Prison (1987) User Reviews (51)

The mood is everything.

[pullomeri-1 · 6/10 · 11 April 2005]

In this Renny Harlin-directed film, the story is nebulous and vague in the best possible way. An ancient prison in Wyoming must be reopened to relieve inmate congestion elsewhere. The state penal board installs Ethan Sharpe (Lane Smith) as the new warden. His first task is to renovate the place, using an advance guard of inmates as slave laborers. Smith brilliantly portrays Sharpe as a Gestapo version of Jimmy Steward. And soon it becomes apparent that Sharpe has something to hide, something to do with the history of this hoosegow and a prisoner who died in the electric chair down in the basement. Worse yet, it seems like said prisoner's spirit has been lying in wait for Sharpe's return.

The mood is everything in Prison. An air of confinement overtakes the film as soon the buses roll into the yard to drop the work crew off at their new home. The look, sound and smell of penitentiary life hangs all over the place. For the ghost vs. warden conclusion, the vagaries of C. Courtney Joyner's script translate into the imprecision of a nightmare. What the hell does this wrongly executed ghost want? Who knows? Despite the silly subplot with a crusading lady reformer. Prison remains one of Empire Picture's most accomplished productions.

Easily rises above expectations ...........

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 10 January 2013]

As prison movies go, "Prison" easily rises above expectations. Competent acting by Lane Smith, Viggo Mortensen, and a cast of prison stereotypical character actors carries the movie into above average territory. The abandoned Wyoming prison where it was filmed is interesting, and lends authenticity. Although the horror prison aspect has been done more recently, there is a certain quality to "Prison" that has not been replicated. I'm not sure what it is, but the combination of likable characters that have some development fighting an unleashed spirit is depicted quite well, in the tradition of great films like "The Keep". - MERK

Harlin does the hokey pokey.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 17 September 2015]

A cash-strapped prison board decides to reopen an old, run-down slammer that has been closed since 1968, putting no-nonsense warden Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith), an ex-guard at the establishment, in charge of running the show. When Sharpe orders two of the new inmates (one of whom is played by a young Viggo Mortensen) to break down the sealed-up entrance to the execution chamber, he unwittingly unleashes the vengeful spirit of dead convict Charlie Forsythe, who was wrongfully sent to the electric chair.

With the two men responsible for this dreadful miscarriage of justice currently residing in the very same prison as Forsythe's ghost, one might expect retribution to be swift, but director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea) drags out matters for over 100 minutes, chucking in as many hoary prison drama clichés as possible in the process, whilst having his malevolent spook kill off several other characters for no discernible reason other than to pad out the action and meet the gore quota—except that the splatter here is remarkably tame despite the inventive nature of the deaths.

5.5/10, rounded down to 5 for the cinematography, which utilises a blue tint and smoke throughout in a bid to add style and atmosphere, but which, in reality, only succeeds in making everything blue and smoky.

Wot! No DVD?

[wikkidsmyle · 29 November 2002]

Considering the amount of crap that Hollywood studios churn out onto DVD these days, it's simply amazing that this absolute gem of a horror movie is only available on video (and NTSC at that!). If you, like me, are a big fan of the multi-talented Viggo Mortensen and are lucky enough to come across a copy of this film on eBay or suchlike, then I suggest you buy it until someone comes to their senses and treats this film to the DVD transfer that it richly deserves.

This was Renny Harlin's fourth film (just before he came to fame with 'Die Hard 2') and stars Viggo, as the kind of prisoner that you'd want as your friend, along with Lane Smith (he of the 'Superman' TV series) as a deliciously sadistic warden. The story takes place in a prison (no surprise there, though it was filmed in a REAL prison which adds to the atmosphere) and concerns the unintentional release of the revenging spirit of a prisoner electrocuted 30 years earlier - nuff said. Fans of truly inventive and gory dispatches will love this film. The ending is a bit cheesy, but that's the only quibble I have.

9/10

PS - Viggo does look real good in his underwear.

