Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- grim
- eerie
- violent
- late night horror viewing
- 1980s horror marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regarded the film as a routine, uneven prison horror thriller with effective genre atmosphere but limited depth.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The executed convict's soul returns after an unjust electric-chair death and drives the revenge plot.
The prison is closed after the execution and later becomes the site of the returning spirit's killing spree.
The convict's execution by electric chair is the central origin of the haunting and a defining horror motif.
The prison's reopening after thirty years allows the dead convict's presence to return and spread violence.
Films like Prison, and why
The Shining
A vengeful supernatural force haunts a confined institutional setting and kills those connected to past wrongdoing.
The Crow
A wrongfully condemned victim returns from death to exact supernatural revenge through escalating killings.
The Green Mile
A prison-centered horror story combines institutional brutality, haunting, and graphic supernatural violence.
Movie Details
- Director
- Renny Harlin
- Release Date
- 1987-12-08
- Runtime
- 102 min
- Rating
- 5.8 / 10 (144)
Cast
- Viggo Mortensen
- Chelsea Field
- Lane Smith
- Lincoln Kilpatrick
- Tom Everett
- Ivan Kane
- André De Shields
- Tommy Lister Jr.
- Stephen E. Little
- Mickey Yablans
Common questions
- What is Prison about?
- When a prison reopens decades after an innocent man's execution, his vengeful spirit turns institutional injustice into a supernatural killing spree.
- What is Prison like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Prison as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Prison violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Prison as graphic.
- What did critics think of Prison?
- Critics broadly regarded the film as a routine, uneven prison horror thriller with effective genre atmosphere but limited depth.
- Which films are like Prison?
- Films with a similar feel include The Shining, The Crow, and The Green Mile.
- How long is Prison?
- Prison runs 102 minutes.
