Arrow Video Restore Director Richard Friedman's Doom Asylum For Blu-ray Release On July 17

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed July 17 for a new 2K restoration (from the original camera negative) of director Richard Friedman’s 1987 horror release of Doom Asylum.

A standard motif of slasher films is the assembly of the “victim” pool, which is usually heavily weighted towards nubile young females.   Another popular conceit in constructing good horror films is the use of the “haunted house” as a location for the slaughter that takes place. 

It doesn’t even have to be a house.   Alien, for example, was a haunted house thriller, only on a space ship.  An abandoned (or converted) insane asylum works just as well.

With Doom Asylum we get both a “haunted house” and not one, but Friedman cleverly serves up two victim pools!   Talk about getting your money’s worth!!

The story is set up with a deadly auto accident on a remote country road that leaves Mitch (Michael Rogen) and Judy (Patty Mullen) dead.   Well, Judy is dead for sure, but the first shock comes at the morgue when Mitch — who isn’t looking all that well — wakes up during his autopsy and kills everyone in the room … didn’t see that coming!

It is now ten years later and the first “victim pool” stops by the scene of the accident to pay their respects.   One of them, Kiki (Patty Mullen), as it turns out, is Judy’s daughter and her friends are out for a summer outing and, as luck would have it, they end up stopping by the abandoned medical facility where Mitch was taken and went mad.

Here they cross paths with an all-girl puck rock band headed by a wigged-out Blonde named Tina (Ruth Collins) — the second “victim pool” — who are using the place to practice (i.e. make extremely loud and annoying music).

Add together an insane killer, a “haunted house” and a very large “victim pool” and what do you get?   Doom Asylum … and some pretty nasty killings.   So who survives?   Who dies?   July 17 if you don’t already know.  

Bonus features include two newly-prepared commentary options — one with screenwriter Rick Marx and a second featuring the podcast group “The Hysteria Continues” — a new video session with actress Ruth Collins titled “Tina’s Terror,” an archived video session with producer Alexander W. Kogan, Jr., director Richard Friedman and production manager Bill Tasgal, the director of photography Larry Revene is interviewed in the featurette titled “Movie Madhouse” and lastly, the featurette titled “Morgues & Mayhem” features special make-up effects creator Vincent J. Guastini.