The only thing criminal about this prison film is how overlooked it is!

[theueahorrorsociety · 7/10 · 14 February 2010]

Prisons are not exactly renowned for their kind hospitality and 'happy vibes', what with stories of fights, chaos, murder and of course extreme male bonding! But the prison in this film is a different beast altogether. Horror films set in cells are, as you probably know, nothing particularly new as they emphasis and exaggerate the fear of claustrophobia and the inability of escape – two of the greatest themes in horror cinema. With such examples as THE CHAIR (Waldermar Korzeniowsky, 1988), THE GREEN MILE (Frank Darabont, 1999), ALIEN 3 (David Fincher, 1992)and of course the entire Women In Prison exploitation genre itself, another entry into this niche has to be something inventive and a lot of fun to boot in order to be recognised. Or at least that's what you'd have thought. PRISON is certainly an incredibly fun and enjoyable ride and it's somewhat of a shame that it isn't as well known as it should be.

The film, in short, centres on an old prison (well, duh!) which has been reopened. However, it's not just fellow inmates and guards the prisoners have to fear, but also a mean ass demon ghost spirit with only one thing on its mind; death! And boy, are we treated to some awesome death scenes! I won't spoil anything here for you but there are plenty of innovative and enjoyable murders all done by invisible hands.

Besides the special effects and the murders, this film also has another thing going for it; it's cast. Headlining, we have LORD OF THE RINGS (Peter Jackson, 2001-2003) star Viggo Mortensen (and for all those so inclined, yes, he does get naked) whose performance is not only highly believable, but is done with such skill that his Eastwood-esquire character is both bad-to-the-bone and likable (a very delicate mix). Add him to a cast of 'hey-wait-a-minute-I-know-that-guy' actors and you've got yourself one great set of stars. The characters themselves however lack three-dimensionality and more often than not come across as very stereotypical. We've got a black oculist, a hard-as-nails prison warden, a human-rights activist woman and plenty of other stock characters. But in all honesty, this 'fault' actually aids the film. Instead of boring character development in an over-long equilibrium, we are chucked, more or less, straight into the action and once it gets going (very early on) there's not a single scene that's a filler – it's balls to the wall plot. Unlike a certain SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Frank Darabont, 1994 )! Sharing conventions with the slasher genre, this is somewhat of a convention itself, and, in good ol' slasher genre tradition, PRISON punishes those who have been bad.

All in all this is an excellent little horror film and one which is sadly overlooked and unmentioned among the horror world. With an excellent cast and great special effects and rather original death scenes this film is highly recommended to horror fans. Don't be fooled into thinking it'll be a cheesy little film either, just because it was made in USA 1980s, it's far from cheesy (although the very end does ruin this) and, simultaneously, far from gritty and realistic (whilst it attempts to tackle issues such as prison rape, these are rather subtly done).

I give it 3.5 out of 5 luvs. A very entertaining horror film with some very nice touches indeed.

Behind bars...

[fmarkland32 · 7/10 · 24 October 2006]

Viggo Mortensen stars as a new inmate of a haunted prison in which the warden (Played well by Lane Smith) has a grisly secret that could be the reason why various prison guards and inmates are being slaughtered by a supernatural presence. Lincoln Kilpatrick is the lifer who knows the secret and is scared for his life. When I think prison movies, I always think action movies starring Stallone or Van Damme or high caliber dramas such as Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile. However I didn't expect a ghost story more along the lines of Exorcist III. Prison however is an atmospheric effort and it certainly remains the best movie of Renny Harlin's career. The movie is creepy and has some good acting from a cast of (at the time) unknowns. Lane Smith comes off the best because his warden isn't the usual cliché of evil personified but rather nervous and twitchy which adds some credibility to a movie that far exceeds expectations.

