Alien Abduction (2005)
Hospital for Alien Abductees
An early film from The Asylum set in a hospital for alien abductees, which director Eric Forsberg evokes with some paranoia and a great ending
Asylums
Asylums are psychiatric institutions intended for the purpose of incarcerating the mentally ill. The asylum has a long association with horror tradition.
Many films conjure lurid images of inhumane medical practices, fear of losing one’s sanity and/or confinement with deranged killers who are frequently wont to escape. Asylums can be home to scientists conducting abominable experiments. Abandoned asylums are peopled by ghosts or deranged former inmates. There is also a whole body of films about people with psychic powers or who are aliens being incarcerated.
For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Asylums.
Alone in the Dark (1982)
Slasher Parody/Escaped Madmen
Horror film in which a group of maniacs escape from an asylum set out to track down the new psychiatrist. This starts with tongue amusingly planted in cheek and contains a great cast line-up
The Amityville Asylum (2013)
Haunted Asylum/Occult Sacrifices
Another of the unofficial sequels that bear slim to no resemblance to the Amityville Horror hoax. This is a cheaply made and not terribly scary British effort set in a asylum supposedly built on the site of the Amityville house
Artificial Lies (1999)
Psycho-Thriller
Psycho-thriller in which Daphne Zuniga is a woman accused of the murder of her psychiatrist and may or may not have been faking her mental illness
Asylum (1972)
Horror Anthology
One of the best of the horror anthologies from UK’s Amicus Films. This adapts four stories from Robert Bloch, which are all tales told by the inmates of the titular asylum and settle in with chill effectiveness
Asylum (2008)
Sinister Former Asylum
From the director of Snakes on a Plane, a film about a co-ed university dormitory that used to be an asylum where students find that former horrors still lurk
Asylum of Fear (2018)
Haunted Abandoned Asylum
A crew of reality tv paranormal investigators are hired to investigate a haunted abandoned asylum. This sort of film has been done numerous time before.
Asylum Seekers (2009)
Gonzo Surrealism in an Asylum
Film about asylum inmates that goes for a gonzo approach but becomes an unwatchable mix of student artistic pretensions played out at a level of shrill caricature
Backmask (2015)
Abandoned Asylum/Possession
Marcus Nispel is a director most associated with remakes of other films. In original material here, he is still rehashing moves from other films – an abandoned asylum and every shock effect in the possession/exorcism playbook
Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)
Comic-Book Super-Villain Team-Up/Animation
This is more of a Suicide Squad than a Batman film. Based on the popular Arkham videogames, this a Justice League-type adventure but with super-villains where the emphasis is on dark humor and gleeful mayhem
Bedlam (1946)
18th Century Asylum Horrors
The last of the classic Val Lewton produced horror films, a work set around the true-life 18th Century asylum lorded over by Boris Karloff where an innocent Anna Lee is committed
The Blackburn Asylum (2015)
Abandoned Mine of Escaped Asylum Inmates
Despite the title, this is a horror film that takes place in a mine (albeit one where the former inmates of an asylum lurk). This plays out fairly well by a set of familiar genre tropes and delivers a solid degree of tension
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)
Sinister Hypnotist/German Expressionism
Classic film that was groundbreaking for its designs – all distorted and angular sets, exaggerated shadows – that became defined as German Expressionism and its tale of a sinister hypnotist
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2005)
German Expressionism Remake
A remake of the silent German Expressionist classic that replicates the unique look and sets. Interesting, although it now emerges more like a film noir with artistic pretensions than the avant garde work the original was
Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks (1996)
Arty Surrealism
Baffling and pretentious Canadian-made surrealist film with Scheherazade (from Arabian Nights) in a psychiatric asylum making up stories all derived from tabloid headlines
Committed (1991)
Woman Imprisoned in an Asylum
A variant on Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether with Jennifer O’Neill as a woman wrongly committed to an asylum before discovering it has been taken over by the inmates
Cult of Chucky (2017)
Child's Play Sequel
The seventh of the Child’s Play films with the killer doll Chucky. I never much cared for the original series but the modern films – those with Chucky’s name in the title – have become a lot wittier and playful, constantly making jokes back to the rest of the series
Dante 01 (2008)
Insane Asylum on a Space Station
Finally, the answer to what happened to Marc Caro after parting ways with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Caro directs what would appear to be a darkly lit and confusing variation on The Green Mile set on a space station
Dark Asylum (2001)
