Prison

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.

Yes people this has three cast members from the movie "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3" shocked? Well for me, yes I was very shocked. Tom Everett and Viggo Mortensen are too excellent actors, you might remember them as Tex and Alfredo, from TCM 3 of course. Prison relates to other movies like "The Horror Show", "Destroyer", and "Shocker" but there was something different about this film. It was creepier than all those others and it had better torture scenes of pain and agony and including...yes...death. The only thing that didn't make it as good as all the others you only see the spirit one time for about ten seconds, that's it. Through the whole movie the spirit appears as bright light and electricity. Oh and did I include that Kane Hodder is in this too? Good story, alright setting (It takes place in a prison what else do you want), and acting is basically average. If you like prison horror movies this is a for must see for your eyes, pure eye candy!

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.

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.

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.