*** out of 4-(Good)

Even the Prison couldn't hold them

[asgard-5 · 5/10 · 4 June 2011]

Lane Smith stars as a worn-out bug-eyed warden Sharpe who in 1968 executed some prisoner. 20 years later the almighty Board reopens the Prison, transfers some inmates to it and reinstates the old dog Sharpe who's plagued by nightmares of that execution he carried out a long time ago. Viggo Mortensen plays a mysterious convict do-gooder that helps everybody and carries himself with unprecedented grace. Lincoln Kilpatrick (who did some quality time later in Fortress) plays an old black guy that already did time here under warden Sharpe. The go-to girl of late 80s action and horror Chelsea Field is spliced in as a concerned female observer. To top it all off the evil spirit gets unleashed (it's the 20th anniversary of that execution) and haunts the place The Keep/Evil Dead style. Prison is not well written, but looks okay and is shot well. It has a lot of familiar faces. The scares don't work, but I think it's because they're ridiculous and funny to begin with. The third act has people running around in panic and a surprise twist is revealed that goes absolutely nowhere. This movie you're going to laugh at if you've seen Evil Dead, The Keep and Fletch. But to Renny Harlin's credit, he made it watchable enough for others to comfortably sit through it. It's his first all-American movie and he made a wise decision of grabbing onto the first (worst?) thing they gave him and do his best with it.

Underrated low budget gem for horror genre fans.

[Fella_shibby · 7/10 · 12 October 2020]

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. Ok, there r problems with the screenplay n direction. The ghost unnecessary kills innocent fellas just for the the sake of the runtime, the ending is kinda rushed with no proper explanation about the resemblance between the ghost n Mortensen, what exactly happened 30 years prior is not explained well, why the ghost spared the old convict who too was involved is beyond me, ther r too many cliches n the worst is why kill the innocents when the ghost cud have easily killed off the main perpetrator but then fellas will complain how will they make a feature film. But i am angry man, why they had to kill Stallone's fan n Tiny?

On the plus side, the film has lots of recognizable faces, good director, nice settings of a prison n that too a real one which adds to the atmosphere, gory deaths, the one involving the barbwire will remind Evil Dead.

The plot - A convict is executed via electric chair for a murder he did not commit n later the prison is closed. The dead convict's soul returns from the afterlife to take revenge but goes on a killing spree when the prison is reopened after thirty years.

As You'd Expect

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 11 July 2013]

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

A pleasant surprise.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 1 July 2000]

No great shakes in terms of scripting and originality, but this interesting horror film has an unusual, realistic edge that sets it apart from most routine thrillers. Well-drawn characters and first-rate effects make this a perfectly decent, if minor, effort. The explosive final sequence is very well-edited.

One of Renny Harlin's best and it's still terrible

[TheMarwood · 3/10 · 20 May 2014]

Some of the most tame prisoners ever seen on film are transferred to a prison haunted by an executed man years earlier. Was the evil warden involved? Uh, yes. A young Viggo Mortensen, showing none of the talent he showcased in his later work, is some sort of hotshot prisoner. A whole lot of nothing happens, except lots of blue gels over movie lights and added smoke to make shafts of light. It's a boring and lame forgotten 80s horror entry that should stay forgotten. Doesn't even deliver requisite gore and shocks. A flatline of a movie that takes its silly premise deadly serious. You'll be hard pressed to remember anything that happened except for lots of blue.

Fantastic 80's gem, scandalously and inexplicably forgotten over the years!

[Coventry · 9/10 · 7 June 2005]

What we have here is a compelling piece of low budget horror with a relatively original premise, a cast that is filled with familiar faces AND one of the most convincing filming locations in the history of horror films. So...could anyone please tell me why this movie is so utterly underrated??? "Prison" is the Finnish director Harlin's American debut, which still counts as his best effort even though he went on making blockbuster hits like "Die Hard 2", "Cliffhanger" and "Deep Blue Sea". The story entirely takes place in an ancient and ramshackle Wyoming prison, re-opened for the cause of over-population in other, more modern state penitentiaries. Inside the former execution dungeons, the restless spirit of the electric chair's last victim still dwells around. The now promoted warden Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith) was there already 40 years ago, when this innocent man was put to death, and the spirit still remembers his vile role in the unfair trial. It seems that the time for vengeance has finally arrived. Viggo Mortensen plays the good car thief who has to prevent an even larger body count and Chelsea Field is the humane social worker who slowly unravels the secrets from the past.

