Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Asylum Blackout (2011)

aka The Incident

George, Max, and Ricky want to finish recording their album and get better gigs so that they don't have to spend their days working as cooks in the kitchen of an asylum for the criminally insane.

The kitchen has a small slot in the dining room window, where trays of food and meds can be dispensed to the prisoners. Once the meal is over, a metal door comes down to ensure their safety and keep them out of view of the inmates.

When the power goes out, the asylum goes into lockdown and everyone is trapped inside.  George and another worker agree to help the lone guard in the dining room and escort a small group of prisoners back to their cells, leaving the more unruly men for the guard to handle.

But the task of getting the men back into their cells proves to be more difficult than they thought.  After a quick fight breaks out between two of the men, they manage to regain control. But as they're locking in the last inmate, they hear noises and it sounds like some of the prison population have escaped their cells.

Shortly after this set up, the four kitchen workers are all alone in the asylum trying to stay out of sight of the rioting insane inhabitants. The group need to figure out how to get out of an asylum in lock down when the only place they've ever been is the corridors that lead to the kitchen.  How do you avoid rioting insane prisoners and manage to find a way out of a building you aren't familiar with?  If you picture yourself in that situation, it's incredibly distressing. Plus the lights are out so there's minimal emergency lighting and a flashlight is often needed. Of course this could draw attention to whoever has it.

For the most part the characters aren't stupid, and George is a nice guy so I wanted him to get out with his life.  Overall the film made me really tense, and was disturbing. While it was good, it left me feeling depressed.  And the end isn't satisfactory. It's confusing since there are multiple ways to interpret what happened.

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