Cortechba Overrated

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Woodyanders Sadistic Warden Ethan Sharpe (superbly played with fierce intensity by Lane Smith) runs the rundown Creedmore Prison with an iron fist. Moreover, Sharpe harbors a dark secret: The joint is haunted by the angry and lethal spirit of an innocent man Sharpe wrongly, yet willingly sent to the electric chair for execution. Director Renny Harlin does an expert job of creating and sustaining a supremely creepy atmosphere as well as a strong feeling of pure dread and pervasive gloom, makes excellent and inspired use of the novel penitentiary setting, and stages the elaborate splatter set pieces with admirable skill and brio. C. Courtney Joyner's crafty script puts an ingeniously nightmarish spin on various familiar prison movie clichés which include a brutally thwarted attempted escape, a grisly ruckus in the cafeteria, and a rousing climactic riot and subsequent break out. Viggo Mortensen does well in an early lead role as cagey car thief Burke. The fine acting by the rest of the tip-top cast keeps the picture on track: Chelsea Field as the feisty prison reformer Katherine Walker, Lincoln Kilpatrick as weary and venerable old felon Cresus, Tom Everett as twitchy weasel Rabbitt, Ivan Kane as macho meathead Lassagna, Andre De Shields as voodoo practitioner Sandor, Tiny Lister as the hulking Tiny, Stephen E. Little as monstrous predatory top con Rhino, Mickey Yablans as the timid Brian, and Arlen Dean Snyder as hard-nosed prison guard captain Horton. The spare rattling score by Richard Band and Christopher Stone further enhances the overall eerie tone. Mac Ahlberg's exceptionally moody and stylish cinematography rates as another significant asset. An on the money little scarefest.

Theo Robertson Years after a Charlie Forsythe has been executed via the electric chair the state of Wyoming reopens the prison . During some renovation work a wall is knocked down releasing the spirit of Forsythe who is now bent on revenge This is a cross-genre film featuring prison exploitation movie mixed with horror . Before the credits role you know what to expect and no one is expecting the cerebral psychological horror dished out in John Hillcoat's GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD because this is more in keeping with ghost of the very uncivil undead Noticing the credit of director Renny who would give us DIE HARD 2 and DRIVEN strikes you that this is going to be a bit loud , noisy and exaggerated and guess what we get ? That said we also get an early starring role from Viggo Mortensen possibly the most underrated actor of his generation The story and style plays out as you expect it . A diverse group of cons split in to predators , prey and intelligent lone wolfs are sentenced to serious time in the penal system . You can't help thinking perhaps the conditions seen here are a bit to grim to be realistic but then you stop to consider that in real life convicted prisoners in some states live in tents in the yard then maybe no embellishment is given . It also noticeable how similar in some ways on a visual level this film is to Michael Mann's THE KEEP from 1983 but Mann did manage to make his film a bit more hypnotic than Harlin has done with PRISON

James Bourke Sometimes, more often than not, a movie's poster can make or break my enjoyment of the main feature itself. Back in 1988 when this movie came out, I kept seeing the poster advertising the movie in my local videostore, now as my love of everything revolving around Empire pictures had been in full throttle for a couple of years previous, I just knew I had to see this movie.Of course being directed by Renny Harlin and produced by Irwin Yablans, meant nothing to me at that time, I devoured every frame of the movie, and enjoyed it to the hilt, of course one of my main reasons for wanting to see the movie was because Charles Band Produced via his Empire Pictures production company.Now many many years later, I've been all to aware of the highs and lows of Renny Harlin's career(if we forget about the lows, let's remember the high that was 'The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane') and we followers of Charles Band all know what happened to Empire Pictures hence the involvement of Irwin Yablans as a co producer on this specific project.Some might say that haunted prison flicks are a dime a dozen, but back in 1988, I had never watched any, of course I've more than made up for that now, the vast majority have all skipped off into the mystic, but 'Prison' has long remained a firm favourite of mine.Having earned his directing stripes on 'Born American' director Renny Harlin honed his visual eye to great effect with many a creepy set piece, and ably assisted by a very literate script by the excellent C.Courtney Joyner(for an example of Joyner's prowess as a scriptwriter, check out 'Trancers 3 & 'Doctor Mordrid').The cast of characters whilst stock in trade, firmly uproot themselves from familiarity, and the actors involved really acquit themselves beyond all recall giving the unfolding scenario a real sense of reality, of course this all helps when they shot the movie in a real life prison somewhere in Wyoming.Special Effects supremo John Carl Beuchler adds his usual aplomb to the proceedings when it comes to the executing the special effects set pieces, somehow you can always tell when John Carl had a hand in the gruesome set pieces, one specific that comes to mind is when Larry Flash Jenkins meets his grisly demise within the confines of solitary confinement, the prop head used reminded of his character creation in the very excellent 'Cellar Dweller'.Such things of note should not diminish the finished product, because when John Carl Beuchler gets involved in any project you will always be guaranteed top quality on screen delights.When it comes to highs and lows or dare I say skeleton's in the closet, to think that Viggo Mortensen took on the starring role, I think he should be very proud of his involvement with this project.Also please note Lane Smith's involvement essaying the role of Warden Eaton Sharpe, his exchange with Chelsea Field near the beginning of the movie more or less sets the tone for the entire movie.Once again this is a classic example of when all the elements were in place, Empire Pictures really nailed the finished product.To borrow the line that Lane Smith speaks to Chelsea Field, 'Not a pleasant place to spend one's life, is it Miss Walker! If you spend eighty minutes plus of your life with this movie, you will find yourself just rewarded.In 1956 Charles Forsythe was sent to the chair.....Now he's back! with that in mind....come get some! A resounding 10 out of 10!

The_Void Prison is not often brought up during conversations about the best eighties horror films, and there's a good reason for that because it's not one of the best...but as you delve past the classic films that the decade had to offer, this is certainly among the best of the lesser known/smaller films. The film does have some connection to blockbusters; for a start it's an early directorial effort for Renny Harlin; the capable director behind a number of action films including Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and Deep Blue Sea; and secondly we have an early role for Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen. The film is not exactly original but the plot line is interesting. We focus on a prison that has been reopened after a number of years. This was the prison where a man named Charles Forsyth was sent to the electric chair after being framed by the prison's governor. Naturally, the spirit of the dead man is not resting in peace; and when the old execution room is reopened, the spirit of the dead convict escapes for vengeance.The film is not exactly The Shawshank Redemption, but it does take care to build up its various characters and while the main point of the film is always the horror, the prison drama behind it all does make for an interesting base. This is a good job too because other than the basic premise, the film doesn't really have a 'plot' to go from and we solely rely on the interaction between the characters to keep things interesting. The horror featured in the film is at times grotesque but it's never over the top, which might actually be the reason why this film is seldom remembered, being released in a decade of excess. The murders themselves are rather good and imaginative, however, and provide some major highlights. As the film goes on, we start to delve more into the back-story of the vengeful convict's ghost and while it's fairly interesting, some things about it don't make sense and it drags the film down a little. Still, everything boils down to an exciting climax and overall I have to say that Prison is a film well worth tracking down.