Anderson’s Asylum Walks in Corman and Price’s Poe Footsteps
Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) has come to the secluded Stonehearst Asylum to learn about being an Alienist, a physician specializing in the treatment of the clinically insane. He is immediately taken under the wing of Dr. Silas Lamb (Ben Kingsley) whose treatments are nothing like the ones he learned about while studying at Oxford. But, as the man loves to state, it’s the dawn of a new age, the 1900s just around the corner, so looking at insanity under a new lens and with fresh eyes is hardly as revolutionary as Edward initially thinks it to be.
PHOTO: Millennium Entertainment
But all is not as it appears at Stonehearst. No one is who they say, even enchanting patient Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale), and in the bowels of the asylum are a bevy of incarcerated individuals, including an authoritative fatherly figure (Michael Caine) everyone seems to defer to. Now Edward must figure out who is who and what is what, balancing his positive impressions of Silas’ modern methods with the horrifying truths relating to the identities of the prisoners who have all but been forgotten while entombed in the basement.
As it is based on a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, you know going into Stonehearst Asylum that things are going to be more than a little odd. Directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Transsiberian), written by Joe Gangemi (Wind Chill), the movie is more psychological thriller then it is a straight-ahead horror yarn, playing with expectations and conventions as Edward navigates a spiraled path that has him traveling in ever more constrictive circles. It’s more fun than it maybe ought to be, the filmmaker’s confident and assured touch along with the strength of the all-star cast elevating things a level or two higher than they otherwise would have ascended to.
And is that cast ever spectacular! Not only do we have Kingsley, Caine, Beckinsale and Sturgess, we’ve also got the likes of Brendan Gleeson, David Thewlis, Sinéad Cusack and Jason Flemyng in key supporting roles, each having a grand time waltzing through this Poe-inspired playground, delivering the requisite bits of gleefully ghoulish mayhem whenever they can. Kingsley and Thewlis are particularly good, the former traversing his character’s mentally imbalanced interior terrains with superlative dexterity, paying deft homage to genre icon Vincent Price while at the same time making Dr. Lamb irreverently his own.
The film also looks terrific. Anderson has always had a keen visual eye (even in the case of misfires like The Call and Vanishing on 7th Street) and Stonehearst Asylum is no exception. He allows production designer Alain Bainée (Blancanieves) room to manufacturer locations oozing gothic authenticity. Additionally, cinematographer Tom Yatsko’s (The Call) camerawork is stylish yet also doesn’t end up calling undue attention to itself.
PHOTO: Millenium Entertainment
All of which makes it even more disappointing when things go off the rails during the final act. Twist piles upon twist which ultimately pile upon even more twists seemingly just for the sake of adding bits of craziness that are, in the end, not necessary and dilute the emotional power of the terrors assaulting Edward and Eliza. The final reveal is indeed terrific but just as importantly it isn’t a surprise, either. The flashbacks fleshing out one character’s backstory are also a distraction, and while they do have some power they also add superfluous bits of exposition that do little to help the audience learn anything perceptive viewers haven’t already figured out on their own.
Thankfully that last scene is indeed marvelous, while the first two-thirds go a long way towards helping make the unfocused, slapdash third act not nearly as disappointing as it otherwise would have been. Anderson’s deft touch coupled with the strong performances from most of the all-star cast smooth over a lot of these problems, allowing for Poe’s wickedly macabre point-of-view to shine through the majority of the time. Stonehearst Asylum isn’t up to standards set by the Roger Corman / Vincent Price films of yore, and that’s okay for few films can equal what that iconic duo achieved during their legendary partnership, this psychologically twisted little effort still offering up just enough in the way of thrills and chills to make a rainy-day matinee viewing worthwhile.
Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)
