Prison (1987)

Nice effects though.

Absolutely Fantastic

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Moving into a disused prison facility, the inmates quickly find themselves becoming involved in a series of freak accidents around the facility and realize that a former electrocuted inmate is haunting the prison and forcing them to find a way of stopping him.For the most part this here was quite the fun and enjoyable offering.most of what makes this one work quite well is the fact that there's a lot built on the incredibly freaky and quite exciting supernatural moments featured throughout here. That the majority of these scenes are shown taking advantage of the prison location with something way more illogical and fantastic that could possibly happen in real life makes for a fun time here with this one getting to utilize that in building up far more suspense than expected. There's some fun in the beginning here where the inmates are sent through their rounds and are put into the the prison itself which leads into the escape attempt that starts this one off nicely. Inside, the other scenes from the discovery of the execution chamber that holds the great release scene of the lights coming out of the hole and enveloping the group, the first attack on the two in solitary which is a huge scenes where the burning walls leading into the race to get them free while they're being burnt alive in grisly fashion. Other highlights include the attack on the escaping convict in the bowels of the facility where all the wiring and piping which is pretty bloody once it builds nicely to the fine finale of the body dropping in the middle of the mess-hall during dinner and the great prison riot scene where the inmates overrun and get into a big fight against the guards who get involved, making for a rather fun time as well. The big finale where they try to escape and get caught up in the actual revenge against the ghost going after the wronged parties is where this one again puts in some solid action with some solid and enjoyable scenes here against the crackling supernatural powers and big gruesome kills that give this a really overall good time here by adding the gruesomeness as well as the nice action. Given that there's a really impressive prison location that seems perfectly in tune with the type of setting that has some solid suspense and a fantastic pace that keeps things moving along without too much of a problem, and it holds up nicely over it's minor flaws. The biggest issue here is the overall lack of information given out over what's actually happening in the prison, with this one running through nearly until the end before it even really gets to any kind of attempting an explanation for what's happening and there's just a simple throwaway line about it which really gets lost in the chaos of the situation. It really should've been given earlier while also holding more of an importance of what's going on throughout here rather than how it holds up here. It does run into some clichés here in how it shows off the authority figure in charge and how the actual prison itself is run that makes it feel a little familiar without really attempting anything new, but the biggest issue is the lack of explanations really hurting this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, picture nudity and mild drug use.

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.

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

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.