10 Terrifying Horror Movies Set In A Prison
Behind bars, some serious scares await...
As a critical and often unknown element of human society, the use of prisons to detain the most unsavoury individuals has evolved greatly through the decades. What was once a place of punishment now leans more towards rehabilitation. Be that as it may, the wings and offices of the lock-up have served as the base for many narratives.
Very few of us want to find ourselves on the inside and entertainment has worked to exploit this unease. Action films like Starred Up and Brawl in Cell Block 99 have homed in on the more brutal side of incarceration. Then you have the scarier efforts from horror releases.
Locked in the madhouse with criminals, supernatural entities or another hideous creature makes for solid horror entertainment. Some properties like The Walking Dead used this setting to ground a single TV season. Other releases make it a crucial part of the overall package, using it as a springboard for other elements.
There's ample potential for claustrophobic and unpredictable scares in this environment . Here are ten flicks that, regardless of their overall quality, were able to make great use of a prison setting.
10. Prison (1987)
Our list starts out pretty straightforward... 1987's Prison was directed by Renny Harlin and stars Viggo Mortensen in one of his earliest on-screen roles. While the director would go on to make larger flicks like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and Die Hard 2, Prison was much smaller in size and scale.
When a prisoner is executed in 1964 for a murder he did not commit, Creedmore Prison becomes haunted by a vengeful spirit hellbent on exacting revenge on the officer who carried out the sentence.
In keeping with its namesake, Prison was shot in the real life Wyoming State Penitentiary. This ended up working in its favour as the facility was set to be demolished during the film's production. The cast and crew were able to make their own modifications to the setting to turn it into a suitably creepy environment.
The end result didn't do so well at the box office, falling well short of its one to four million dollar budget. Yet thanks to its dilapidated setting and eerie atmosphere, this older chiller does hit some high notes. On top of that, many extras in the cast were themselves former inmates, making for a greater sense of believability among the characters.