"Prison" contains over half a dozen memorable gore sequences but it's the unbearably tense atmosphere that'll stick to you for certain! Unlike any other horror picture from that decade, "Prison" features an amazing sense of realism! By this, I refer to the authentic scenery and the mood inside the prison walls, of course, and not towards the supernatural murders that are being committed... even though these are genuinely unsettling as well. The film's best parts are images of realistic and tough prison-drama sequences combined with visual mayhem and shocking horror. The absolute best terror-moment (providing me with nightmares ever since I saw it at rather young age) focuses on a grizzly death-struggle involving barbed wire. Haunting!! The screenplay only suffers one flaw, but that's a common one...almost inevitable, I guess: clichés! The story introduces nearly every possible stereotype there is in a prison surrounding. We've got the ugly, fat pervert with his 'cute' boy-toy, the cowardly and racist guard avoids confrontation at all costs and – naturally – the old 'n wise black con who serves a lifetime (did I hear anybody yell the name Morgan Freeman?) Don't stare yourself blind on these clichés is my advise, as there are so many other elements to admire. The photography is dark and moist, the mystery is upheld long and successfully and the supportive inmate-roles of class B-actors are excellent (the fans will recognize Tom Everett, Tom 'Tiny' Lister and even immortal horror icon Kane Hodder). Forget about Wes Craven's god-awful attempt "Shocker" or the downright pathetic cheese-flick "the Chair". This is the only prison chiller worth tracking down! Especially considering Viggo Mortensen peaking popularity nowadays (I heard he starred in a successful franchise involving elves, Hobbits and other fairy creatures...) this true 80's horror gem oughts to get an urgent DVD-release!

Very well done prison drama ghost flick!

[The_Void · 7/10 · 27 February 2009]

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.

Starts well..

[rocknrelics · 5/10 · 11 November 2020]

I was enjoying this film, but then all of a sudden it just seemed to tail off and I lost interest.

Can't pinpoint what was wrong, but it was a disappointment for me.

Couple of good gore scenes, and a laughable prison riot.

Oh, and the 5.1 soundtrack on the 88 films blu ray is possibly the worst I've ever heard, it shoves the dialogue into the background and pumps up the special effects to a ridiculous volume.

Rather Unique Haunted Film

[Michael_Elliott · 13 March 2015]

Prison (1987)

*** (out of 4)

A rundown prison is about to re-open after twenty-years as Warden Sharpe (Lane Smith) plans to use the 300 new inmates to clean the place up and get it into working shape. One of the inmates (Viggo Mortensen) helps break down a sealed execution room, which unleashes the spirit of a previously killed convict and soon strange murders are happening throughout the prison.

PRISON is a film I skipped for over two decades because I thought the story just sounded downright stupid. There's certainly egg on my face because while the story is lacking and there are some major flaws here and there, for the most part this is a pretty well-made film that manages to have some very good performance and a terrific atmosphere. A lot of credit has to go to director Renny Harlin who made this just before A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4 and three years before breaking into the mainstream with DIE HARD 2.

What works so well with this movie is the atmosphere created by the director. The rundown prison makes for a wonderful setting and I thought the entire thing had a rather authentic feel. Just watching the film you could really feel yourself inside these prison walls thanks in large part to the atmosphere, which is perfectly captured by some very good cinematography. The cinematography also works extremely well during the murder scenes where all sorts of crazy stuff is usually happening. The death sequences here are original to say the least, although they're certainly a lot different than the type horror fans were wanting to see during this period.

