1 | [[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harlinprison_4782.jpg]] |
2 | [[caption-width-right:211:Some things just wont stay buried...]] |
3 | |
4 | ->''Horror has a new home.'' |
5 | -->-- '''{{Tagline}}''' |
6 | |
7 | ''Prison'' is a special effects extragavanza horror film by Creator/RennyHarlin and starring Creator/ViggoMortensen and Creator/LaneSmith, released in the year 1988. |
8 | |
9 | The film opens with the title {{prison}}, Wyoming State Penitentiary, being opened again after 20 years. When rebuilding starts, a wrathful spirit (Creator/KaneHodder) is released which starts to cause mayhem around the premises, seeking those who had wronged him in the past. |
10 | |
11 | !!This film features the examples of: |
12 | |
13 | * AgonyOfTheFeet: Knowing that supernatural things are going on, Cresus steals a rifle form one of the guards, and shoots his foot to get in the infirmary. |
14 | * AntiHero: Prisoner Burke. It helps that he's more of a thief than hardened criminal. The plot makes a huge deal about how he looks so much like the dead prisoner Charlie [[spoiler:but in fact Burke never gets possessed or has a part in Charlie's revenge. He's more of a distraction towards Sharpe who focuses his anger towards Burke rather than make the not-too-crazy conclusion that Charlie's ghost is back ''and pissed'']]. |
15 | * AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:All the prison staff, Rhino, and Warden Sharpe himself.]] |
16 | * BigBadEnsemble: Charles "Charlie" Forsythe, an executed convict whose spirit poses a danger to anyone in the prison and [[spoiler:Ethan Sharpe, the man responsible for sending Charlie to his undeserved death]]. |
17 | %%* BlindWithoutEm: Cresus. |
18 | * BurnBabyBurn: Warden Sharpe burns all the inmates mattresses at one point to weed out Rabbitt's supposed killer. |
19 | * CaptivityHarmonica: And with it, a whole band of other instruments. |
20 | * CatapultNightmare: The opening scene depicting Charlie's execution is revealed to be a flashback dream that Sharpe is having when he wakes up from it by bolting upright and screaming. |
21 | %%* ClosedCircle |
22 | * DecoyProtagonist: At first the film follows VillainProtagonist Ethan Sharpe, but then at the climax, the POV is shifted to Burke and Katherine. |
23 | * DirtyCoward: The prison guards Wallace (who doesn't [[spoiler:help try to free two prisoners burning to death in solitary]]) and Johnson (who [[spoiler:holds the escaping inmates at gunpoint and even shoots a reasoning Tiny out of fear]]), and Warden Sharpe (who [[spoiler:at the end makes a [[VillainExitStageLeft run for it]] rather then letting Charlie giving him a taste of his own medicine]]). |
24 | * TheDogBitesBack: Rhino's cellmate, whom he has been forcing to be his... [[PrisonRape close partner]], gets back at him when he leaves him for dead behind a locked door during the ghost's endgame rampage. |
25 | * ExplosiveInstrumentation: After Charlie relays the message "The prison dies tonight" to Katherine's computer, it explodes. |
26 | %%* GhostlyGoals |
27 | * GreatEscape: Attempted by Rabbitt twice; first by stealing a prison transportation bus, then by trying to sneak away when the prison loses all of its power. [[spoiler:On his second try, he is trapped and killed by Charlie's spirit, and his body later bloodily crashes the other prisoners' dinner]]. |
28 | * GroinAttack: After Rhino tells Burke to join his in-prison dealings or else, Burke grabs his balls in a hard grip to kindly suggest that they both should mind their own businesses. |
29 | * HeartbeatSoundtrack: Heard during the opening credits. |
30 | * IdenticalGrandson: According to WordOfGod, Burke is Charlie Forsythe's son. In the film, it's quickly noted by both Warden Sharpe and one of the older prisoners [[spoiler:who knows what Sharpe did to Charlie]] how much Burke looks a lot like long-dead Charlie Forsythe... |
31 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Rhino]] is impaled by a pickaxe that flies by itself through his back. |
32 | * InstitutionalApparel: Inmates wear jeans and light-blue shirts. |
33 | * IronicNickname: The tall guy Riddle has the nickname Tiny. |
34 | * ItWontTurnOff: Katherine notices this when Charlie's spirit enters her room to give her his first message, and he puts her television set on, which she can't turn off. |
35 | * LargeHam: Lane Smith as Warden Sharpe, who gets crazier and more pissed off at the ghost's antics as the film goes on. |
36 | * LightningCanDoAnything: Electricity caused by Charlie's spirit can possess computers and machine guns. |
37 | * LockDown: Ordered by Sharpe when things are getting out of control in the prison. |
38 | * KarmicDeath: Several [[spoiler:but especially the Warden, who gets fried by Charlie Forsythe for putting him to death for a crime that he didn't commit]]. |
39 | * KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Hershey's death.]] He is trapped inside a solitary cell that's getting hotter by the minute, and he ends up burning to death. |
40 | * NightmareDreams: Warden Sharpe's past crimes plague him through nightmares. |
41 | * TheOldConvict: Cresus, who has been in various prisons since the forties. |
42 | * OneWordTitle |
43 | * PeekABooCorpse: Rabbitt's mutilated corpse drops through the roof of cafeteria. |
44 | * PrisonRiot: As the ghost wreaks havoc, the prisoners grow more frustrated, culminating in a full-blown riot when the power fails for the second time. |
45 | * PsychoElectro: After one inmate with knowing of supernatural stuff summons Charlie Forsythe's spirit, it manifests itself as electric energy that starts causing chaos. |
46 | * RailingKill: Kramer, one of the prison guards, flies over the railing when he gets electrocuted by Charlie's spirit. |
47 | * RainOfBlood: Katherine notices one of the dead guards above her when his blood drips on her car's windshield. |
48 | * ScaryBlackMan: Tiny, even though he can be benevolent and even tries to reason with the DirtyCoward guard named Johnson when he holds him and his inmates at gunpoint with a shotgun. |
49 | %%* ShirtlessScene |
50 | %%* ShootOutTheLock |
51 | %%* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Katherine. |
52 | * VertigoEffect: Used on Sharpe when he is handling the bullets for his revolver and giving orders for stricter security to Captain Horton. |
53 | * VillainProtagonist: [[WardensAreEvil Ethan Sharpe]] ([[spoiler:overlapping as part of the BigBadEnsemble]]) [[DecoyProtagonist starts as as this in the first act (his actor Lane Smith was even given top billing), but by the climax]] TheHero is ultimately Burke. |
54 | * WardensAreEvil: Sharpe. |
55 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We don't find out if the other prisoners survived Charlie's rampage. |
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