Paranormal Asylum: The Revenge of Typhoid Mary

USA 2013
produced by
Joey Azoulai, Nimrod Zalmanowitz, Marlene Perkal (executive), Laurie Rosen (executive), Jose Torres (executive) for Meridien Films
directed by Nimrod Zalmanowitz
starring Aaron Mathias, Nathan Spiteri, Laura Gilreath, Jenny Lee Mitchell, Grace Evans, Paul Bright, Tym Moss, Boomer Tibbs, Cameron Chiusano, Anthony Risticati, Ilanah Lobel Torres, Rosalind Ashford
written by Fred Edison, music by Aldo Shllaku

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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After five years in Hollywood, failed screenwriter Mark (Aaron Mathias) returns to New York to help his friend Andy (Nathan Spiteri) make a documentary about the long-abandoned Hudson River Hospital, basically an asylum with an especially disturbing history - and the reputation of being haunted. The most disturbing story about the asylum is the one about Typhoid Mary (Jenny Lee Mitchell), a girl who was "donated" to the asylum about 100 years ago after having been raped repeatedly by a typhoid pedophile, and who then was subjected to experiments with psychotropic drugs that might have caused ... yeah, what exactly? Somewhere, her trail got lost but it's rumoured she's buried somewhere beneath the asylum.

Mark feels uneasy about the documentary from day one, also because he starts seeing "things" at the asylum, but Andy just pushes on and on and on ... because he sees the project as his opportunity to shake the shackles of his fiancée Michelle's (Laura Gilreath) rich family once and for all. Thus he tried to keep the film a secret even from Michelle, but when she finds out about it, she doesn't only not complain, she wants to be a part of it, too - especially since her grandmother was a psychic, and she feels the talent in herself as well.

Thing is, when Michelle actually does a seance to summon Typhoid Mary, it does strange things to her (she's possibly possessed, but who's to tell), and when Mark goes out of his way to find a way to get her back to normal, his sources turn up dead ... while Andy will be deterred by nothing to finish his film, even if it means risking Michelle's life - and if you think it cannot possibly get any worse, well, you're wrong ...

One of the very few paranormal investigation-films of late that actually gets it right: It's neither a big and pointless special effects fest à la big budget Hollywood, nor is it yet another crappy "found footage" exercise (even if my synopsis might suggest just that) - instead, Paranormal Asylum: The Revenge of Typhoid Mary tells a proper, engaging story with plenty of interesting and unexpected plottwists, carried by fleshed-out characters and atmospheric images - and you simply can't ignore the perfectly creepy locations, either ...

Recommended, actually!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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