Speaking of which, it's easy to see why PRISON didn't get too much love when it was originally released. Released during the era of slashers, I'm not sure how many people wanted to see a haunted prison movie and especially one that didn't feature that many gory deaths. What death scenes are here are quite unique but I'm sure most people were wanting Jason and Freddy. Not some invisible killer. As much as I enjoyed the majority of the film, there are still some problems including the story that really doesn't add up to much. Another problem is that the 102-minute running time starts to drag a bit towards the end.

Another good thing working for the film are its performances with Smith being extremely good in his role as the warden. I thought he did a very good job and delivered an intense performance, which is going to remind many of the one Tommy Lee Jones gave in NATURAL BORN KILLERS several years later. Mortensen also does a very good job leading the film and it's easy to see even here that he was destined to become a strong actor. Chelsea Field is good in the role of a social worker and supporting players Tom Everett, Ivan Kane and Lincoln Kilpatrick also turn in good work.

PRISON is quite original when you think about it, although there are some flaws here that keep it from being much better. People who overlooked the film back in the day certainly deserve to give it a shot.

The Best of Haunted Prison Films - Clichés and All

[BaronBl00d · 7/10 · 10 July 2008]

I pulled down a VHS box from my vast collection - many unseen - and picked out a movie, based on the box art, I thought would be fun, and yes, bad. Prison had that 80s cheesy look all over that box. I sat down and watched, and lo! and behold!, found that sometimes we do indeed sit down to a movie with preconceived expectations in mind. Fortunately, I reversed mine quickly and soon realized I was sitting down not just to an okay film but a rather good movie in total. Prison tells the story of an old, dilapidated prison being reopened to save on budgetary concerns. It looks creepy as all empty and filled with prisoners. The prison used as a set is incredibly atmospheric and easily the most important character in the film. The story using the prison as its central setting tells in a prologue of a man being killed via the electric chair. We see Lane Smith as a guard - tearing away a Crucifix before sending the man to his Maker. We then go to present day, first with a government board at a meeting deciding to open the prison and send a beautiful doctor in to make sure that conditions are acceptable as she campaigned vigorously against re-opening the old prison. Then we see the new warden, Lane Smith, haunted by a nightmare in bed - and given the new job of opening a prison he has not been to in years. Well, the rest follows suit: prisoners and guards arrive with plenty of stereotypes abounding. We are given some character depth and several of the prisoners are interesting characters. The acting is better than one might expect with Lane Smith doing as always a workmanlike job. Viggo Mortenson as a very different prisoner being solid. Tom Everett, Tiny Lister, and Ivan Kane really exploring the boundaries of their stereotypical characters. Chelsea Field is okay as the female lead. The best performance is by Lincoln Kilpatrick, an underrated character actor, as Cresus - a prisoner who had been in that very same prison years ago when the "man" had been executed" with some kind of terrible secret. Prison is not the next best thing to sliced bread or anything like that, but it is definitely worth a look and definitely better than most would expect from it. I was pleasantly surprised at the way director Renny Harlin created a story so visually atmospheric. The film has a tense, taut pace and Harlin knows how to build his scenes. There are a few excessively shot gore scenes - the one with the barbed wire was a bit much as was the one with all the pipes. But these scenes are visually creative and interesting. The acting is uniformly decent. The script actually much more cohesive than one usually gets from films like these. That may in part be credited to Irwin Yablans who wrote the story. You may remember he came up with the idea of making Halloween scary as a holiday. Here he makes incarceration a hell of a lot more scarier than it already is. Give Prison a break(get it).

Con Nightmare

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 7/10 · 13 March 2019]

I saw Prison in 1988, when I was a young and impressionable child, and it really freaked me out. Did you ever see horror movies when you were a kid and think "how could anyone make anything so horrible?" This was one of these movies where I was even afraid to look at the video box in case actual evil came out of it. That's how my mind worked.

