An angry ghost is at the center of Prison (1987), the ghost of a man executed for a murder he didn’t commit. But I’ll tell you what, this ghost is more than ready to commit murder most foul, now that he’s in the afterlife. Naturally, he’s tied to the prison where he died, the traditional approach to ghosts’ abodes, so that leaves just two classes of people, the imprisoned and the imprisoners.
You’d think he – do ghosts have gender? – would have sympathy for the prisoners, wouldn’t you? After all, they were mostly not responsible for his death, in fact it’s something like twenty years later so, given turnover and the fact this prison has been abandoned for while, he wouldn’t have a grudge against anyone, yes? But, no, the prisoners make for convenient victims. I must say, at this juncture, that a scene in which a prisoner versed in some sort of black magic summons the dark spirits and that sort of rot was actually quite impressive.
Too bad it ended with a ray of light boring a hole through his chest.
This is what happens when you don’t carry your wire cutters while doing your rounds.
A few other prisoners buy the farm in various odd ways, to use the old saying, but in all honesty, the guards are the real victims here. They get shot, thrown off upper story walk-throughs, choked to death with barbed wire, and, in the latter case, a final ignominy of being thrust through the ceiling, wrapped like a present, into the Warden’s office.
The Warden, unsurprisingly, was instrumental in the unjust death of the ghost’s former corporeal body – is there a single word for that uncouth phrase? – all those years ago. Now he’s suffering an emotional breakdown as the prison is slowly coming apart around him.
And don’t forget the lady who seems to represent the board of directors. I think. In any case, her home computer, not located near the prison, manages to explode, for reasons unclear.
Yeah. This is bad.
But let’s skip the traditional grousing about the story, even though it’s fairly awful, because I think what really has my back hairs up here is rather the obverse of what I observed in Ghostbusters (1984). To summarize the review of Ghostbusters, I appreciated the elevation of humanity to something beyond the level of the Divine, as ghosts are caught and confined, and then a savage God is humiliated and destroyed: Man is no longer supine, butt in the air, ready for debasement.
But Prison is a bit of pro-religion propaganda. Not only do ghosts exist, but they exact awful, savage revenge. Dark powers can be summoned, but not controlled. Man is a victim, a plaything, to be savaged and flung aside, and the hell with improving, fighting back, becoming something better. Cower in corners and hope the men of the cloth – prominently absent here – can cover your ass for you when the dark powers rage.
An awful story, unsympathetic characters, dull dialog, and a regressive theme. Put this in the Don’t Bother category. Unless you’re a Viggo Mortensen completist, and even then I wasn’t sure which of characters he might be.
