Stonehearst Asylum

	Saturday, April 20th, 2024
      
	Subscribe
	Advertise

Stonehearst Asylum

Studio: Millennium Entertainment
Directed by Brad Anderson

Oct 22, 2014 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

A greenhorn doctor by the name of Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) arrives at the Stonehearst Asylum on Christmas Eve, 1899. The remote institution is situated in a treacherous marsh, and is home to the unwanted members of Victorian England’s upper class – wealthy widows, handicapped heirs, and affluent murderers – and seldom sees visitors from the outside. The asylum is run by Dr. Silas Lamb (Ben Kingsley), whose unorthodox methods for treatment of the insane strike Newgate as strange but humanizing. The younger physician falls in love with a beautiful patient (Kate Beckinsale) admitted to Stonehearst for debilitating hysteria; as he settles into the hospital’s unusual routines, Newgate uncovers the asylum’s sinister truth.

Gore and violence are passed over for a constant feeling of dread which surrounds our heroes, giving Stonehearst Asylum the feel of an old-fashioned Hammer horror flick. Based very loosely on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” director Brad Anderson (The Machinist) and writer Joseph Gangemi bring several inventive twists to their take on the story. Ben Kingsley is particularly menacing as the dour asylum director, and David Thewlis (Naked) as his crass enforcer. (The surprisingly noteworthy cast also includes supporting roles for Michael Caine and Brendan Gleeson.) The ever-present danger supplied by these two villains pervades the film’s tone, upping the tension from Newgate’s arrival at the complex through the unexpected finale. Stonehearst Asylum is an effective period thriller, more than worthy of your next seasonal horror marathon.

www.stonehearstasylum.com