The Amityville Asylum

Review FromWikinut
Since the Amityville concept is adapted from true history, filmmakers have tried to exploit and extrapolate it into making horror movies that could captivate as real stories. But being the eleventh Amityville movie in line, the ‘Amityville Asylum’ has only managed to present a novel story ineffectively.

Unmaking Amityville's Horror into Lunacy

Amityville Asylum Poster

The Amityville’s history has become so redundant and overcooked in the last four decades that it seems to have completely neutralised the interest buds of horror fans. Till date, there have been numerous sequels, remakes and even spoofs of the captivating idea known as the haunting of the Amityville Mansion. Other than the original make of 1979 called ‘The Amityville Horror’, none other could climb up to the mark of a greater prominence. Even the 2011 remake of the original couldn’t garner the same popularity level, which is normally the case for all remakes. The first Amityville Horror was a thriller which came vaguely close to depicting a historical incident. What followed in sequels and remakes of this were only fictionalised versions or extrapolations of the very same history. The 2013 version of the Amityville called the ‘Amityville Asylum’ is an attempted new story using the recrudesce history of Amityville. In the movie, it seems that history is only used as a precursor and reassertion for all the impending apparitions and psychic incidents. The movie in fact, begins with the brief imageries of the infamous murders in Amityville alternating with the introductory credits. But eventually, these bloody clippings play no part at all in the movie because the story begins afresh with the Amityville Mansion being broken down and with an asylum built in its place. By the impressive presentation of the credits in the beginning there is an initial appeal developed. But what follows further is more of a disappointment than anything else.

Other than an original story of ‘Amityville Asylum’, there is not much worth reckoning from this movie. A teenager Ms. Lisa Templeton is appointed as a janitor in the asylum which is built on the infamous ‘Amityville Mansion’. Being the protagonist, this teenager becomes the subject of several ghostly apparitions and bloody rendezvouses. This first apparition is that of a 13 year old girl and then she gets another apparition of an old lady who had died in the asylum the same morning. Then, she has a nightmare about the haunted place, similar to that of the original Amityville. An ex-witch who is an inmate in the asylum prognosticates striking truths about her. In all this, bloody things start happening, with deaths occurring in the asylum, the protagonist gets a bloodied face, people become cannibals and people contract fits. But strangely and unrealistically, the protagonist doesn’t intend on quitting her new job. Even more strangely, she shows no sign of freaking out. The very convoluted story is knit together by stray incidents that connote to supernatural occurrences in the start, which transform into bloody occurrences and then it ultimately gets described as psychological complications. The more number of people in the asylum allows the portrayal of more number of deaths, but the darkness in which these deaths occur debilitates the curiosity of the onlooker. At one point of the movie, when the detailing of the history of the Amityville Mansion ensues, the rendering becomes quite like a documentary. For a horror movie enthusiast, such detailing deprives him the appropriate entertainment.

There have been science fiction horrors, splatter horrors, supernatural horrors and psychological horrors. Often a horror is not typically anyone of these, but a mixture of either two or more of these. ‘Amityville Asylum’ is more a case of a confused blend of a splatter horror, a supernatural horror and a psychological horror. At some instant, one would believe that the supernatural scenes are true. Just then, the psychological facts would overwhelm and coerce the believer into becoming a disbeliever in a rather discomforting manner. Added to this, the blood splatter scenes only pose as unessential supplements carrying very little meaning. The lack of a proper conviction has quite led the audience into a dilemma of sorts, to get out of which, would either mean accepting the science of psychology or having faith in the mystery of supernatural. Even if one is chosen, the story would seem to confound by contradicting the choice.

With every passing scene of the ‘Amityville Asylum’, the drawbacks of an intended captivator come pronounced. One early observation of such a drawback is the amateurish video quality. The blurred video at certain occasions give a feel of a sting operation or a view of a spy cam like that of the movie ‘Paranormal Activity’. The lack of usage of a background score only sums up this feeling. Although there is background music used, the dearth of it tends to take the movie into the genre of a stage drama. The inappropriate music even seems to misplace this horror as a mystery story. The effect of a lay drama becomes even more exaggerated with the delivery of a greater number of dialogues by the actors. Generally, silence is used as a potent effect in drawing sudden scares in horror movies. But ‘Amityville Asylum’ has become a rare exception to this. With greater number of failed spectres, the ‘Amityville Asylum’ has reasserted that the Amityville concept has become an overused and aged idea for the audience’s liking. Perhaps, it is time to let off the Amityville concept or maybe a new concoction by the same name is needed.
Trailer on Vimeo
Full movie on FFilms.org