy Birthday To Me, New Year’s Evil, etc.)  I sure as hell know I do.  Call these flicks "cheesy", "campy", or just plain "retarded", I can’t help but to call them fun.  This next review is of a movie that came out in 1987, when people were starting to get a bit sick of the slasher craze entitled Doom Asylum.

This movie is a definite "body count" flick.  Hell, it advertises that very fact on the back of the DVD!  However, despite its predictability and the fact that the main villain is a bit of a rip off of Freddy Krueger in his "kill a young punk then spout a one liner" shtick, this movie can be alot of fun at times.  It features Kristin Davis of Sex in the City playing a small part of a somewhat ditzy psychology buff in a completely pointless role.  I’m also going to point out that this flick was put out by  an independent label known as Code Red DVD , which are known for their re-releases of  80’s cheese on DVD.  They  just went through a new distributor and should be back very soon  releasing cult 80’s films that have been long forgotten.  Check them out!

The Plot:

The movie starts out with a couple speeding down a rural road in a fancy car.  Turns out the man who’s driving the car is some sort of yuppie who has everything going for him, that is until his careless driving puts him in a horrible wreck where his significant other is killed and he himself is badly maimed.  He awakens in a coroner’s office as a bloody and injured mess, and for some reason (perhaps he realizes that he awoke to having bloody Play Doh prosthetics on his chest) kills the coroner and his assistant.  Fast forward a decade or so later, a group of kids decide to have a party at an abandoned asylum, which is actually a pretty cool location to shoot a film like this.  They meet up with a hilarious all-girl band known as Tina and the Tots who are playing shitty music in an abandoned asylum for whatever reason.  Thrown in a lead singer who’s tough as nails and is wearing a "torpedo tits" bra and you have some over the top comedic moments.  Anyway, this asylum is supposedly inhabited by "The Coroner" who’s the yuppie guy who’s still alive and ready to kill. Of course, all of the kids get to meet him face to face and die some pretty nasty deaths.  That basically the gist of it, not exactly rocket science.

The DVD:

•  Image
  • The film looks like it may have been shot on video (it wasn’t), and there is some minor print damage.  Looks like a made for TV movie in some ways as far as image quality is concerned.  Still, this is probably better than the film has ever looked. Presented in 1.33:1  6.5 out of 10

• Sound
  • Presented in Dolby Stereo.  Sounds somewhat muffled at times like a VHS tape, but overall nothing really offensive.  7 out of 10

• Extras
  • I actually really enjoyed the interview segment with the director Richard Friedman and producer.  He was very honest about the film, including the inclusion of old black and white footage that the Coroner watches just to pad the films running time.  Also Code Red has some nice trailers here as well.  7 out of 10

The Bottom Line:

Well, take a standard 80’s slasher, put some forced humor in it, have actors that are stiff as a board, and have some things that make little sense (one of the girls decides to call her boyfriend "Mom" for the majority of the film.  Yes, I don’t know why either) and you have Doom Asylum.  The killings weren’t that bad, but the plot was borderline non-existent.  This was suppose to the a horror comedy though, or at least thats the way it was marketed.  This movie is really one that should be enjoyed with a six pack of good beer and some low expectations.  Somewhere in the middle though, there’s some fun to be had. I give the overall package a:

6 out of 10

Technorati Tags: Horror, DVD, Slasher, Doom Asylum, Cheesy