Paranormal Prison is a Found Footage Horror Movie by Brian Jagger.
Matthew (Todd Haberkorn) and Sara (Paris Warner) are the hosts of an online paranormal investigation show called "The Skeptic and the Scientist". For their latest episode, they and their crew, Ashly (Corynn Treadwell) and Jacob (Brian Telestai), will be the last crew to film inside an Idaho prison that's due to be demolished soon because of structural concerns. Said prison's most significant events were a prison riot that happened in 1939 that lead to the deaths of three guards, and another one that lead to the prison's closure in 1973. What's more, its most infamous prisoners included a suffragate Serial Killer named Mary Beth Flake, and another one named Black Wolf, who now has a cell decked out with a mannequin.
Anyway, the plan is simple enough. Set up some cameras, walk around the building, record some stuff, etc. Good thing that they got Park Ranger Shtog (Easton Lay) with them to show them around. Of course, in movies like this, it's apparent what's going to happen.
The movie was released on February 19th, 2021.
Paranormal Prison contains examples of:
- Agent Mulder: Sara, being the scientist of the duo.
- Agent Scully: Matthew is completely skeptical towards the idea of the existence of ghosts, hence making him the skeptic of the show. He changes his tune near the end, though.
- Air Quotes: Park Ranger Shtog does this when he says that death row has had the most "sightings".
- Alliterative Title: Paranormal Prison.
- Clear My Name: Black Wolf and Shtog were working towards this. Black Wolf was in death row because Mary Beth Flake accused him of rape, which was a false allegation that she used to get to Siberia and escape through the secret passageway.
- Curse Cut Short: When Shtog is talking about how the guards in death row didn't like the inmates imprisoned there, he states they really liked to fu... mess with those guys.
- Flower Motifs: Shtog states that a bouquet of four flowers is associated with Mary Beth Flake.
- Fun with Acronyms: When Sara tells Shtog about her Synchrotronic Kinetic Energy Pattern Testing Computer, Matthew calls it SKEPTC for short.
- Institutional Apparel: The mannequin in Black Wolf's cell is decked out in black-and-whited stripe prison garb.
- Jerkass: Matthew can be kind of a smug douche about things. He easily hits his zenith in the movie when he pretends to be possessed by a ghost as a prank, which causes Sara to temporarily give up on proving the existence of ghosts.
- Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: One of the interviews in the prologue has a man saying that his aunt's stepsister's husband's uncle saw what looked like a mohawked Indian in the solitary confinement building (which is called "Siberia").
- Little Known Facts: As they're leaving death row, Ranger Shtog tells Sara that the drop room was where the phrase "drop like a hot potato" was first coined. Matthew mocks Sara's perceived gullibility.
- The Lost Lenore: The reason Ashley joined the show was because she wanted to see if there's an afterlife after losing her boyfriend, Chris, to a drone missile attack. She was supposed to be on shift that day, but Chris filled in for her.
- Missing Mom: Sara tells Jacob that her mom died when she was 10. And that on the night after, her mom's ghost appeared to her in her room, as if to tell her things would be all right.
- Murderous Mannequin: Late in the movie, Black Wolf's mannequin comes to life and starts warping around the prison, chasing everyone. Except he wasn't trying to hurt them. He was driving them towards Siberia to find the cell Mary Beth Flake used to escape prison.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Jacob hears ghostly whispering in a cell in Siberia, he says "Nope!" and decides to leave.
- The Stinger: After some of the credits roll, we see Shtog leaving Sara a message that her device works as intended.
- Trail Of Breadcrumbs: Sara finds a trail of rose petals outside when she notices one of the four roses is missing.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Sometimes, the signal will cut out, showing a black screen with "No Signal" in the center.
- Wham Line: The boss at the prison had this to say about Shtog, when shown his picture (which is beside two others) on his office wall.Boss:The men in that picture died in a riot over 80 years ago.
- Whispering Ghosts: Jacob hears these in death row after Matthew pranks Sara. He hears them again in Siberia, which drives him to leave immediately.
- Alright, my friend. We are finally free to go.
