good back-story, and good acting

As Good As It Gets

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

William Girdler made his directorial debut in 1972 with the surprisingly decent exploitation flick Three on a Meathook, and since then basically everything he's directed has gone on to become notorious - though mostly that's because his films are so low quality, not because of any content. That is certainly the case with Asylum of Satan; a mind numbingly bad horror film which features nothing that would shock an audience of young children. The film focuses on a woman who wakes up in asylum, despite her feeling that nothing is wrong with her. The doctor is adamant that she must stay...and it son transpires that there's more to this medical centre than meets the eye. The film is very short; running at under eighty minutes and I am really glad it wasn't longer as the majority of the duration is mind-numbingly boring. The plot basically just plods along for the entire film and the 'twists' to the story do nothing to make the film any more interesting and it gets tiresome quickly. The title does promise an appearance from the dark lord, and the film doesn't disappoint in that respect. It takes a long time to get there, but the ending is at least hilariously campy - the appearance of Satan is memorable for all the wrong reasons, however. Overall, this really is a horrible film and I would recommend it only to hardcore William Girdler fans...if there are any.

Lucina Martin (Carla Borelli) finds herself in Pleasant Hill. It's a sanitarium she was put in after a breakdown she was told happened to her but she can't remember. She find she can't leave--she's locked in her room and the sinister Dr. Specter (Charles Kissinger) won't let her go. Her boyfriend Chris (Nick Jolley) comes to see her but isn't let in. It turns out she's to be sacrificed to Satan...or something. I fell asleep to be honest.Perfectly boring, stupid horror movie. It's badly acted (Jolley is the worst), directed and edited. Lousy lighting too--I couldn't make out what was going on a few times. The script is just silly too. The special effects are laughable--I got a BIG kick of the obvious fake rubber spiders used in one scene. It all ends up with some idiot in one of the most ridiculous costumes I've ever seen playing Satan! It's padded too, even at just 78 minutes, with a pointless and silly montage of Lucina and Chris to show their "love" for each other. And wait until you see actor Kissinger in drag (!!!) playing Martine! And Jolley wears some of the worst 1970s clothes I've ever seen.Maybe I'm being a little too hard on this. It was made on no budget and, by all accounts, everybody went out of their way to do as good a job as possible with no money. Still it sadly doesn't work. Director William Girdler did go on the bigger and better things--so to speak. He later did "Grizzly" and "The Manitou". These were hardly classics but much better than this. A 1 all the way.

So William Girdler's screen debut was running a little slow through 1972 but it's not all that bad! Charles Kissinger is a great actor in which he later appeared in almost of all of Girdler's other films. Nick Jolley superfly hero of the 70's appears also wondering why he was'nt in anything else. ASYLUM OF SATAN is a good film about a girl taken hostage to the Asylum were doctor's zombies and critters run wild! Kissinger plays Satan himself. Give ASYLUM OF SATAN a shot if you are a big fan of Girdler's films. Yes the film is very violent with way too much sex, but hey it's still worth watching.

..it would have won 10 oscars compared to this turkey! I have only one thing to say about this film. BAD!!!