Line #17 Film/Prison


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.

Context Film / Prison