Despite a cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine, and Kate Beckinsale, and a noteworthy director in Brad Anderson, Stonehearst Asylum feels like a high-class 1970s TV movie. Anderson remains in my mind as a director of independent genre movies like Session 9 (2001), The Machinist (2004), and Transsiberian (2008), but he transitioned (mainly) to television years ago. That's not entirely a bad thing; Anderson's recent credits as producer and director include the enjoyable science-fiction shows Fringe and Almost Human. Yet it's a reminder that even an experienced helmer and a game cast cannot make up for an anemic script. Adapted by Joe Gangemi from Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," first published in 1845, Stonehearst Asylum moves...

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