In 1899, young doctor Jim Sturgess arrives at forbidding Stonehearst Asylum, intrigued by the case of hysteric Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale). Soon, he learns the apparent director (Ben Kingsley) is a lunatic who has overthrown the real master (Michael Caine) and is putting his own wild theories into practice among free-range lunatics.
Director Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Mechanic) knows his classic horror well, and this gloss on a much-adapted Edgar Allan Poe short story is a spirited gothic tale, played with welcome black humour. The whole cast, especially Kingsley and David Thewlis, unloose their inner Vincent Price, and surprisingly sharp points are made about madness and medicine.
