Prison of the Dead (2000)

If you like watching a bunch of no talent, yuppie looking pricks, then this is your movie. Just watching these so called rich guys with their foul mouthed girlfriends go to a supposedly funeral home to see an old friend who has died, just absolutely horrible. And the smallest little prick is supposed to be the football jock? What a laugh!! The dialogue between these "actors", and I use the term lightly, is laughable. Kristof makes me want to puke. Hell, this whole film makes me sick!! None of the scenes are remotely believable, and the zombies are a joke. Tennis anyone?

I thought this movie was decent, I wish it had GORE!!!, but other than that, I think David Decoteau did a good job directing this. The cast was atractive, as usual, I just wished that one of the girls would've made it till the end and not the spoiled rich guy. Debra Mayer was hot, as always.

I would consider myself a fan of b-movie label Full Moon Pictures. I've seen and defended many of their films, and a friend and I have an inside joke regarding this film and its rather tacky tagline, "There's No Parole... in Hell!". I decided to rent it and see if its really as bad as our jokes about the tagline suggest. Turns out it's even worse, because of disappointing villains and gaping holes in the plot.The acting and effects, while far from Oscar-worthy are, like all Full Moon films, competent. The executioners have an interesting dark figure and profile, but their faces looked more like budget Halloween masks, particularly with those eyes; they don't have the character of, say, Puppet Master's puppet villains or even Killjoy. There might as well have been only one executioner, since their faces aren't clear enough that the differences are obvious, and, up until the ending, most of the killing scenes had but one executioner at a time (and when multiple executioners are featured, only one is really active at a time). Also, the aspect of the victims being randomly possessed and paralyzed by a mysterious force (which I recently found out is supposed to be the spirit of one of the tortured witches) before their slaughter takes away any menacing element of the executioners, as it appears that they are too slow or otherwise unable to pursue and kill any victim on their own, and can only "finish off" these "frozen" victims.Though the executioners are pretty disappointing, the film's major problem is its poor plot. It's a great idea - an abandoned prison that is haunted by the ghosts of tortured witches and ghoulish executioners, but then all the disjointed mini-plots (for lack of a better term) are brought in. Funerals? Million-dollar rewards? Sex with a zombie? It doesn't help that the gaping holes between these sub-plots are made much more evident when the entire story seems to shift on the fly. The ending manages to tie a few together by luck, but it's also shifted to on the fly, underwhelming, anti-climactic, and abrupt (calling it rushed would be an understatement)."Prison of the Dead" is a bad film, even by b-movie standards. Although no b-movie is perfect, and the only notable difference between this and any other Full Moon film may be just that it's easier to spot the plot holes, trying to fit the assorted mini-plots together isn't fun, and the executioners aren't as enjoyable as killer puppets/toys/dolls, ghetto clowns, or even demonic gladiator-possessed teens. As usual, the effort is there, but this time, it's just not entertaining!

...But I actually liked this movie. Yeah all the typical elements of a David Decoteau film are here: Bad acting, Bad script, A guy in his underwear, silly special effects, and recycled scenes used only as padding to make the movie longer. It is not wonder he uses so many alias's. Though, I can't help but like this movie. It is dark, and moody, and has a presence that is somewhat different than some of Decoteau's other movie for Full Moon. The thought of a place where witches were executed, and a struggle between their executions is a good one. But, of course not enough time is spent on the story, but instead on dumb dialog. Of course, in true Full Moon fashion, the ending is completely rushed and sucks! I can't stand Debra Mayer! Okay that is out of my system.Still, nothing great, but not horrible...Looking forward to the 2nd one, directed by Danny Draven (Horrorvision). 6 out of 10