10 Most Twisted Asylum Horror Movies

1. The Dead Pit

The Dead Pit
Imperial Entertainment

While some of the movies featured here are delicate, slow-burning tales, The Dead Pit is just absolute nucking futs from the get go. In fact, The Dead Pit is the most insane movie on this list - and this is a list that features Freddy Krueger's head coming out of a TV set!

Playing like a slasher movie set within an insane asylum, this 1989 picture starts by introducing us to the genius but bonkers Dr. Ramzi. Putting his patients through brutal tests and experiments as part of his quest to master death, Danny Gochnauer's Ramzi ends up dead and buried in the basement of the mental facility where he carried out his work.

From there, we move 20 years down the line as the amnesia-suffering Jane Doe (Cheryl Lawson) is admitted to the reopened asylum. After an earthquake rocks the building, our Jane starts to see creepy patients emerge from the bowels of the building... but, as is ever the case, nobody particularly believes her.

Once we get the revelation that Jane and her mother had changed their names years prior to escape her deranged father, it's no major surprise to see the totally-not-dead Dr. Ramzi resurface and reveal himself to be the father in question.

Oh, and Ramzi has an army of undead, experimented-on zombies under his charge by this point, too...

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.