Exclusive: ‘Whaley House’ Trailer is Proof That The Asylum May Have Made a Good Movie

By  · Published on May 14th, 2012

As an expert on Asylum movies, the bar isn’t exactly high here, but what’s most striking about the trailer for Jose Prendes’s The Haunting of Whaley House is that it looks like an actual movie – not a CGI-from-1994 slathered abomination cribbing close to the legal limit of blockbuster theft.

Granted, it’s a haunted house film, and it looks like it’s maintained the central tropes, but there’s lighting! And decent camera work! And the lines don’t completely read like they came from a a sophomore in high school with a loose understanding of grammar!

Could it be? Could The Asylum have produced a good movie?

It’s too soon to tell, but we’ve acquired proof that it’s highly possible:

So maybe it’s not mind-blowing, but it’s certainly an achievement for The Asylum – a production company unashamed to make Z-grade crap.

And that’s what’s really interesting here. Asylum has made enough money tricking audiences with too-similar cover artwork and movie titles to be in a position to micro-finance up-and-coming filmmakers with potential. Maybe they might be able to fulfill Roger Corman’s legacy after all.

Wouldn’t that be something?

The official synopsis for The Haunting of Whaley House:

“Just because you don’t believe in ghosts, doesn’t mean they don’t believe in you!

Penny is a skeptic, despite the fact that she works as a tour guide at The Whaley House, considered America’s most haunted house. One night her friends convince her to let them into the famous museum to see if it is as haunted as everyone says it is, and they find much more than they bargained for.

Writer/director Jose Prendes (Corpses Are Forever, A Magnificent Death from a Shattered Hand) brings you a blood-soaked haunted house chiller like no other. Starring Stephanie Greco, Arielle Brachfeld, Graham Denman and genre icon Lynn Lowry (The Crazies, I Drink Your Blood). Coming to DVD/Bluray/Redbox/Netflix/VOD July 31, 2012!”

The film will premiere at Comic-Con 2012.

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