I watched Stonehearst Asylum (2014) twice then bought a physical copy. That should tell you where the direction of this review is going.
Synopsis
The eighteenth century came to a close, bringing about a new era of medical treatments and ideas. Set in the secluded Stonehearst asylum a man comes to learn all he can about what it means to be a doctor to society’s most vulnerable.
First thoughts
The themes of this movie were so well written. There really wasn’t a “bad guy” in the traditional way that we see them now. The entire movie had me flip-flopping sides and in the end, I was never really sure about the stance I should take.
There was so much depth to each character and there was an argument to be made in their favor. It’s an oversight made in a lot of storytelling where you will forget that your characters, though fictional, don’t know that they aren’t the main characters. They have favorite colors and clothing preferences and this movie seemed to remember and remind you constantly that the narrative was being driven by humans.
Where to Watch
Cinematography as an art form
The cinematography belongs in a catalog of movies that prioritize artful historical storytelling and it is my favorite! Others I would put into this category are Crimson Peak (2015), The Awakening (2011), The Woman In Black (2012), and Winchester (2018).
All of those mentioned are based within the same 60-year time frame of one another. Each decade and sometimes even century has a very distinct look and feel to them. The 1860s through the 1910s are renowned for their very specific fashion silhouettes and budding technological advances.
As long as you’re willing to play with the way fabric looks in candle light you’re halfway there. This is similar for medical and horror themes in historical media. Psychology didn’t become its own discipline in the Western world until the 1890s and new-age spirituality started to take root around the 1860s.
I say all of this to highlight that movies of this persuasion have a loose set of standards to play with and still get it right. That being said there are still so many that don’t. This movie is not one of them.
The storytelling was made in a way that was relatively feasible and so aesthetically pleasing. That’s what lands it in the category of what I call The Great Saturation because the color grading and nods to actual history work as a symbiotic unit that is so pleasing as a viewer.
Head canons and inspirations
When I watched this movie, the next film recommended was Eloise (2016). A similar asylum story based on the real Asylum in Michigan. I bring this up because I don’t think that this was an accident. Aside from their common setting, the two have a lot in common and I have a theory that the creators of StoneHearst took a lot of inspiration from the Eloise Asylum.
They both were abnormally large complexes, had a head doctor with the belief that the way to cure madness was through fear, and every one of the medical treatments showcased within this adaptation could be taken directly from Elosies’s repertoire of medical crimes including but not limited to, spinning chairs, sensory deprivation and shock therapy.
There were obviously other inspirations too. Given that this is set in England and Eloise was in America the second bit of inspiration I spotted was the character Rosie. Within the narrative, there is a theme that StoneHearst was an asylum that had very high-bred members of state within its walls.
This paired with the time period in which the film is set nods to the monarchy’s history of institutionalizing members of the royal court who could be considered shameful to the image the crown was attempting to curate.
This happened in both English and American high society.
Digestible history
Per all my reviews I can’t not talk about the historical and often present mistreatment of minority classes within our society’s most vulnerable.
Yes, there are discrepancies, even in torture. A place like Stonehearst wouldn’t have the same people as a workhouse or a poorhouse. I can and will mention the lack of minority voices within this story, but I don’t think that was without intention. (I do wish if that was the case it would have been mentioned in canon).
A place like Stonehearst within the era it was set would have had some very strict standards of entry. Families would have likely paid for the care their “loved ones” were receiving and maybe even had visiting hours.
It’s even said by Eliza that visitors would come in the spring.
Should historical media be accurate? A continuation
I like this example of historical medical media because it’s digestible. The genuine depiction of what happened in sanitariums and asylums was a terrible and nauseating reality but that doesn’t have to be depicted to get your point across.
There is this idea that in order to make a bit accurate or worthy of attention it must be the worst version of that thing to have possibly ever happened. This also plays a bit into my point above that Stonehearst is a more high-brow version of a terrible reality. It makes sense there wasn’t the same level of violence because that asylum would have been tailored to the sensibilities of its benefactors.
Make no mistake benefactor and patient are not the same person.
Patients have more than horror in their lives and there were more hours in the day than not when they weren’t receiving Geneva Convention-violating medical treatment. They still had to exist and had opinions about the texture of that morning’s oatmeal or the weather.
Conclusion
Stonehearst Asylum (2014) was a perfect example of story over shock. I said the same thing about Eloise (2016) , but what can I say? They were made two years apart and I have great taste in movies. This is to say, if you want something to be accessible you have to make content that is “beginner friendly” that goes for anything that is worth attention. This is a film I would consider a good entry point for anyone wanting to get into a very tame historical horror.
Stonehearst: Absolutely Beautiful Brutality through Aesthetics
Director: Brad Anderson
Date Created: 1970-01-01 00:33
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