Prison of the Dead (Video 2000) Poster

(2000 Video)

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4/10
bad movie, great looking actress
vnplt13 February 2006
the movie, well, you've read the other reviews and you get it. but, that kim ryan is the hottest thing coming or going. i watched it again just to see her. she's cute, and not a bad actress. she was in another horror film (cut throat) and was even better in it. this stuff doesn't fit with her, and would like to see her in more, better things. the whole thing being shot in europe was odd. could have been shot here on a soundstage for less. the guys in the film stink, as do the effects. a fairly typical low-budget b film. this one also appears to be out with different titles. not sure what that is about. the fast forward button is your friend while watching this one.
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3/10
I've seen worse.
13Funbags14 February 2020
The story wasn't great and the action/killing was terrible but at least it was short. If you heard the title and are still interested, you won't hate it.
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Holy sh*t?!?!?!? did I just pay 4 bucks to see this!?
death28024 July 2001
I will start off by saying this is indeed the worst film ever made.The story if you can call it that,is some guy that looks like he is straight off of beverly hills 90210 pretends he is dead and sets up a fake funeral at a castle.His friends show up and he gets up out of the coffin laughing.they get p***ed,and he tells them they can win a million bucks.All they have to do is find the "talon key".So they all agree and hold a seance.One girl gets possesed by a cartoon wavy thingy and starts speaking latin.As it turns out the castle was an old witches prison and the cartoon thing was one of there spirits.This somehow wakes up three hunch back/executioners and they rise from there graves.and they repeat the scene of them getting out of the ground about 15 times.From then on everyone wanders around and a cartoon thing goes into their mouth and they just stand still and say "Sutra,Sutra,Sutra" then the 3 hunch backs come and the victim says "ah the executioners" then you see the weapons raise and a squirt of blood goes on the person.Then later when you see the bodies the wounds and blood have magically vanished!It doesnt remotely make sense however it is not as bad as bloodstorm.anywho the people just all get killed without resisting at all.It is the worst movie ever made avoid it at all cost.For anyone who has seen it I recomend flushing your eyes out with acid.And then there is the great quote "I never had sex with a zombie before,is this gonna hurt?"In closing I would like to say if I made this movie I would most likely put a bullet in my head.
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5/10
Even Bad by Full Moon Standards...
EdYerkeRobins2 February 2002
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!
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1/10
Garbage. Biggest cop out ending ever.
Defenseman1315 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Before I even waste time on this, I'll tell you why I rented it. My girlfriend apparently likes to rent bad B horror films and pick at them. While this sounds like a fun evening, I now remember why I like GOOD horror films (I'm still waiting for a good one to come out of the USA that isn't a remake). I want the 2 hours of my life back I lost watching it. The plot is nonexistent... some rich guy invites friends to a funeral home, then there are plot twists that just plain SUCK. A mysterious key, the lamest zombies ever seen on film (watch as you see the same zombies come out of the ground two or three times over, from the same angle) and the worst acting this side of high school.

I CANNOT comprehend how some person that was involved in this film didn't catch half the crap they let through to the final edit. I seem to remember having fun watching really bad movies... but when they're this bad, well.. it just hurts. I knew when I saw it in Blockbuster as a double-feature with "Hell Asylum" it would be a bad B movie... but not this bad.
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1/10
I agree. WORST MOVIE EVER!
ilovtheend2 September 2002
I don't even need to explain it. It's awful....yet....I was compelled to buy it when it was on sale at Blockbuster for $2. Just to say I had it. There was the most obscure and awful movie ever, and I had seen it, and it was two dollars. Wonderful. Now I have another piece of junk...
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1/10
Awesomely bad... o.o
Blaidd_Drwg17 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
AHAHA... I rented this movie back when I was in 8th grade and having a movie night with a friend. We were like "oo, this sounds really scary!" So we watched it, and laughed our butts off the whole way through. In all honest, the only thing I remember from the movie is "oo, zombie sex!" Well, that, and the acting was not that great. I think this would be a good movie to watch if you're stoned, drunk, or both. Maybe not event then. I don't know. I'm notorious for liking bad movies, and even I didn't like it. That should say something. This movie is so not memorable, that I can't even think of ten lines to write about it. I seem to remember the cheesy graphics though. Oh, I also remember thinking that the girl who ends up being the zombie for the "zombie sex" was pretty hot.
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1/10
Worst Movie Ever
Bizzy3911 February 2001
This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen. Bad cinematography, bad acting, bad make-up. Worst of all was the story line, that wasn't there! Maybe if the movie had more of a budget it may have been a success. It definitely needed to be re-written at least one more time to get a single story line that you could follow and understand. Go find it and see for yourself!
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1/10
Truly the worst horror film ever made
gringalet29 March 2005
...but in a hilarious kind of way.

