Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Paranormal Asylum’

Written by Scott Edwards 

When a friend comes along asking for your help no matter what it is, you choose to give them your assistance. If the friend is offering an opportunity that you cannot refuse, you would not hesitate because your friend would not lead you into trouble. As time goes on and you get to know your friends better and better, you know which things you can go along with and the others that you can decline based upon their track record.

Mark is waiting for his good friend to show up to an old, burned down hospital. The two are looking to capitalize on making a documentary on Typhoid Mary and telling her side of the story. Working with handheld cameras and setting up some wireless cameras in the last place were Mary was known to have inhabited, the two are ready to start recording the story and possibly catch a shot or two of a ghost. Not knowing if he really believes in the ghost theories, Mark starts catching strange images in his camera.

Conducting interviews with the surviving family members around the area, Mark starts to hear outlandish claims that Mary is hunting down everyone that failed to help her in her time of need. Mark’s first interview with George Sheffiled reveals that Mary was used as more of a killer than a cook as that was her true calling. When the questions fail to end, George attacks Mark and demands that he leave. When Mark meets with his second interview, Evelin Windsor, the niece of the man who ran the hospital where Mary ended up dying, Evelin seems happy to help in the investigation, but is holding something back, but Mark hasn’t a clue as to what exactly she is hiding.

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​As Mark and Andy work on their two-man job investigation, Andy’s girlfriend gets herself into the mix as Andy has used a large sum of her money to fund the documentary. Michelle is happy to work with her boyfriend, along with his best friend in order to find the truth of what happened to Mary in her day and offers to conduct a séance. Even though Mark and Andy don’t really believe that it would help, they do nothing to stop her from trying to talk to the dead woman. As the nights pass, Michelle decides to work on her own and ends up taking herself to the hospital and being tormented by someone or something that is unseen.

Paranormal Asylum follows Mark and Andy as they are trying to tell the story of Typhoid Mary and gain enough fame to recuperate the expenses. Andy’s girlfriend Michelle gets herself into the mix and believes that the only way to really find out what really happened to Mary would be to talk to her firsthand. Running a séance on her own, Michelle gets possessed by a dark spirit and becomes mute to the normal world. As she starts to change and becomes less responsive to her friends, the men call in help from a local exorcist, but he ends not being able to help as he is killed. All of the surviving family members of the people that did not help Mary start to act strange as they will only help out Mark and Andy to a point and then just walk away from the situation. Michelle becomes someone else and sets her sights on something that she cannot have as she changes everything about herself to please the new being that resides inside of her.

This ends up being a movie that manages to give you enough reasons to keep on watching, if only to see how everyone reaches their end. It also offers a disturbing look at what possessions can do to a person even if they are not trying to kill you directly. Watching how Mark thinks as he is breaking down while his friend Andy does not see any of the visions that are plaguing him is fantastic, as is seeing Michelle transforming into someone else. Even though the movie only briefly hits on Typhoid Mary’s story, the story is able to pique your interest into what could have possibly happened to her. Although you get a re-imagining of what could have happened, it is enough to make you think twice about entering the realm of documentaries. Stay Scared.

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