The movie opens with Max (Timothy Muskatell) attempting to pitch an idea for a new reality show to an executive. His idea is to take five beautiful contestants and make them stay the night in a haunted house. The prize of a million dollars goes to any of the women that aren’t scared out of the house before morning. He gets the green light on the project but what Max doesn’t realize is that the house is actually haunted by deadly specters that feed on human flesh. Now, with the cameras rolling, it’s up to the five contestants and the TV crew just to survive the night.

I have to hand it to director Danny Draven; this is one of the better SOV flicks I’ve seen, probably because it doesn’t take itself very seriously. The camerawork is very good with several well framed shots and interesting camera angles. With a weird and funny plot by Trent Haaga (Citizen Toxie: Toxic Avenger IV), Hell Asylum is a fast paced horror spoof of reality TV.

The actors portray one-sided caricatures but it serves the satirical storyline. There’s Stacy, the hometown girl, Rainbow, the goth chick, Amber, the tramp, Marti, the jock, and Paige (Debra Mayer of Stitches and Prison of the Dead), the wannabe celebrity. It is funny seeing reality show casting practices cracked on like this.

The film has some faults that may distract viewers. The "haunted house" is supposed to have been house built in the 1850’s and the converted into a sanitarium. It looks more like an old high school than anything else. Luckily, good lighting provides some cover for the chase scenes and provides some much needed atmosphere to the lackluster set design. Some of the gore effects are excellent (see Trent Haaga’s cameo). But in the scenes where people are being disemboweled, the results are just too much like pasta to be convincing.

The only other missteps I can gripe about are all the missed opportunities for catfights. I’m kidding. But seriously, the only other complaint I can make is about the specters. Together Max and Rainbow weave this great back story about the house and I couldn’t wait to see some of the ghosts they were building me up for. Unfortunately, the actual ghosts that appear, even though they are cool in their own subtle way, just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Overall, I can’t help but like Hell Asylum. This is in no way a perfect, streamlined production but it is never boring. What you’re getting into is some gorgeous ladies, a handful of mealworms, some clunky gore effects, and a running time of an hour and ten minutes. And yes, that's Brinke Stevens in a cameo as the lead specter.