The acting is fantastically bad – these people should have got Oscars for it.

There wasn't any real plot, even for a horror film; to be honest, I can't even remember how it ended.

The 'special effects' – if they can be called such – were shocking, as the same scene was reused and reused, with glowing red eyes drawn in on what looks like some dodgy Amiga program.

All in all, one to watch if you're drunk and need to laugh very, very heartily.

Bonus: boobs, although they were in a hilarious sex scene.

I would definitely rent it again.
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1/10
Prison of Crap
huggy_bear14 September 2003
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?
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10/10
I was not disappointed; Good Movie!
The Creeper7 June 2002
After watching this Movie, I found it strange to read such bad comments and reviews it got, even from people claiming to be Full Moon Pictures Fans. They say that this film sucked and rated a Zero even on a B-Rated movie scale. I'm sorry, I liked this movie.

What would make someone think this Movie is such a bad movie? I think it has all the low budget Goods: Zombies (even though they weren't that scary looking), Girls, Storms, OK Acting (Better than "Arcade"), and scares only someone appreciating the movie could find scary.

Although the plot is almost none-existent and the Setting is a bit rough, if you liked such Low Budget Classics as "The Dead next door" and "Puppet Master" then I highly suggest you at least rent this or at least view the trailer. Come on people, you know what to expect from a movie titled "Prison of the Dead".

For the record, even though this movie was good, The Sequel, "Hell Asylum", is way better, and way more scary.

I give Prison of the Dead a 8.5 out of 10

Someone who liked this movie should check out: Puppet Master, Hell Asylum, Dead next door, The dead hate the living, Dead & Rotting, Stitches, Kingdom of the Vampire, Blood Dolls, Talisman, Horror Vision, The Vault, and other classics from Full Moon Picture and Tempe Entertainment.
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6/10
Bad but watchable
Insomniac_moviefan23 July 2002
For a second I got that 80's horror movie feeling... Just for a second. This one has a silly plot, dumb teens, drug use, sex, gore, and 2 identified killers. After the ouija session the fun begins. One by one this teens get killed by 2 executioners that awake from the dead. The dead come to life and hell arises for this teens.

For being a low budget, this one tries too hard. The acting was bad but not as terrible as in other straight to video slashers. Featuring zombies, an ouija board, devil creatures, and an annoying storm "Prison Of The Dead" is only for die hard fans of the genre. If you wanna spend a fun night watching horror movies, rent this one and other -but good- horror film. If you try to get into the horror films, avoid this one! it'd be a lame way to get started.
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3/10
Weak direct to video slasher.
insomniac_rod28 June 2004
Warning: Spoilers
For some moments I felt as I was watching a late 80's slasher flick because some basic elements of the slasher genre were being displayed and mainly because the cinematography is pretty bad. The reality: since year 2000 many slashers and big budget horror films have turned the media's attention to the horror genre, but sadly, the genre once again has become the dark sheep of the industry. But producers don't give a damn if there's quality or not, they just want to sell mediocre films to a new generation that obviously doesn't know much about the genre's defininig movies. That's why most of these newbies in the genre accept anything!

POTD has that 80's feeling for some moments but it isn't enough in these days to succeed in the genre. A group of "teens" (play the Ouija board just to awaken 2 dead prisoners buried down in the surroundings of Kristoff's (the rich owner) house. Soon after the prisoners enter the house to begin the slaughter, these teens start their own private party having sex and smoking weed. One by one these teens are killed by the prisoners, expect for Kristoff who drives to the town (I can't remember why). Kristoff knows the diabolic past of his house so he faces the prisoners knowing the only way to put an end to the nightmare...

