The Asylum have definitely done much worse than Sunday School Musical, that's saying little though because Sunday School Musical didn't work for this viewer. There are some redeeming value, Chris Chatman was likable as Zachary and had a great voice, the ending song was at least catchy and the best lyrics in the movie were in this song and the dance in the boy's bathroom is the most creative Sunday School Musical gets. The photography and camera work are pretty awful to say the least(like bad horror movie standard), to the extent you question whether there was a photographer at all. And it disallowed me to remotely enjoy the rest of the production values, which weren't that special actually to begin with. The songs are unmemorable with generic melodies and tired lyric writing, and the mostly tuneless singing and choreography that shows next to no passion don't help. The writing has cheesiness all over it, the spirituality and faith angles were good ideas but explored with the utmost banality. That the story is predictable is somewhat predictable, that it has no energy, real fun or passion isn't. The characters infuriate in how they behave and how they act towards one another, shallow is the best way to describe them, while apart from Chatman the acting is very poor, Candice Lakota has a decent voice but is a vapid actress. Overall, not terrible but at best lacklustre. 3/10 Bethany Cox