Flash-forward 31 years and I'm now a smart and intelligent grown-up (!) ready to properly watch the film with an analytical mind and I assure you it is one of the best, if perhaps a little obscure, 80s horrors. The decade belonged to Freddy and Jason with a few classic Carpenters and studio productions, but a few schlocky horrors managed to sneak in there. Prison, while not groundbreaking, definitely deserves a lot of appreciation.

Viggo Mortensen plays a car thief sent to do some hard time in the fun house, only the construction of a new super-max facility has fallen behind and the authorities decide to re-open the ramshackle Wyoming State Penitentiary and reinstate the hardcore old warden Sharpe (Richard Nixon lookalike Lane Smith). As soon as the doors are locked the men are tormented by a vengeful spirit that turns the slammer into a hell on Earth.

I was surprised at how much characterization there was. The cons are not just disposable meat but men with personalities and are well acted. The production design, lighting, and photography are genuinely spooky with a believable, earthy realism. How could Renny Harlin show this much enthusiasm early in his career only to become lazy and workman like by the end of the 90s?

With awesome make-up and gore effects, a little bit of mystery, and a surprising (if flatly handled) twist, Prison rightfully earns distinction in a decade that is filled with a lot of cheap horror trash. I do object to Charles Band's score, which is a straight-up rip-off of the suspense tracks from James Horner's score to Aliens. Other than that, Prison ought to be on every horror fan's list.

Prison,

[ssrtip12 · 5/10 · 13 July 2008]

In 1988 I was 12 years old when this movie was made in my hometown of Rawlins, WY. It is hard to find to watch, so seeing it here on this site with info is pretty cool. I don't remember much about the movie except for the creepy scene in the motel room. They made the prison dark and dreary, not like the ones today. All I can say is this movie is pretty okay, just because it is a movie doesn't mean people should not visit the real place. I do find it interesting that some of the stars have risen to stardom, not from this movie but for other roles. So if you can find a copy of this movie, I think you are very lucky. I've never seen it on T.V. or even on SCIFI. If you like horror, and gore then this movie is for you!

The Creepy Prison

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 28 June 2022]

The inmate Charlie Forsyth is executed in the electric chair in the Creedmore Prison, and the guard Ethan Sharpe (Lane Smith) keeps his crucifix. Thirty years later, Sharpe is promoted to warden and decides to reopen the Creedmore Prison against the will of the board responsible for the prisoners. Katherine Walker (Chelsea Field) is assigned to report the behavior of Sharpe to the board. Soon the prisoners arrive in buses and among the inmates, the car thief Burke (Viggo Mortensen) that soon shows his leadership. He is assigned with the prisoner Sandor (André DeShields) to open an access to the execution room that is sealed using pickaxes. When they open a breach, they unleash the evil spirit of Forsyth that was trapped in the space and now is seeking revenge on Sharpe, who becomes psychotic since he has a dark secret. However, the inmates and guards are also affected by the vengeful spirit that starts a crime spree in the prison.

"Prison" is creepy prison movie from 1987, with a good storyline and screenplay. The performance of Lane Smith is impressive and Viggo Mortensen performs a cool character. Chelsea Field is beautiful and elegant. The supernatural story is still entertaining after thirty-five years of the film release. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Duro de Prender" ("Hard to Arrest")

Almost story free ghost flick.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 27 August 2007]

Prison is set in Wyoming where work on a new prison has hit a problem so the state board decide to re-open an old state penitentiary that has been closed for 20 years, Warden Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith) is put in charge. 200 odd prisoners are shipped in & they are put to work fixing the rundown prison up including Burke (Viggo Mortensen) who is ordered to break into the old execution chamber, he duly obliges but when he penetrates the bricked up door an intense beam of light shoots out & all the electrics, gas & fire around the prison goes crazy for a few minutes. Burke has unwittingly unleashed a deadly evil force which is in the mood for some killing & no-one is safe...