The characters weren't exactly teens as the actors/actresses were on their late 20's/early 30's. The best thing about this movie is Debra Mayer who is hot as hell! Whenever she appears she looks very sensual and seems that she was in the search for sex. The main character, Kristoff, did a decent job as the hero of the film. There's almost no gore, sex, or scary scenes. PRISON OF THE DEAD is a lame addition to this new turn the slasher genre has taken in the 21th century. But at least it tries to emulate the feeling of the 80's slasher films. FOOL MOON PICTURES deserves a mention as a direct to video company that tries to keep alive the genre. Watch it only if you are a DIE HARD fan of the genre, because if not, you'll be bored and mad for spending 5 bucks on this. Watch it at your own risk.

2/10
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Pathetic
pozest2 October 2002
I love horror movies, but I have to say that this movie was terrible. I'm surprised I even made it through the movie. Nothing about it was remotely scary and the kill scenes and gore were pathetic. Bad acting, crappy plot, no gore, and terrible fx make this horror flick not worth watching.
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1/10
Did the ones who say Uwe Boll is the world's worst director ever saw this one ?
MrBelette6 March 2009
Why is David De Coteau not the worst director on earth ? Surely after watching this piece of crap you're inclined to think as such. Very bad direction, acting making you uncertain about crying or laughing about it, special effects far from being special, plot really boring, not scary at all. In conclusion a stupid boring "thing", you seriously can't call that a movie. Why is David De Coteau not the worst director on earth ? Surely after watching this piece of crap you're inclined to think as such. Very bad direction, acting making you uncertain about crying or laughing about it, special effects far from being special, plot really boring, not scary at all. In conclusion a stupid boring "thing", you seriously can't call that a movie.
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1/10
Absolute garbage
miss_toucan13 March 2022
I thought that this might be a good bad horror movie, but its just bad.

The acting is awful, the storyline stupid, and it's very slow paced for a horror movie.

It's boring and really not entertaining at all.
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1/10
Wha...? What am I watching?!
moneenerd5 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I found myself asking that question many times throughout this movie, a flick my B-Horror-obsessed friend had bought at a Wal-Mart for under 5$ on DVD. Knowing this, I knew I was in for a laugh.

But no. I wasn't even graced with that.

Instead, I was thrown into a plot-hole paradise, full of high-school play-like acting, terribly written dialogue, recycled footage (watch how many times one crucial shot is repeated 3 or more times within one 5 minute time frame), and a giant, badly-lit, boring set where every room looks exactly the same.

Now, let me explain the plot to you. Try to follow: snobby, pretty-boy, rich kid Kristoff tricks some old richer, prettier, and snobbier friends into reuniting by bringing them all to an old funeral home (that looks more like Castle GreySkull) for a viewing of their dead compadre, Calvin(?). Everyone cries, mourn, and talk about all the "f*ckin' wise-cracking jokes" he was so well know for.

Punk'd! It turns out Calvin isn't dead at all, and that this was just all a set-up made by the two of them in order to bring the "old gang" together again (seeing as how their such GREAT friends that one has to go to such lengths just to have them all hang out!). No one laughs, but no one really freaks out either. After the joke is over, Kristoff leads our friends downstairs, where an old witches prison is, and explains to the crew that his rich father, who owns a popular tabloid magazine, is holding a contest where people visit the prison (for a small admission fee, of course), are given proper tools, and allowed to dig up the floor of the prison in search of the "Talon Key", an artifact rumored to be hiding underneath the prison floors. The first contestant to find said key wins one million dollars.

There. That's pretty much the last you hear about the key until the very end of the film (about an hour and a half later) where it becomes extremely crucial to the story. Kristoff is hell-bent on winning this easy million, and asks his friends to help. And, for extra guidance, Kristoff summons the almighty power of the Ouija board, which somehow awakens 3 dead executioners from the grave who are hungry for blood, and a countless number of witch-ghost-spirit things that start to take over the bodies of our team.

Without giving too much away, that's pretty much it, and all of this is explained, word for word, very casually, within the first 10 minutes of the film. I truly cannot comprehend how this movie even got onto DVD, or how little the cast and crew were paid for it. There are so many plot-holes and just all-around f*ck-ups, that it's almost impossible to count. This is definitely a movie only worth watching when you're seriously hungover, and don't feel like using your brain too much.
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2/10
Not good
BandSAboutMovies26 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Victoria Sloane, I see right through you. I know that you're Dave DeCoteau. You can't fool me!

