Synopsis
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
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Cast
- Kate BeckinsaleEliza Graves
- Jim SturgessEdward Newgate
- David ThewlisMickey Finn
- Brendan GleesonThe Alienist
- Ben KingsleySilas Lamb
- Michael CaineDr. Benjamin Salt
- Sinéad CusackMrs. Pike
- Jason FlemyngSwanwick
- Sophie Kennedy ClarkMillie
- Christopher FulfordPaxton
- 80
Village Voice
With Stonehearst Asylum, director Brad Anderson doles out a vintage Halloween treat — a straightforward Poe adaptation of the sort that Vincent Price used to star in — and gives it a freshness and complexity that make it a delight. - 80
The Dissolve
Between its distinctly modern intelligence and razor-sharp plotting, Anderson’s clever contraption matches the heights of Gothic grandeur that keep Poe held in esteem today. - 75
Observer
Based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe, directed with style and imagination by Brad Anderson (The Machinist), filmed in the creepy darkness of Bulgaria (you hardly get this kind of movie anymore), and starring an illustrious cast solid and dedicated enough to craft to make you believe they’re in a depraved version of Hamlet staged in Elsinore Castle, this is a movie that is several cuts above your usual straitjacket thriller. Enter at your own risk. - 75
The A.V. Club
The presence of Kingsley — as well as all the ornate cabinetry and shadowy atmosphere — might suggest "Shutter Island," but the real referent appears to be Tod Browning’s "Freaks," with its complicated mixture of fear and sympathy. - 60
New York Daily News
Stonehearst Asylum, Brad Anderson’s adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe story, is undeniably preposterous. But if you accept the grandly Gothic insanity here, there’s a lot of fun to be had. - 50
Chicago Tribune
Like Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," Stonehearst Asylum starts with the hysteria knob set at 11 and goes up from there. - 50
Los Angeles Times
On the surface, Anderson seems to have all the necessary pieces for a surreal psycho pop. But the fear factor eludes him, leaving Stonehearst Asylum more insipid than insane. - 38
Slant Magazine
In the wake of the ostentatious atmospherics summoned by the likes of Shutter Island and American Horror Story: Asylum, the film feels unnecessarily restrained.