Asylum is the fourth Amicus Productions anthology film I've included in my countdown over the years (you can find the others here, here, and here). Amicus produced seven in total, but of the three I haven't yet included in this countdown, there are only two I haven't already seen (I watched Tales From the Crypt last Christmas). So those final two will definitely find their way onto this countdown eventually.
Like The House That Dripped Blood, Asylum's screenplay was penned by Robert Bloch, based on four of his own stories. The set-up involves a doctor arriving at his new post in an asylum for the "incurably insane." As he meets various patients, they explain what led to their asylum stays, and those stories make up the anthology.
The first, "Frozen Fear," is a fairly typical tale of murder, and revenge from the beyond the grave, but the special effects are kind of unique, so I liked it despite it feeling a tad cliched and ultimately not making a whole lot of sense.
"The Weird Tailor" features Peter Cushing, but the story itself, involving a tailor in dire need of money and a man with very specific tailoring needs, is fairly predictable and ultimately pretty silly.
"Lucy Comes to Stay" is also very predictable, but it stars Charlotte Rampling and Britt Eckland at the height of their beauty, so it's at least visually appealing.
The final story (aside from the story that ties it all together in the end) is "Mannequins of Horror," starring Herbert Lom as a doctor turned patient who is convinced he can bring his handmade dolls to life. This story is so kooky, and the dolls are so endearingly silly looking (they have detailed life-like heads, and robot bodies, and walk around like windup toys), but it seems to be played completely straight, so it had me a bit confused. Ultimately it was probably my favorite despite its silliness. Or maybe because of it! (Also, the maniacal laugh at the end has to be heard to be believed.)
Asylum is available to stream on multiple services. I watched it on Hoopla, to avoid ads.

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