Asylum of the Damned – also known as Hellborn and Satan – is a 2003 American supernatural horror film written by Matt McCombs, directed by Philip J. Jones and starring Bruce Payne, Matt Stasi, Tracy Scoggins, Julia Lee, Tom Lister, Jr., Bill McKinney, and Kyle T. Heffner.
A young psychology student, James Bishop ((Matt Stasi) is recruited by Dr. McCorty (Bruce Payne) to work at St. Andrews Mental Hospital and given the chance to care for mentally ill patients.
Bishop’s enthusiasm for his new job soon changes into concern when some of the patients die mysteriously and the behaviour of his colleagues becomes odd. He soon realises that a demon has taken over the minds of the patients and that his colleagues are allowing it to harvest them…
Reviews:
“There are certain things horror movies shouldnt do. One is to give us a good look at the main monster/demon/ghost/baddie within the first few minutes (particularly when, as in this case, its clearly a bloke in a rubbish costume). Another big no-no in my book is jam-packing the cast with an array of the worst actors in the history of film-making […] Hellborn does both. Hellborn is a very, very bad movie..” Gary Panton, Movie Gazette
“Thankfully, the whole affair is short, but too much exposition shortchanges the climax and leads to an outrageous cop-out ending that makes no sense. It seems like something vomited out of a freshman creative writing class. In the end, Asylum of the Damned, despite its brevity, feels much longer than it actually is.” David Johnson, DVD Verdict
“The hospital staff, the inmates, the director, and the audience all know that there is a big snarling beast in the basement. So what is the point of dragging this movie on and on? Yeesh. By the time our hero figures out that there’s a possibly interesting movie hiding in the basement, the audience is sound asleep. They roll the beast out once or twice but he doesn’t do much. They probably disturbed his naptime.” Dr. Gore’s Movie Reviews
“What a cliché-ridden mess. I knew that was going to be bad when they reveal the big bad demon in the beginning of the movie and had nothing better to top it. The whole point of the Harvester, the aforementioned demon, doesn’t make sense.” Matt McCombs, Need Coffee
“The demon actually did resemble the cover-art in the basic shape, which is a bit shocking; however, the problem with this was the fact that he looked as though he was completely made out of plastic. No fleshy look was given to him, no sort of skin, just a coating of plastic. Helping to bring his quality down was the fact that his eyes were seemingly powered by two red Christmas bulbs, in an effect that would barely beat out a jack-o-lantern in special effects magic.” Chad, Movies Made Me
Cast and characters:
- Bruce Payne as Dr. McCort
- Matt Stasi as James Bishop
- Tracy Scoggins as Helen
- Julia Lee as Lauren
- Tom Lister, Jr. as Smithy (Listed as Tom ‘Tiny’ Lister)
- Gregory Wagrowski as Hadley
- Bill McKinney as Gas Station Attendant
- Randall England as Harry Smith
- Kyle T. Heffner as Dr. Peter Francis
Filming locations:
Norwalk, California, USA
Racine, Wisconsin, USA