Directed by Renny Harlin I thought Prison was a poor late 80's horror flick that seemed to forget about the small point of having a story. The script was by Empire Pictures regular C. Courtney Joyner who was responsible for writing such 'classics' as Class of 1999 (1990), Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991) & Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys (2004) amongst other low budget horror crap that even I haven't heard of & seems to take itself very seriously. The biggest problems I have with Prison are that it's far too slow, it's over 30 minutes into the film before the 'evil force' is even released although the pace does pick up towards the end but by then it was too little too late as far as I was concerned, then there's the fact there's no discernible storyline here at all. For a start it never tries to explain why there's an 'evil force' bricked up in the old execution chamber, it never explains why this force decides to kill random inmates when it's supposed to be out on a revenge mission or why it just doesn't kill Warden Sharpe straight away, no explanation is given to where Burke fits into it even though he looks exactly the same as the prisoner who was electrocuted & has come back, there's no real explanation as to how the Warden is connected to everything that's going on apart from two early nightmare sequences in which he seems to be remembering something although it's never revealed what it is or why. To be honest I couldn't really give you a plot synopsis as the film doesn't have a rigid story which it follows all the way through. The character's are dull & forgettable, the murders are few & far between, the pacing is way off, the whole film is a mess & even ghosts can't shoot straight when it comes to trying to shoot the hero. A less than satisfactory way to spend 100 odd minutes, there really are better things you could be doing.

Director Harlin's full American flick debut he does a good job & there's a decent atmosphere but after over an hour of constant drab, dull, dark prison cells & corridors I started to get bored. I just think the look of the film is far too repetitive, bland & frankly lifeless. I didn't think it was scary & the gore is pretty tame apart from the best moment in the entire film when a police guard gets killed when a load of barb wire wraps itself around his body & face with a nice close up of his throat being torn open. Other than that there's a burnt corpse & a mangled body which falls from the ceiling & very little else. There is a scene when the Warden burns all the prisoner mattresses in front of them & then makes them stand all night in their underwear in the yard, I was watching this scene & thought that you'd never get away with doing something like that. Over here prisoners have rights & if the Warden did something like that there would be a national outcry from all those humanitarians & every prisoner would sue the Warden, the prison service & the Government for everything they had & they'd win!

With a supposed budget of about $4,000,000 Prison actually had a pretty healthy budget although it doesn't really look like it on screen, sure there's a decent cast & the few special effects that are included are good but overall it's set in the same location with limited ambition. Prison was actually shot in a real Wyoming state prison so it certainly looks the business. The acting is alright, Prison proves that sometimes Hollywood stars not only have one crap horror film skeleton in their closets but in the case of Mortensen he has two with this & the awful The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994) both of which I'm sure he'd like to forget about...

Prison is a dull, lifeless, colourless & humourless waste of 100 minutes, despite one good gore scene I didn't like it at all as I actually prefer my films to have a story rather than seemingly random events & incidents cobbled together with no narrative sense.

Prison

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 5 September 2010]

Hey man, this is where the bottom of the whole damn world drops out.

Wyoming State Penitentery has been shut down for some time and is in dire need of repairs for it is to house a whole lot of prisoners. Hard-as-nails, pain-in-the-ass warden, Eaton Sharpe(Lane Smith) is still haunted by nightmares regarding an inmate put to death, via electric chair. In an attempt to soothe his guilty conscience(his role in the execution of an innocent man), Sharpe wishes to place a crucifix where the execution took place, having two prisoners break down a cemented door which led to the electric chair. In doing this, Sharpe contributes to the release of Forsythe's vengeful spirit. No one is safe from Forsythe's wrath. Chelsea Field is Katherine Walker, one of those prison reformers who fights for better institutions and rehabilitation for convicts. Katherine will have her hands full with Eaton who doesn't adhere to her philosophy in better living conditions for those who have broken the law. Viggo Mortensen, in one of his first starring roles, is Burke, a car thief who shares an eerie resemblance with Forsythe which sends chills to Sharpe. Lincoln Kilpatrick is elderly con Cresus, whose past history regarding Forsythe torments him, he had a role in the execution as well. Tom Everett has a memorable small part as a prisoner who tries to drive a bus out of the prison after most of the cons had unloaded, later suffering a grisly fate when he attempts a second escape (he narrowly survives a harrowing ordeal while locked in solitary as Forsythe's spirit set the water-logged cells a blaze with fervent heat). Ivan Kane is an Italian nicknamed Lasagna who befriends Burke, Tommy "Tiny" Lister is a seemingly mellow(but very scary)mountain of muscle actually named Tiny, and Stephen E Little is especially detestable as a rotund, scraggly homo brute, Rhino(he orders around a young man, a sort of lackey who probably services his sexual needs as well since they share a cell together).

