Director: Declan O'Brien
Year: 2012
Country: Germany/USA/Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Getting stranded in a freak snowstorm, a group of friends seeking shelter in a supposedly abandoned asylum find it still inhabited by cannibalistic inmates housed there years ago hunting them down one- by one and must find a way of getting away from the vicious killers.
Review:
This was a rather fun and entertaining entry in the series which has a lot to like about it. One of the better parts here is that it manages to feature even more of the usual elements found in the last entries which comes off as a rather coherent connection to become that much more entertaining. That is mostly brought along by the film's great setting, as the large, cavernous structure with its long, looming hallways, tight quarters, and hidden rooms are used to good effect in both creating effective atmospheric locations and perfect areas for them to display their cruel tactics. It's also helped along by the raging storm and isolated nature while also taking into account the film's backstory about how they got freed and are now roaming the hospital grounds which is a great introductory scene of them running loose and leading the other inmates through their takeover of the hospital.
When that leads into the later action scenes of them inside the building, there's quite a bit of fun on display with the stalking and hunting which are spread nicely throughout this, from the first walk-through where they see the shadows running throughout the hallways, the encounter in the kitchen where they first come across the family carving up their friend which starts in on the fun noose trap in the main hall and the resulting chases down into the basement as well as the different offices in the upper floors. The later scenes here, with the attack on the family who are gorging on their friend and leading into the first trap scene down in their jail cell, are quite fun and the big finale is a series of chases through the main levels of the building and then outside into the surrounding woods which gives this all quite a bit of fun. All of these great action scenes are given a great sense of fun here as the gore and kills here are both over-the-top, featuring numerous amounts of splatter and carnage which allow the film to be pretty brutal at times with some innovative torturing methods all of which give this one here a lot to like.
While these here are the positives, it does have a few minor elements wrong with it, starting with the absolutely ludicrous decision-making by the characters which puts them into dangerous situations for that reason only, and it does hurt this one. From failing to leave once they know their friends are missing and have bloodied equipment lying around and then having them trapped yet deciding not to do anything which lets them come back later just lets this one feel so dragged out because of their lack of rationale and common sense in the situation simply keeps them in trouble. As well, its finale does seem to run on forever and get old after a while since it's not really all that clear what's going on with all the endless running around the same locations in the snow-covered woodlands surrounding the asylum, and it seems somewhat repetitive to keep going back to that same well of attack. Still, this here is a blast and quite enjoyable.
Overview: ****/5
A wholly enjoyable and entertaining entry with a lot to like, there's far more to enjoy with this one than expected which makes this a fun entry in the series even with some minor drawbacks. Those who enjoy this kind of slasher entry, appreciate the earlier entries in the series or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while those turned off by these factors should heed caution.
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