Escaped Maniac
Modestly effective psycho film with Paulina Porizkova pursued through a deserted asylum by escaped serial killer Larry Drake
The Dark Red (2018)
Psychiatric Patient Claims to Have Psychic Powers
Film where a woman in an asylum insists that her baby has been stolen from her womb and that she has psychic powers. Or equally possibly she is delusional. This sits on an ambiguous fence with some subtlety
The Dead Pit (1989)
Mad Scientist Resurrects the Dead in an Asylum
A typical 80s film with a mad doctor resurrecting the dead in the abandoned wing of an asylum amid gory makeup effects. The first film from Brett Leonard who next went on to make The Lawnmower Man
Death House (2017)
Asylum of Insane Killers Unleashed
This comes with the winning idea of being conceived as a horror version of The Expendables bringing back an amazing line-up of horror actors from principally the 80s. Alas, the film itself as an incoherent mess
The Devil’s Chair (2006)
Demonic Portal in an Abandoned Asylum
Solid offering from the increasingly underrated Adam Mason that takes more than a few leaves from Hellraiser with a ghostsbusting team investigating occult happenings in an abandoned asylum
Dr. Caligari (1989)
Surrealist Film
The original The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a classic of silent German Expressionist cinema; this loose remake feels like Eraserhead reconceived with absurd Day-Glo disco decor
Eliza Graves (2014)
Victorian Asylum Taken Over by the Inmates
Brad Anderson adapts an Edgar Allan Poe story about an asylum where the inmates are posing as the staff. This is lush period piece with an amazing cast line-up – the only surprise is that it did no box-office
The Emeryville Experiments (2016)
Sinister Town of Former Asylum Inmates
The premise of a small town inhabited by the former inmates of an asylum, suggests a variant on Poe’s The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether. The execution is complete amateurism on every level
Equinox (1970)
Backwoods Occultism
A film about backwoods occult that comes with much H.P. Lovecraft influence. An inngenue film made by several unknowns who later became key figures at Industrial Light and Magic
The Exorcist III (1990)
Demonic Possession
One will go out on a limb and argue that William Peter Blatty’s sequel is actually a far superior work to the original The Exorcist, one that substitutes a literate theological detective story for barf bag theatrics and contains at least one real out there jump
Final (2001)
Psychiatric Patient/Reality Bender
Indie SF film where Denis Leary wakes up as patient in a psychiatric institution while he insists he has been awoken from cryogenic suspension in a future where he is awaiting execution
The 4th Dimension (2006)
Mental Illness and Mathematics
A reality-bending film somewhat influenced by Pi about a withdrawn man who receives a mystery clock that may be able to bend time and space
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)
Hammer Frankenstein Film
Hammer’s seventh and final Frankenstein film and the last great film that the studio would make. Everyone is back on top form – Peter Cushing at his icily arrogant best and director Terence Fisher delivering a stirring show
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Hammer Frankenstein Film
The fifth of Hammer’s Frankenstein films and the absolute pinnacle of the series. Terence Fisher is on the peak of his form and turns in a series of directorial set pieces that are quite masterful
From Beyond (1986)
Other-Dimensional Monsters/H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation
After the cult success of Re-Animator, Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs and most of the principals returned with a further H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. More outrageously over-the-top splatter effects but this is somewhat the lesser
Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004)
Teenage Girl Werewolf
The first of two sequels to the Canadian werewolf film. This takes place with the surviving sister placed in a rehab facility and is the best of the trilogy, even better than the first film was in its writing and characters
Glass (2019)
Ordinary Superhero and Villains
Unbreakable was M. Night Shyamalan’s everyday superhero film. Here he merges the characters from Unbreakable and Split to create his own shared universe. This could in effect be the kitchen sink version of The Avengers
Gothika (2003)
Asylum Haunting
Halle Berry is a psychiatrist who comes around to find she has been incarcerated in her own asylum only to then find it is haunted. An improbably contrived set up with some jumps
Grave Encounters 2 (2012)
Found Footage/Meta-Fictional Sequel
Grave Encounters was an unremarkable Found Footage film. This much smarter sequel takes its lead from Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 in being a meta-fiction that investigates the phenomenon of the first film
Grave Encounters (2011)
Found Footage/Haunted Asylum
Another Found Footage horror film with a reality tv ghostbusting team investigating a haunted asylum. The Found Footage genre quickly became exhausted and this only treads where others have gone before