I can't really argue against those who would call PRISON essentially a special effects & light show, it is pretty much all style and little substance. But, I still thought it delivered for the crowd who enjoys movies about prisons containing evil presences. I can certainly see why director Renny Harlin landed the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET IV gig because there are some wild and effective supernatural murder sequences such as the "killer barbwire" scene and the exploding prison doors off their hinges, not to mention the computer monitors which eviscerate right before our eyes.

Around this time, many filmmakers were using light as an effects tool and in PRISON we see electrical current controlling objects to destroy it's victims. This idea derives from the fact that the killer was executed in the electric chair..it's only natural that the condemned spirit would use this very power which ended his life to decimate others. And, anyone, including prisoners, who try to flee the penitentiary are denied thanks in part of a guard tower machine gun operated by the aforementioned electrical current. I loved the 80's because of the use of blood squibs and PRISON has plenty of moments where bullets blast through bodies, allowing make-up wizards a chance to show the damage of a shot gun or pistol.

Probably the corniest scene involves Forsythe himself, making his grand appearance as Sharpe is trying to drive out of the penitentiary. There's a dandy of make-up effect regarding a prisoner being burned alive and the light optical effects are stunning visually.

While the film spends a great deal of time with the prisoners and Sharpe(and his guards), Field's part is a bit underwritten in that she witnesses strange goings-on, but factors little in the grand scheme of things other than driving her car to the prison(and researching the history of Forsythe's execution, more than a bit motivated by his tricks to gain her attention )at the very end.

Prison

[a_baron · 4/10 · 31 January 2020]

"Prison" begins with an inmate being walked slowly to the electric chair then fast forwards two decades. A new prison is to be opened, rather the old prison is to be re-opened, and to this end busloads of inmates are shipped in.

There is a mystical connection between the inmate executed and the warden of the new place, not only that, people start dying in mysterious circumstances. The first death is misinterpreted as a murder, or perhaps that should be a murder by a live human being. From there things go downhill, and the film itself never really goes uphill. We've all seen this sort of thing many times before and since. Sadly, most other films do it better.

Renny Harlin's career has been imprisoned by action since then

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 7 April 2011]

In the 1990s, Finnish director Renny Harlin became known as one of the purveyors of Hollywood action cinema: "Cliffhanger", "Cutthroat Island", "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and "Deep Blue Sea" were his output. To be certain, he is almost always a candidate for Golden Raspberry Awards.

This makes his early effort "Prison" all the more interesting. Far from the explosion-filled brain candy that he released in the final decade of the twentieth century, this is a clever horror flick. Nothing really special, but I certainly liked it. The movie also features early appearances of Viggo Mortensen, Tommy "Tiny" Lister and Kane Hodder (one of the many actors who played Jason Voorhees). It was certainly a major honor for character actor Lane Smith, who plays the warden.

Apparently, Renny Harlin's next movie will be about the Russia-Georgia War of 2008 with Andy Garcia playing Mikhail Saakashvili (I'd always thought that Saakashvili should get played by Bob Hoskins). I'll keep an open mind about this one, but I'm also doubtful, given most of Harlin's output. In the meantime, I advise you to check out "Prison". Really neat.

Silly

[mrdonleone · 2/10 · 9 February 2020]

Scared me when I was young. Couldn't do so again now. Silly flick, only worth to see a young naked Viggo Mortenson.