2014-06-24

20140624: Horror Review--Paranormal Asylum



Paranormal Asylum: the Revenge of Typhoid Mary
  1. Fundamentals, reception.
    1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 88 minutes, horror.
    2. IMDB: 2.3/10.0 from 325 audience ratings.
    3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and 60% liked it from 105 audience ratings.
    4. Netflix: 2.7/5.0 from 120,779 audience ratings.
    5. Directed by: Nimrod Zalmanowitz
    6. Starring: Nathan Spiteri as Andy, Cameron Chiusano as Dan, Laura Gilreath as Michelle, Rosalind Ashford as Ghost, Jenny Lee Mitchell as Typhoid Mary, Paul Bright as Dr. Brooks, Boomer Tibbs as George Sheffield, Aaron Mathias as Mark Goodwin, Grace Evans as Evelin.

  2. Setup and Plot
    1. Dan, Andy, and Michelle (Andy's girlfriend), decide to make a documentary about the real-life Typhoid Mary, and the final months of her life.  They find some of the places where she stayed and met descendents of some of the people who knew her.  They set up equipment to record events.

    2. Michelle, while alone, tries a seance, and this does not go well.  Dan keeps seeing ghostly figures.  At least at first Andy does not see them.

    3. There's a thread about the origin of modern psychotropic drugs; the film makers pursue this for their documentary.  There is a thread about Michelle being possessed, and the consequences of this.

    4. Will any of the protagonists survive this encounter?

  3. Conclusions
    1. One line summary: Poor ghost story, poor as found film, poor as paranormal.
    2. One star of five.

  4. Scores
    1. Cinematography: 2/10 There were handheld problems here and there.  The fakery with the ghosts was just plain bad, and there was so much of it.  Even the day light 'normal' scenes were de-colorized to look faked.

    2. Sound: 3/10 Annoying from beginning to end.  It sounds dubbed.

    3. Acting: 0/10

    4. Screenplay: 0/10 Hm, the usual for this type of film: no resolution in any thread.  No 'moving on' for any of the ghosts, or whatever they are.  No toe hold for logic or rational processes.  Lack of exposition of motivations.  No humour of any sort.


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