CASE NUMBER: #110
David DeCoteau, a man has been known to overcome the smallest of budgets, and the tightest of shooting schedules, however that’s come with years of practices, the results vary greatly, such as this production found lying on the outskirts of the DOA graveyard. Prison of the Dead is definitely not what the title suggests, sadly something very different, first the overall production takes advantage (why not) of filming in Bucharest, Romania. There’s a lot of studios that take advantage of dwelling in the low end of cinema productions Chemical Burn Entertainment, Wild Eye Releasing, and Full Moon, that’s where this film originates from. Just looking at DeCoteau’s resume, Shark Attack (2014) to Swamp Freak (2017) one clearly understands his involvement, after all he’s experience in multiple areas of filmmaking, 14 different jobs associated with over a 100 horror credits alone. Matthew Jason Walsh, penned the script known for other future DOA graves (that I found strolling the grounds, noting further investigations) such as 1313: Cougar Cult (2012) and Speed Demon (2003), that contains groaning dialogue. Please be forewarned, spoilers are found below, and for the lovers of b-movie, no boobs, buns or even anything that clearly represents blood.
We got $60 to scare people.
AUTOPSY OF THE FILM:
Kristof (Patrick Flood, this marks his only horror film, and his last movie ever), just because one’s movie locks people in a prison with the dead, doesn’t mean a career needs to finish there either, oh well, onward this the strange story. Kristof, an eccentric wealthy son of a wealthy newspaper owner (when they had wealth), tricks his old high school friends, with the funeral for (Sam Page) Calvin’s death, a friend of theirs, by the way they all have interest the paranormal. Now, a stranger part is this funeral home is actually a room filled with coffins, and the rest of the place is an abandoned witches’ prison from the 17th century, built by Puritans on top of a mountain complete with silly cobwebs, and working plumbing. Quickly enough they realize the prank, and Kristof reveals the true reason for the gathering, which holds a financial payoff, his father bought the place so that he could charge curious people money to dig on the grounds for the “Talon key” which opens the door in the dungeon below, and give $1 million to the winner. Oh wow, neat tax accounting write-offs! He rambles on to mention his father turned down other opportunities worldwide for this dreamboat scenario. Meanwhile, as the friends begin setting up a Ouija board a second trio of young adults, of which Kristof pays one of them $60 (that’s $87 dollars in today’s market, wow talk about a splurge) to scare his friends – for no apparent reason, and he never tells them the true reason for visiting the location. During the ceremony, very corny, its spells out “gateway” someone comments ‘gateway computer (*)’ ugh the thrills of higher dialogue. In addition, a little blood spills and seeps into the ground, unsure how, no one cares, as the world’s slowest rising dead arise, they look like rejects from Skeletor’s body doubles. Oh just 3 of them!
17th Century – perfect clothes
Soon afterwards, Calvin’s friends pair engage in the cleanest (no nudity), raunchiest sex filled cocaine party to occur, dull, while thunderstorms rumble too loudly. It all leads to lame killing, none shown on screen, drone dialogue and wretched acting. The souls takeover the living, killing their souls and leaving nonsensical statements and watery bloodstains.
Blue Lights
CAUSES OF DEATH:
The first cause, the lack of a solid plot followed by the titled, the rising of 3 corpses and the dead friends just lacks on the setup and lacks any frights. Then the score for the movie coming from another Full Moon production called Netherworld (1992). The extra padding of the script in the style of stiffness of the dead rising and walking, and the tons of worthless dialogue and wretched one-liners fillers into a 73-minutes runtime which takes nearly the 40-minute mark to actually start movie the movie, not to a positive but rather to finishing it. Besides all the goofs, continuity errors come from the fact that someone is either obsessed with the color blue because the lighting makes everything some shade of BLUE. I’ve seen bright reds, rich vibrant colors and but not a blue washout fulling every moment on the screen.
WAKE UP! The movie isn’t over.
SUMMARY FROM INVESTIGATOR:
I’m a fan of Full Moon Entertainment, especial the Puppet Master franchise, among other productions something enjoyable for the b-movie crowd. However, the story needs to work with style which never occurs it sucks time away without any entertainment value. The conclusion to movie, use the special key to open the open and lock away the undead, your friends, those you hire to scared others and hitch a ride back with the limo driver. Yeah, no big deal, just a waste of time, taking space up on my DVD shelf, never know when you need to balance some furniture.
More blue light!
TAGLINES:
There’s no parole… in hell!
They’re Out… on Bad Behavior!
https://www.fullmoondirect.com/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274738/
IMDb Rating: 2.6/10
Baron’s Rating: 2.2/10
(*) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway,_Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhuH5B52fhU