Escape from Death Block 13

I had to see this movie since I've missed the rise of Robert Bronzi.

His look is uncanny to that of the late Charles Bronson. At some angles you would easily think it is him. Almost creepy.

However, about this movie.

Hardly original concept. Guy gets in trouble, framed, goes to jail, gets a promise of reduced sentence, gets into fights and everyday prison dilemmas.

As far as the story goes, it's not that bad, in spite not being an original idea (in any way), what's particularly bad with it, is the acting, or should I say lack of it.

I do appreciate the use of non-actors as they usually shows more realistic expressions, but unfortunately some over-act, smirks and just doesn't give that feeling that they know how to act. You notice this with the most of the inmates when they're in frame. Can't help to almost focus more on their so called acting rather than the movie itself.

Choreography is also really really bad. Clearly someone haven't seen enough fight scenes (while filming, from other angles etc) to make it believable and authentic looking. You can see blows a mile away, almost in slow motion in some scenes and clearly see them missing by inches.

We can only hope that some director sees this and it's potential (Not a bad story, really, just poor writing) and do a remake with Bronzi. Maybe even make it play out during the 80-90's so that it would fit better with Bronzi's fighting style, then hire someone who can write a proper plot, re-cast a few of the inmates, and above all, direct the actors so that they look the part.

I think they could do better with CGI which is really visible at times, and also leave out some of the gore or at least not have it in frame like they did. Instant lowering of the movie expectations!

I rated this 5, but that extra star was for Bronzi and that he's a near copy of Bronzon, 4 is for the story, which I would've given otherwise.

As far as directing and thereby controlling actors, I'd rate 3, possibly 2.

Robert Bronzi (Death Kiss) is back in another low-rent 80's style action flick & it's damn good fun.

Charles Bronson lookalike Bronzi plays Mike Kovacs a foreign man in America to find out why his brother died & it leads him to a drugs smuggling operation & into the prison system. Bronzi is sent into a deadly prison as an undercover informant for the US government & must face the brutality of it's corrupted guards & evil warden. Death Block 13 is a prison action film crafted in the style of those Awesome old school one's we grew up watching on video like Tango & Cash & Fortress & Lock-up & Death Warrant, but this one is made on a very tiny budget. The effects are ridiculously cheap & tacky & the fight scenes are slow & bizarre just like most of the weird characters here but it's fun in it's cheap grindhouse type of way. I couldn't help but enjoy it's craziness. Of course this isn't as good as the blood soaked Masterpiece Death Kiss but it's still a fun retro action flick.

Director Gary Jones is a great movie Director within the low-budget B-movie genre & has gave us such Awesome gems as SPIDERS (a Favourite of mine) & CROCODILE 2: DEATH SWAMP (Great Sequel) & MOSQUITO (a Cult Classic B-movie) & he's done alot more good work in T. V & other flicks but those three films are GREAT Creature Feature B-movies.

Often the Audio isn't very good in the prison scenes but it's forgiven for what director Gary Jones (Spiders) managed to pull off on an obvious small budget. Bronzi is good at just looking tough & looking like Bronson & carries himself like an old school 80's action hero. There's some cheesiness of course but the action scenes are decent & the action-packed & bloody prison escape last act is well worth the wait. The big muscled bald guy called Bunyan is decent along with Bronzi & i liked the 80's retro feel to it all. The score is really good also. Other actors throughout are crappy but that really doesn't matter in a cheap action flick like this. I got 80's action vibes from Death Block 13 so it done it's job in my opinion. Bronzi does have a strong screen presence & is a perfect low-budget, B-movie old skool Action hero & i hope he has a good career ahead.

A low-budget Action B-movie that is bloody good fun.

I'm looking forward to more Bronzi action flicks.

...and what do you do when you're like the rest of tinseltown in the 21th century - got no new ideas, innovation and creativity in movie art? Ya resurrect them in the shape of actors who look like these passed movie legends and continue milking a concept, story and style in order to get easy money and please the modern hipster virus with legs in a true trendvictimized manner, but of course.

A very low-budget movie that is chock-full of really, really bad (and really, really slow) fight scenes, bullets that look cheaply done, and a Charles Bronson-lookalike which I'm pretty has had half of his lines re-dubbed.

The plot is simple: man goes to claim his dead brother's money, man gets sent to jail on false charges, man breaks out of jail, man gets his final revenge. Now the story is schlock and the acting of EVERYONE is amazingly bad. But there is something satisfying about the final vengeance kill. THAT gives the movie one extra star in my book. Otherwise, it's really, really mediocre. Not insultingly worthless mediocre, but mediocre as all hell regardle

Finally, what's with the film's fascination with poorly digitized birds? Seriously, look for it. Just so very odd.

I truly enjoyed this crazy Indie film adventure. It was action throughout, crazy fist fights and gun fights. It delivered what it was meant to deliver. If you're a fan of Indie action, this one is a fine example.