Directed by Dan T. Hall, Asylum: The Lost Footage, isn’t sure what type of movie it is. It has schizophrenic tendencies–switching from documentary-style interviews to found footage to normal narrative, with Paranormal Witness-esque flashbacks thrown in for good measure.
Asylum: The Lost Footage tells the story of a group of amateur ghost hunters that went missing after they journeyed into an abandoned mental Asylum in search of evidence of the infamous ‘Lady in White’ said to haunt the grounds. Workmen sent to demolish the remains of the vacant structure discover salvageable footage from the group which reveals the missing ghost hunters fate.
While I enjoyed the documentary style shots with the interviews being believable from most of the interviewees, the rest of the movie fell flat for me. The found footage wasn’t shot the best as it kept switching its format. When there’s five in the group and they are all in the shot at the same time in a number of different angles, who was shooting them? (Was there a ghostly sixth person making sure they captured everything?) The static and grainy footage worked, but the flashes of paranormal investigator style shots ruined the “found footage” aspect of it. They didn’t need to keep doing that. Some of the shots were pretty good but it needed to make up what style of filming it was going for.
The cast did an okay job, with no one particularly standing out, but I have seen a lot worse. It did have a few typical scared group clichés such as splitting up and someone falling and hurting their leg so bad they can’t walk. Also after walking past a bunch of graffiti which includes the words “die”, “death this way”, an evil eye on every wall and a pentagram symbol, why would you only question “666” on the wall? It did have one cool shot involving writing on the wall which I won’t spoil with it being one of the only good scenes.
At only sixty-five minutes long it’s short enough to make you watch it all, but it has enough disappointing aspects to make you want those minutes to hurry up.
Unfortunately I would not recommend Asylum: The Lost Footage just because it has so many flaws. The documentary interviews were the best bits but I would rather watch an abundance of actual paranormal shows that deliver this format over this movie.
WICKED RATING: 2/10
Title: Asylum: The Lost Footage
Director(s): Dan T. Hall
Writer(s): Marcia Ellett, Dan T. Hall, Moli Hall
Stars: Tony Bartele, Callie Burk, Ran Burns
Year: 2013
Studio/ Production Co: Cyfuno Ventures, Vizmo Films
Budget: (unknown)
Language: English
Length: 70mins
Sub-Genre: Found Footage
