Asylum Blackout Movie Review

Asylum Blackout

Asylum Blackout is a horror thriller directed by Alexandre Courtes. It was first released by the name The Incident in 2011. Then it took the name Asylum Blackout in 2012. 

A scene from the movie Asylum Blackout

Asylum Blackouttells the story of George (Rupert Evans), Max (Kenny Doughty), and Ricky (Joseph Kennedy) —three bandmates who spend their days working in the kitchen of Sans Asylum, a high security mental institution for the criminally insane. Their job includes preparing the foods for the inmates (i.e., the patients) and serving the foods.

Plot: 

The plot of this movie is about a horrifying night in a mental asylum. The leading characters of this movie works as cooks in a mental asylum. Although they serve the patients food from inside a protected room, but sometimes they face the outrageous behaviors from the patients. They are used to this stuffs. In a mental asylum, it is common for patients to behave in very strange or weird ways, but some of patients’ behavior are sometimes more strange than others, sometimes it seems like some of them are manipulating the others.

Things start to get weird on a night of a heavy thunderstorm. One of the leading characters, George was called earlier than his regular duty hours for that day to receive the supplies. The cooks were already done with their for that day and were about to leave. Suddenly the power fails on the asylum and the entry and exit doors get locked for this. Now they were trapped inside the asylum. It could still be okay, unless some of the patients start to get furious and take advantage of this situation. What would u call a house full of mental patients (including maniacs) without any control system? Chaos? Yes, it is. Due to the lack of electricity, the whole control and security systems fail and the stuffs are outnumbered. Some brutal maniacs start to kill the stuffs and soon, the others join the party.

At first, the cooks could fine some hiding places, but not for long. They called the cops for help, but the cops replied that it would take sometime before they reach here, because of the weather. So soon, like the stuffs, they start to keep falling victims of the patients.

The next part of the movie is all about their fighting, their attempts of survival in this hell until any help comes from outside.

My reviews about this movie:

Okay, a movie with a plot like this is supposed to be frightening, and yes it is. The whole film is shown in a dark-ish view, which perfectly matches with the scary plot. The acting of all the main characters (including the maniacs), lighting and the sound effects is a total success to the challenging job of creating a intense violent atmosphere inside the asylum.

You cannot understand this horrifying situation without some very graphic images. So the director has put plenty of them in it. Obviously, the movie will give u a chill. The make ups and the special effects are realistic and u will be able to feel the haunting atmosphere inside the asylum. Please do not watch this movie with children. 

But the most interesting thing about this movie is its ending. If u haven’t seen it already, then from what I’ve written till now, would seem like just another good thriller/horror movie. Actually it is, until the very last minute. I bet, throughout the whole movie, none can ever guess that this might be coming at the end. For me, it was totally unpredictable.

In different reviews, people have written the ending has spoilt this movie. Not for me, I think this ending will make u think about the whole movie again and again. And I liked it.

I kind of find it like an open ending. The director has made most of this movie and has left the ending for our imagination. We may find our own explanation and end the movie according to that. So u can’t just finish seeing this movie. I’ll stay with u for a while after its finished.

So overall, I liked watching this movie and would certainly recommend it, specially to the horror lovers.

Ending Explanation:

I’ve looked over different websites to see how people are explaining the ending. I think, the director has given clue for a clear answer throughout the movie but the clues are too subtle to notice.

Spoiler alart : do not read the below parts if u haven’t seen the movie. To keep the fun intact, i've written the below parts in white font. So if u are very much interested to know, or have already seen the movie and looking for explanations, pls select the below part by pulling the mouse to view the text. 

Anyway, I’m giving some possible explanations about the ending here:

1. George went crazy after the whole incident and imagining what is shown at the ending.

2. George himself is an inmate all along and his normal life and life as a cook is an illusion in his head (or may be his past life). He leads the whole massacre, so there is no H.G., or, H.G. is just a victim. So, he just sees his actions as they are being done by  his alter ego, H.G.

3. When George was knocked out while putting some inmates to their cellar, he imagined the whole thing. So actually there was only the blackout, but no massacre. He kept dreaming it again at the end. 

For those who are interested:
IMDB link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027820/