Director Announces ‘Asylum of Darkness’ DVD Release with Extras

Director Jay Woelfel shares insight into his film's DVD release.

By Jay Woelfel On Jun 13, 2017

Asylum of Darkness is a psychological horror film about a man planning an escape from a mental institution, only to find a demonic world on the outside.

ASYLUM OF DARKNESS comes out on DVD for rental through RED BOX and through FAMILY VIDEO starting Tuesday June 13. There are 20 minutes of extras included. The film follows more of a Television act structure with 4 acts and an epilogue and to a degree the film was shown as a work-in-progress through film festivals and screenings which resulted in cuts and rearranging of scenes. Among these in particular some scenes with Tiffany Shepis were trimmed and a scene in the padded cell with Amanda Howell was dropped.

The padded cell scene was a dream-within-a-dream scene in the middle of the film and was just too confusing, though it sets up what her character will go through later. It is a good scene and features the Dr. Shaker (Richard Hatch) character in all his dead glory. When you’re telling a story from a crazy point of view you can only let it get crazy up to a point. These two women character are key to the main character’s motivation to survive and find out what is going on so it was a balancing act of how much each should and when each should figure into the story.

There is also a documentary about making the film in Ohio done in Ohio by the Director of Photography Scott Spears production company as part of a series on filmmaking for a local PBS station called FRAMELINES. This episode was re-edited and includes new material not aired and is about region and independent film production as it relates to Asylum of Darkness. The film was my first feature film shot back in Columbus, Ohio since 1988 and a number of people had worked with me on my first feature there BEYOND DREAM’S DOOR and footage from that shoot are included in this documentary. This segment also features an interview with Richard Hatch.

Check out the Official Movie Trailer below:

https://youtu.be/S9nJlr9CeXQ