Greystone Park (2012)
Found Footage/Haunted Asylum
Oliver Stone’s son Sean makes a Found Footage horror film. The haunted asylum has become a thoroughly overused cliche. That said, Sean Stone wrings some undeniably spooky jumps out of the material
Hammersmith is Out (1972)
Satire/Devil Figure
One of the few flops that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor made, a broad satire where Burton is a Devil figure who escape from an asylum, leaving a trail of bodiesas he makes his way up to control the presidency
Hell Asylum (2002)
Reality TV Horror Film
A cheap and tatty horror film set in a haunted asylum that was one of several similar films in the early 2000s that set out to exploit the then newly arrived fad for reality tv
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Haunted House
The announcement of the remake of The Haunting was followed by this remake of the 1959 William Castle film, which turns out far more unpretentious and altogether more fun than the bloated flop of The Haunting
Housebound (2014)
New Zealand Haunted House Comedy
An NZ-made haunted house comedy that runs through a frenzied array of genre plot devices, a couple of minor jumps and some easy middle-of-the-road laughs leaving you feeling there should have been more to it
Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom (2016)
Animation/Young H.P. Lovecraft's Adventures
H.P. Lovecraft is a cult horror writer whose work brims over with a sense of cosmic dread. One of the most bizarre Lovecraft film adaptations is this work of children’s animation featuring a young Lovecraft
I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok (2006)
Woman Believes She is a Cyborg/Gonzo Asylum Comedy
After the ultra-violent Oldboy, Park Chan-wook puzzled everyone by next making this frothily surreal comedy about a girl in an asylum who believes she is a cyborg
In the Grip of Terror (2025)
Horror Anthology
Scottish director Lawrie Brewster, a promising newcomer on the genre horizon, has obtained the rights to revive the Amicus Films name and conducts a strong homage to the studio’s signature anthology film
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Meta-Fictional Horrors
In one of his last really good films, John Carpenter pays homage to H.P. Lovecraft in this horror film that becomes an amazing blurring of the line between reality and fiction
The Incident (2011)
Trapped in an Asylum for the Criminally Insane During a Powercut
From an early script by S. Craig Zahler, this is an incredibly brutal and harrowing work about a group of cooks trapped inside an asylum for the criminally insane during a power cut
Insanitarium (2008)
Asylum Horrors
Horror film where Jesse Metcalfe has himself committed to an asylum to rescue his sister but comes up against Peter Stormare conducting mad science experiments turning inmates into zombies
The Institute (2017)
Sinister 19th Century Asylum/"True Story"
James Franco co-directs and stars as a sinister psychiatrist in a 19th Century asylum who subjects patients to drugs and mind control so they can play in elaborate orgies. Supposedly based on a true-life incident
Jack the Ripper (2016)
Jack the Ripper Killings
A girl sets out to solve the Jack the Ripper killings to free her innocently convicted brother. This is no more, no less factual than any other version but conducts a fine period recreation of Victorian England
Joker (2012)
Bollywood Film/Faked Crop Circles and Alien Visitation
Bollywood SF film that is like a version of Shyamalan’s aliens film Signs with a few dashes of The Mouse That Roared, all played as a comic farce with much singing and dancing
Justice League vs the Fatal Five (2019)
Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes
A DC Universe Original Animated Movie that introduces the Legion of Superheroes, their nemeses The Fatal Five and an assortment of new Justice League members to widen diversity
K-PAX (2001)
Alien Visitor in a Psychiatric Institution
Kevin Spacey is a mysterious patient in a psychiatric institution who makes possibly true claims to be an alien. An uncredited ripoff of the far superior Man Facing Southeast
Killer Instinct (2000)
Abandoned Asylum Slasher
A reasonable B-budget slasher film in which teens accept a dare to spend a night in an abandoned asylum only for someone to have rigged the facility with traps and start stalking them
Lunacy (2005)
Surrealism/Insane Asylum
A film from Czech animator Jan Svankmajer film, loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, about the surreal happenings at an asylum where the lunatics have taken over
The Lurking Fear (2023)
H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation/Abandoned Asylum
Another low-budget H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, this abandons all but the bare bones of the story to create a work about abominable experiments lurking in the halls of an abandoned asylum
Man Facing Southeast (1986)
Christ-like Alien Visitor in a Psychiatric Institution
An extraordinary Argentinean film about a patient in his asylum who insists that he is an alien and has genteel affect on the inmates. Later uncreditedly ripped-off as K-PAX.
