Known for his old-school suspense and horror films, director Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Transsiberian) shows an uncommon sympathy toward his characters. No matter how minor or how despicable they might be, Anderson grants each of them some distinctive, humanizing trait; even the serial killer who drives the action of The Call (2013) is presented as a victim of childhood trauma. This evenhanded treatment enables Anderson to shift audience identification fluidly from one character to another, which certainly comes in handy in Stonehearst Asylum. Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” this rather creeky gothic horror tale derives much of its suspense from the fact that one can’t decide whom to trust. Continue reading >>
Stonehearst Asylum
2014
