Dark Asylum Blu Ray Review (Darkside Releasing)

Dark Asylum (aKa Return to Death Row) is a 2001 horror film co-written and directed by Gregory Gieras (The Prince and the Surfer, The Tin Soldier, The Whispering, Little Insects, and Centipede!). It was co-written by D.B. Smith. It was produced by Patrick Ewald (Sunset Strip Killers, Dorothea, Ed Kemper, Die’ced: Reloaded, Turbo Kid, Tales of Halloween, Big Ass Spider!, Extra Ordinary, and Satanic Hispanics). A brilliant psychiatrist Maggie Belham (played by: Paulina Porizkova from Thursday, Her Alibi, and Arizona Dream) supervised by Dr. Fallon (played by: Jürgen Prochnow from Dune, Das Boot, Judge Dredd, The Keep, and In the Mouth of Madness) faces a terrifying battle of wits against a sadistic serial killer known as The Thrasher (played by: Larry Drake from the Darkman franchise, Dr. Giggles, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Tales from the Crypt, and L.A. Law) who escapes during her evaluation. Trapped inside a darkened asylum with no way out, she must navigate deadly threats and outsmart the killer with the help of an unknown janitor Quitz (played by: Judd Nelson from The Breakfast Club, New Jack City, St. Elmo’s Fire, and The Dark Backward) to survive!!!! Dark Asylum was basically buried with a direct to video home video release. It actually had more than a few familiar faces in it so I am really surprised that it didn’t get pushed more during it’s original run. It was directed by Gregory Gieras that was comfortable doing lower budget productions on a limited time frame. It’s a simple horror thriller that sticks to it’s main location. The script takes advantage of it’s mental hospital setting and it makes things rather interesting. Lead actor Larry Drake is no stranger to playing a villain. He was the better ones to do it during the 80’s and 90’s in bigger efforts. He’s the reason to check out Dark Asylum. The Thrasher is a quality serial killer and real life monster. He really takes control of everything in this after it all falls apart for the unlucky staff. Lead actress Paulina Porizkova is solid as the feisty psychiatrist Dr. Maggie Belham. She was in a few more high profile movies back in the day, I thought she would have had a bigger career but it just didn’t happen. Regardless, she does look great here and she provides a real problem for the lunatic in this isolated environment. Judd Nelson shows up as the mysterious janitor Quitz. He provides some serious help for the struggling doctor. He is a little questionable himself, He’s clearly a fellow inmate posing as the janitor. He is extremely unknown with not much background information so it makes the role stand out a little more. He’s an unlikely hero in this crazy scenario. The rest of the supporting cast includes Jürgen Prochnow, Jeff Burr (From a Whisper to a Scream), Jake Eberle (The Truman Show), Todd Sandler (House), Earl Carroll (The Wedding Singer), Maria Rotaru (Modigliani), Shelly Gant (Implicated), Radu Bânzaru (Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes), and Claudiu Trandafir (Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis). Dark Asylum has a strong opening where notorious murderer The Thrasher is finally caught after his reign of terror. It’s an impactful start to this psychological journey. The main bad guy is actually very smart and creative when he takes over. This independent film gets straight to the point and it doesn’t try to be anything complicated. It knows exactly what it’s doing and trying to accomplish. Dark Asylum has some decent violence and gore but don’t expect anything too graphic in this. It’s more about the psychological rather than gruesome situations. It has a thrilling vibe to it all and it keeps itself unpredictable for the most part. This has always been disrespected over the years and I honestly don’t understand why. It’s way better than most reviews that I’ve seen for it since it was put together. Yeah, it’s on the cheaper side when it comes to it’s overall budget but I feel like the main cast makes up for the lack of funds. They were pumping out these smaller efforts at the time for the rental store and home video market but this is better than a good amount of the competition at the time. Dark Asylum is very entertaining and it’s lots of fun. It still has solid replay value. It’s worth checking out multiple times so don’t let those negative criticism fool you before making your own opinion on it, it’s currently streaming on Plex and Fawesome. This high definition presentation from Darkside Releasing in association with Shoreline Entertainment is definitely a huge step above from it’s older 2002 DVD release from Lionsgate. It has the “Official Trailer” for Dark Asylum. It also has a Shoreline Entertainment “Trailer Reel”. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including Moviezyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!