Asylum
Four stars for genuinely creepy, well done atmosphere. Minus one star for relying so heavily on photographs (photo montages, whatever - their own sort of work of art within the story) to create that atmosphere instead of with words alone. (As a package, they were remarkably effective.) Minus another star for a stilted boarding school plot mashed together with a stilted horror plot (think Urban Legend (the movie) mashed up with Session Nine, only not as effective). All the vibrancy of the creepy atmospheric writing is lost in wooden characters (and almost minus another star for relying so heavily on the format that Looking For Alaska skewers and only occasionally overcomes itself). All equalling out to an intrigued but ultimately disappointed two stars.
