Prison (1988)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers:

Irwin Yablans (story)
C. Courtney Joyner (writer)

Release Date:

14 April 1989 (Finland)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Horror Has A New Home.

Plot:

The spirit of a long-dead prisoner returns for revenge, haunting the prison's new governor.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Electric Chair | Haunting | Revenge | Supernatural

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Viggo Mortensen	...	Burke / Forsythe Electrocution
Chelsea Field	...	Katherine Walker
Lane Smith	...	Warden Eaton Sharpe
Lincoln Kilpatrick	...	Cresus
Tom Everett	...	Rabbitt
Ivan Kane	...	Lasagna
André De Shields	...	Sandor
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister	...	Tiny
Stephen E. Little	...	'Rhino' Reynolds
Mickey Yablans	...	Brian Young
Larry Flash Jenkins	...	Hershey
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Captain Horton
Hal Landon Jr.	...	Wallace
Matt Kanen	...	Johnson
Rod Lockman	...	Kramer

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1990) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1988) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned) | West Germany:18 (re-rating) | Iceland:(Banned) | Argentina:18

Filming Locations:

Rawlins, Wyoming, USA

Company:

Empire Pictures

Trivia:

The high altitude sun in Wyoming caused shooting issues in the scene where the prisoners are stripped to their underwear and forced to stand outside all day. Due to technical issues, the scene was shot over and over and the prisoners in the background become sunburned on one side of their bodies only as extras were not provided sunblock.

Quotes:

Burke: Let me tell you something. I was making it a real point to mind my own business. Maybe you oughta try that for a while. Start right now. You give me back my ball, I'll give you yours.

Movie Connections:

References Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

Soundtrack:

Choas

Behind bars...

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)