ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - March 4th
"PRISON" released in 1988
The spirit of a long-dead prisoner returns for revenge, haunting the prison's new governor, in Renny Harlin's American film debut, Prison!
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In 1964, inmate Charlie Forsythe swallowed 60,000 volts of electricity for a murder he did not commit. When Creedmore Prison is reopened after thirty years, it has not been standing empty. Charlie Forsythe is back – still charged with electric heat. Waiting for Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith) – the man who stood by as Forsythe rode the electric chair. Forsythe quickly makes up for lost time as his vengeance rises to a fever pitch of violent fury. Burke (Viggo Mortensen) and the other inmates soon realize that they will all be slaughtered unless Forsythe is allowed to repay his long-standing debt. With the lives of Creedmore in the balance, Sharpe and Forsythe are finally brought face-to-rotting-face in a duel that will pit Forsythe's supernatural rage against Sharpe's bloodthirsty instinct for survival!
TRIVIA: During the filming, Viggo Mortensen's convulsions were so violent the arms of the chair were broken and needed to be repaired.
Top and Above: Inmate Burke (Viggo Mortensen) faces off against the sadistic Warden Eaton Sharpe (Lane Smith).
Having left the production company he founded in 1976 (along with producer Joseph Wolf and producer/financier Moustapha Akkad), Compass International - where he was responsible for producing Halloween (1978), Tourist Trap (1979), Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979), Halloween II (1981), Hell Night (1981), Blood Beach (1981), and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - genre producer Irwin Yablans teamed with fellow producer Charles Band and his production company/distributor Empire Pictures. One of the first pictures in their new partnership was Prison, co-written by Yablans with screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner. Yablans initially conceived this film as a slasher movie, but Joyner came up with the idea to make the premise a ghost story instead.
Yablans and Band then approached Finnish director Renny Harlins to helm the picture, impressed with his debut horror film, Born American. Harlin, since the US release of Born American, was actually living out of his car since moving to Los Angeles, and readily jumped at the chance to direct his first US movie. With a director secured, the filmmakers turned their attention to casting. Over eighty actors auditioned for the lead role of Burke, with The Return of the Living Dead and future Friday the 13th actor Thom Matthews being seriously considered before Viggo Mortensen was finally cast. Lane Smith was soon added to the cast as the sadistic Warden Eaton Sharpe, as well as actors Lincoln Kilpatrick, Tom Everett, André DeShields and Tommy Lister as Burke's fellow inmates Cresus, Rabbitt, Sandor, and Tiny respectively. Legendary actor Kane Hodder was also cast as Charlie Forsythe, as well as serving as the film's Stunt Coordinator.
The prison where the movie was shot was actually the former Wyoming State Prison located in Rawlins, Wyoming. While the "gate" for the entrance to the prison does not exist, it was built onto a back wall section of the prison. In the process of cutting a hole in the wall for vehicles, the wall, constructed by prison labor, it was discovered, had many odd items in it as filler (including a snow plow). The electric chair (which was never used in Wyoming) was built into the actual gas chamber of the Wyoming Prison and the death scenes were filmed there. The original chair, was carefully removed and an electric chair was built in its place. Interestingly, most of the inmate extras in the film were portrayed by real-life inmates from a nearby prison to add realism to their performances. The armed guards on the towers were, of course, armed with live ammo at the time. Ironically, Stephen E. Little (who plays inmate Rhino) was a former Hollywood stuntman, and still a member of SAG, who happened to be serving time for manslaughter that he committed during a bar-room brawl!
Yablans and Band then approached Finnish director Renny Harlins to helm the picture, impressed with his debut horror film, Born American. Harlin, since the US release of Born American, was actually living out of his car since moving to Los Angeles, and readily jumped at the chance to direct his first US movie. With a director secured, the filmmakers turned their attention to casting. Over eighty actors auditioned for the lead role of Burke, with The Return of the Living Dead and future Friday the 13th actor Thom Matthews being seriously considered before Viggo Mortensen was finally cast. Lane Smith was soon added to the cast as the sadistic Warden Eaton Sharpe, as well as actors Lincoln Kilpatrick, Tom Everett, André DeShields and Tommy Lister as Burke's fellow inmates Cresus, Rabbitt, Sandor, and Tiny respectively. Legendary actor Kane Hodder was also cast as Charlie Forsythe, as well as serving as the film's Stunt Coordinator.
The prison where the movie was shot was actually the former Wyoming State Prison located in Rawlins, Wyoming. While the "gate" for the entrance to the prison does not exist, it was built onto a back wall section of the prison. In the process of cutting a hole in the wall for vehicles, the wall, constructed by prison labor, it was discovered, had many odd items in it as filler (including a snow plow). The electric chair (which was never used in Wyoming) was built into the actual gas chamber of the Wyoming Prison and the death scenes were filmed there. The original chair, was carefully removed and an electric chair was built in its place. Interestingly, most of the inmate extras in the film were portrayed by real-life inmates from a nearby prison to add realism to their performances. The armed guards on the towers were, of course, armed with live ammo at the time. Ironically, Stephen E. Little (who plays inmate Rhino) was a former Hollywood stuntman, and still a member of SAG, who happened to be serving time for manslaughter that he committed during a bar-room brawl!
TRIVIA: Prison was filmed in 1986, but was not released until 1988 due to Empire Pictures bankruptcy.
Top and Above: The inmates finally realize that the vengeful spirit of the wrongly executed Charlie Forsythe (Kane Hodder) is back!
Shooting on location proved difficult, in particular the high altitude sun in Wyoming which caused issues for the scene where the prisoners are stripped to their underwear and forced to stand outside all day. Because of 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. For another scene where Mortensen runs through in his underwear in waist high water was real, with that particular part of the prison having been been flooded for years. The temperature in the room was below 50F and the water temperature was 46F, but Mortensen insisted on shooting the scenes without a double, and only at being forced to relented for some close up scenes. Mortensen also did the bulk of his own stunts, with stunt coordinator Hodder gaving Mortensen an honorary stuntman's shirt at the completion of the shooting for this film.
Given a limited theatrical release in the United States by the Eden Distributing Company, Prison was a box-office disappointment, grossing a mere $350,000 (against a $4 million budget). Critical reception for Prison were mostly mixed with Dread Central reviewing, "Prison is a gritty and gorgeous horror flick that's not only well acted and engaging but also delivers some shockingly fun and grisly deaths", while eFilmCritic.com wrote, "Has its limited prison-grime charms, but nothing for the horror freaks to write home about".
Given a limited theatrical release in the United States by the Eden Distributing Company, Prison was a box-office disappointment, grossing a mere $350,000 (against a $4 million budget). Critical reception for Prison were mostly mixed with Dread Central reviewing, "Prison is a gritty and gorgeous horror flick that's not only well acted and engaging but also delivers some shockingly fun and grisly deaths", while eFilmCritic.com wrote, "Has its limited prison-grime charms, but nothing for the horror freaks to write home about".
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 40%
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