Asylum : Needed a touch more blood

Needed a touch more blood

I love the late 60s and early 70s Hammer and Amicus PG films. They had a good "balance" of PG suspense and horror. Asylum lacked the latter. Just a touch more blood (ala Vault of Horror) would have helped intensify the experience. Not buckets, just a PG touch. Even in the dismembering story there was no blood at all! Makes me wonder if the filmmakers made a conscious decision for story reasons not to use a bit o' blood rather than being constrained by censorship issues. If the former I think they made a mistake.

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I don't see how any amount of blood/gore would have made this better than it already is.

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Re: Needed a touch more blood

Even when I first saw this as a kid, I wondered why there was no blood. Barbara Parkins takes an axe to her face and not one drop of blood!?!?!?

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I think the axe was hitting the severed hand.
When we see Barbara in her present state she has scratch marks.

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Re: Needed a touch more blood

I found this extremely suspenseful without gore and overreliance on special effects.

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I agree. Asylum is perfect the way it is.

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I don't think extra blood would've hurt this film, but it wouldn't have necessarily helped either. It would've been good with or without it.

Death lives in the Vault of Horror!

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I agree, but Vault of Horror's "touches" of gore were quite intense -- at least in the original version
It got an R rating. (The original Tales from the Crypt would have also, but for one gore scene cut from the U.S. Release.)

In the 70's, the thinking was that horror needed to be PG to allow kids to buy tickets, at least until the smash success of Alien.
By 1984, all horror was R or even unrated.

Re: Needed a touch more blood

I don't think it really needed blood/gore. I like it for the use of atmosphere and suspense to create tension. I also love it for the Amicus dark sense of humour - the paintings on the wall at the beginning with the people gurning and the wacky Herbert Lom doll!
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