Asylum stars Sarah Roemer as a young college student who must fight to survive the spirit of a mad doctor that is haunting her dorm.

According to Winthrop's campus newspaper, The Johnsonian, a group of college freshmen with troubled pasts and nightmares are at Richard Miller University for orientation a couple of weeks prior to the beginning of classes.

[2] Ellis later stated that the reason for this was that although foreign rights to Asylum were sold, box office reception for horror films were not performing up to the number that Hyde Park wanted for the movie and they canceled plans for its theatrical debut.

[4][5][6] Shock Till You Drop heavily criticized the film, remarking that if you "combine the House on Haunted Hill remake and A Nightmare on Elm Street – minus all the good parts – and you will get Asylum.

"[7] Dread Central also panned the film, noting that it "seems like it was aimed more toward the young adult demographic than the horror fan" and that anyone other than a "fourteen-year-old girl" would likely find it "horribly average".