HEY ALL Halloween is coming up, so time to review some of the creepiest movies that we did for Monsterdon in the past year that are still available on youtube!?!! This one was "ok"... not a masterpiece but not cringe levels of B either.

• RUNTIME NOTE: online sources have slightly different runtimes, possibly because this movie had 4 different DVD/Bluray releases over 12 years, so runtimes are given below
• youtube (1:23:12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkgEwnFOrg8
• archive: (1:22:17) https://archive.org/details/the-asphyx-1972

Asphyx refers to the Ancient Greek word asphyxía, meaning "lack of pulse", or English asphyxiation.
In Victorian England, philanthropic scientist Sir Hugo Cunningham is a member of a parapsychological society that studies psychic phenomena. As part of their latest investigation, the men have been photographing individuals at the moment of death. The resultant photos depict a strange smudge hovering around the body. Though the society concludes that they have captured evidence of the soul escaping the body, Cunningham is skeptical. ...

...

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "After a promising opening which involves some evocative glimpses of Victorian 'psychical research', The Asphyx soon changes course to become a very static account of Hugo's growing obsession with immortality. The film is not helped by Robert Stephens' highly theatrical Hugo, or by a script which abounds in clichés and facile explanations while relegating the invention of the cine-camera to a minor parenthesis. The rest of the cast cope as well as they can, with Robert Powell giving a characteristically authoritative performance as Giles, but the script eventually defeats them. The idea of the Asphyx – nicely visualised in the elaborate experiments as a writhing, screaming shadow – is never sufficiently developed to succeed in being exciting; and the film emerges as an unrewarding endurance test, periodically enlivened by some of the non-dialogue sequences."[4]

Budd Wilkins from Slant Magazine awarded the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing, "Not quite a genre classic, The Asphyx is a mostly intriguing mashup of Victorian ghost story and steampunk revisionism that occasionally threatens to degenerate into inanity with its strident morality-play storyline and escalating improbability factor."[5]

Brett Gallman from Oh the Horror gave the film a positive review, calling it "an old fashioned, cathartic tragedy with familial bloodshed, played in garish fashion and with the moralizing pathos of medieval drama."[6]

Stuart Galbraith IV from DVD Talk awarded the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, praising the film's cinematography and lighting while criticizing its "clunky" dialogue, stagy blocking, and low budget.[7]

Bob Brinkman from HorrorNews.net gave the film a positive review, saying it "conjures a feeling of existential angst as it wrestles with some of the darker philosophical thoughts of life, death, and immortality. With a twist towards the end of the story that is not a gimmick, but instead a well-turned bit of grief-filled misdirection, this is a must see for fans of gothic cinema."[8]

TV Guide gave the film a mixed 2/5 stars, writing, "An unusual horror movie with an intriguing premise, The Asphyx is unfortunately marred by a weak script and unimaginative direction."[9]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 6 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 5/10.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Asphyx