Hellborn (2003)

Powerful

Absolutely the worst movie.

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is the Halloween season, and I like to watch horror movies when I can. Sometimes I like to watch movies I haven't seen before, or even heard of, so "Hellborn/Asylum of the Damned" fell into that category.It cost me seventy cents on VHS at a thrift store and made me lament that the money could have been better spent on a snack out of the machine at work, or a can of Dr. Pepper. Like one of the other reviewers said, the movie could make a good basis for a drinking game, where you take a shot or a swig every time "Resident Bishop" shakes his head while he's delivering a line. And yes, drunk 15 minutes into the movie.The production team gave away the scary character in the opening scene of the movie. He looked like someone wearing a cheap discount store Halloween costume. It might have worked better had they obscured him with shadows and quick cuts, then revealed him in the second half. Then I might have watched more than half of the movie!Forgive me for failing to get the character and actor names before starting this review but the only decent performance came from the guy playing the Superintendent Doctor. He was coherent but creepy with his speech patterns and piercing eyes and I felt sad for him that he didn't have a better movie to work in.Two thumbs way down.

I've seen some very terrible horror movies in my time, and while this isn't the worst of the bunch, it's certainly in the lower half. The script starts off OK. A young doctor goes to a hospital as an intern, hoping it will vault him to a better job for him and his future wife. Cute huh? The movie then heads straight into the toilet when you realize that something is killing patients. Turns out that there's a demon on the basement that's harvesting people's souls. It's the job of the 1 doctor, 1 nurse, and 1 security guard in the entire hospital staff to drag this mental patient downstairs, do a ritual that pretty much just involves cutting the tongue out, and then allowing the haunted house prop of a demon to come out and steal his soul through the magic of cheesy special effects. At this point the movie gets so ridiculously stupid, I was begging for it to be over. There was still an hour to go. It looked like a half an hour "Tales From the Crypt" episode that somehow got stretched into an hour and a half crap-fest. From Tiny Lister doing his best John Coffey (The Green Mile) impersonation to Tracy Scoggins playing the stereotypical frigid Nurse Ratchet, this movie fails in every possible level. I gave this 2 stars for only TWO reason. 1) His fiancé is pretty hot, she eased the pain a little towards the end and 2) The movie actually looks OK, a lot better than the current trend of horror movies being made with wal-mart quality home cameras.In the end, avoid this turd even if you have the Blockbuster movie pass (which I do, and I still felt cheated). As a bonus drinking game, you and your buddies take a shot every time Matt Stasi (Dr. James Bishop) shakes his head while talking. You'll be drunk 15 minutes into the movie.

Don't even waste your time, let alone pay rental for this piece of dreck! How it got made is beyond me. (I don't know why there's a minimum of 10 lines... I've already summarized this trashy movie, but, oh well...) The acting was awful, like they all needed lessons. The plot was weak, the ending... Feh! I think the cinematography was the only thing that didn't totally suck... well, maybe the sound was minimalistically OK. The one good thing is, if they could make this movie, even make some money with it, there may be hope for any screenwriter with a REAL idea. So, you-all take heart! I guess the same holds true of actors... if these people actually got paid, then you can, too!

This is a fantastic ride for true horror film buffs. The writing is an achievement for the ages and the acting is superb. It may take some determination and patience to watch but if give enough effort one can come away with seeing a true "original" horror flick.