The Mansion of Madness (1973)
Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation/Asylum of Lunatics
A standout adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether where a visitor to an asylum discovers the patients are masquerading as the doctors
Mermaid Down (2019)
Mermaid in an Asylum
The mermaid film used to be the stuff of light fantasy but in recent years has become something much darker. This comes with the promising premise of a mermaid having her tail hacked off with an axe then being placed in an asylum where she tries to convince the other patients of who she is
Mirrors (2008)
Haunted Mirrors
Alexandre Aja film about haunted mirrors. Aja is more a director of physical horror and seems less attuned to the supernatural mood
Mister Frost (1990)
The Devil in an Asylum
Fine film that deserves wider recognition with Jeff Goldblum as a man in an asylum who claims to be The Devil
The New Mutants (2020)
Comic-Book Superheroes
What will be the very last of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films, this is more like a superheroic version of The Breakfast Club than any of the other X-Men films
A Nightmare on Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors (1987)
Dream-Invading Boogey Man
The point where Robert Englund’s Freddy went from a boogeyman into the equivalent of Wile E. Coyote, popping up like a malevolent jack-in-a-box to quip a one-liner and dispatch victims
The Ninth Configuration (1979)
Military Asylum Black Comedy
The directorial debut of William Peter Blatty, the writer of The Exorcist, a strange and unclassifiable black comedy set in a military asylum. Imagine One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest directed by Robert Altman
A Page of Madness (1926)
Madness/Surrealism
Forgotten silent Japanese avant garde classic set in a mental asylum. This has many similarities to The Cabinet of Dr Caligari in its shifting perspectives that delve into the subjective mental space of the inmates
Paranormal Asylum (2013)
Ghostbusters Investigate a Haunted Asylum
Loosely set around the legend of Typhoid Mary with ghostbusters investigating an abandoned asylum. One of a host of films that automatically relegate themselves to B movies by borrowing the prefix ‘Paranormal’, this sits between the amateurish and occasionally interesting
Phobias (2021)
Horror Anthology
Another horror anthology with each episode from a different directors, united around the wraparound theme of stories being told by patients in a strange psychiatric facility
Psycho Girls (1986)
Psycho Film
The debut of Canadian director Gerard Ciccoritti who should have become more well known, this goes for broke and becomes splendidly deranged
Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007)
Haunted House
Cheaply made sequel to the remake of House on Haunted Hill that turns it into a teen film dominated by gore set-pieces
The Sender (1982)
Psychic Psychiatric Patient
Excellent and overlooked film with Kathryn Harrold as a psychiatrist trying to deal with the fact that one of the patients in an asylum has vast psychic powers
Session 9 (2001)
Sinister Abandoned Asylum
Borrowing the Blair Witch aesthetic, Brad Anderson makes a highly effective minimalist horror film about a group of working men encountering something during the clean-up operation of an abandoned asylum
Shadow Puppets (2007)
Mysterious Labyrinth/Conceptual Breakthrough
A conceptual puzzle film – people wake up in a facility with no memory of who they are – reminiscent of Cube with the smoke monsters from Lost thrown in. Unfortunately, this is too low-budget to create much mystery and the big reveal is not a terribly interesting one
Shirley Thompson Versus the Aliens (1972)
Gonzo Alien Visitors Film
One of the other films from Jim Sharman, director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a gonzo comedy where alien visitors bring a statue of the Duke of Edinburgh to life
Shutter Island (2010)
Sinister Psychiatric Institution/Reality Bender
Martin Scorsese and an impressive A-list cast make a 1940s-styled psycho-thriller about a sinister asylum that soon starts into a series of major reality bending turns
Skeleton Crew (2009)
Disturbed Film Director Recreates Snuff Movies
Not to be confused with the Stephen King story collection, this is about a film crew shooting a film in an abandoned asylum about murders conducted there who discover a trove of snuff movies whereupon the director becomes obsessed with recreating them
The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974)
Edgar Allan Poe Investigates a Sinister Asylum
An obscure item among the fad for Edgar Allan Poe films during the 1960s, this threadbare production features Poe himself investigating sinister happenings at an asylum
Sucker Punch (2011)
Fantasy Action in Dreamed Alternate Realities
Bizarrely uncategorisable film from Zack Snyder that seems a mix of Girl, Interrupted and Inception
Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
Horror Anthology
Director Freddie Francis had had great success making several of the Amicus horror anthologies then went independent to made another Amicus-styled anthology here with mixed results
The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933)
Mind-Controlling Criminal Mastermind
The second of Fritz Lang;s films about the criminal mastermind Dr Mabuse, which was banned under the Nazi regime and forced Lang to flee the country. Not quite the equal of its predecessor, Lang is still on fine form and makes an exciting crime melodrama
The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1962)
Mind-Controlling Criminal Mastermind
Third of the German thrillers of the 1960s featuring the criminal mastermind Dr Mabuse, a remake of the 1933 film where Mabuse continues his criminal schemes via mind control despite being confined to an asylum
They (2002)
Monsters in the Dark
A routine horror about teens that live in fear of creatures that lurk in the dark. Presented by Wes Craven.
The 3rd Floor (2007)
Haunted Apartment Building
A low-budget ingenue effort by three friends about a tenant who discovers that the third floor of his apartment building contains the ghosts of dead asylum inmates
Unsane (2018)
Woman Wrongly Incarcerated in an Asylum with Her Stalker
Steven Soderbergh shoots a film on an iPhone. Claire Foy is wrongly incarcerated in an asylum only to be followed by a stalker posing as an orderly where her pleas for help taken as evidence of delusion
The Ward (2010)
Haunted Asylum
John Carpenter returned to the director’s chair after more than a decade but failed to light the world on fire. Carpenter makes what you could call a ghost story version of Girl, Interrupted. The scares are tame and the film is hamstrung by an improbable M. Night Shyamalan twist ending