Rich twentysomething teenager Kristof St. Pierce has been cut off from his family because he loves the occult and Calvin, who probably led him into this lifestyle of the supernatural. Anyways, Kristof, Michele, Allie and Rory have all gathered for the aforementioned Calvin's funeral, but of course he's faked his death - it was Kristof's idea - to lure them to the Hawthorne Funeral Home, built atop the old Blood Prison, in the hopes that they can all be amateur ghost chasers again. Three other way too old to be high schoolers named Bill, Jeff and Kat are also here, hoping to scare the gang because Kristof slept with Bill's girlfriend, which is probably something that Calvin will be upset about. Drama! Undead drama!

Blood Prison was a secret jail built by Puritan extremists just so they could go all Mark of the Devil on any heretics and even after burning up witches fell out of favor, they kept doing it. It turns out that Kristof's father recently bought the Hawthorne and set up a contest - he hates the paranormal - to prove the existence of the Talon Key, which was used to lock up the three executioners of Blood Prison, as the Puritans were sickened by what they found inside the place.

So rich daddy's rich son is using this opportunity to win the million dollar prize and validate himself in the eyes of his father. That means a Ouija board gets used, Allie gets possessed and Sickle, Mace, and Scythe - the executioners have names that really get at the heart of their personalities - rise and start killing everyone.

This whole movie came up when DeCoteau was "essentially the only staff director for Charles Band", where the expectation was that he was to just keep making movie after movie. This movie started with the title Creepies, was shot on the sets of Highlander: Endgame and had a Eurotrash influence, or so DeCoteau claims. And yes, that is the music from Netherworld.

This also appears as "Crypt of the Undead" in the Full Moon remix anthology Horrific and as "Undead Sentence" in The Dead Reborn. Yes, somehow, I watched this movie three times in a week.
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3/10
Zombie cheapie from Full Moon
Leofwine_draca20 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
PRISON OF THE DEAD is another straight-to-video horror flick made in Bucharest by Full Moon Pictures. The story is about a high school reunion that takes place in a random haunted prison, now abandoned. The twentysomethings try out a Ouija board and randomly summon three executioners from the grave. Unfortunately, in the hands of the lame director David DeCoteau, there's very little to get interested in here. I liked the blue lighting of the set and the flickering lights, which adds a little atmosphere, but the budget is painfully slow and the slow-moving zombies only really come into the story at the end. Until then, the viewer must put up with irritating characters and lots of waste-of-time dialogue.
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7/10
Why do ppl hate this movie?
Halfbreed30 November 2002
It's really not THAT bad! I think that it was pretty good! It contains creepy, cool music,,some bad-ass executioners and a dark prison ("funeral home"). But it doesn't contain gore =( The acting was good and the plot didn't fail at all. I give this a strong 7!
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2 Hours Of My Life Wasted...
Brunken77 October 2002
I just saw this on Scifi Channel a while back and I was bored.<p>

This film didnt scare me or frighten me and I am someone who has been scared by Child's Play and Phantasm.<p>

Not a movie to see in my opinion if you want a good scare and not a movie anyone who did this film should be bragging about on their resumes.
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7/10
It was okay
rrox7825 April 2003
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.
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Why go to Romania to make a bad movie?
DevastationBob-38 June 2001
Yeah, this was bad...but then again, straight to video Full Moon movies usually are, so this should be no surprise to any foolish enough to rent it.

The thing that got me, however, was the "Making of" segment at the end of the flick. It was filmed in Romania? The entire thing is interior shots that could have easily been reproduced in a storage rental facility...(which would have been much more in line with the apparent budget of this tape) Why go to Romania? It makes no sense. The costumes could have been bought out of the clearance bin of any area K-Mart the day after Halloween...yet they fly the whole crew to Romania??? Now I know why that region is so troubled...

(cough) but seriously folks...mocking a movie such as this is way too easy...like stealing candy from a baby doped up on morphine. It's bad, granted, but when you spend six bucks and Romanian airfare...what can one expect? So...if you're checking IMDB to see if it's worth renting...no, of course it isn't. What's wrong with you? I've seen episodes of Teletubbies scarier than this. Peace.
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6/10
Although, it was not scary I still thought it was interesting
jordondave-2808521 May 2023
(2000) Prison of the Dead HORROR

Four friends of Kristoff St Pierce (Patrick Flood), Allie (Kim Ryan), Rory (Michael Guerin) and Michelle (Debra Mayer) arrive in a limousine assumed they are attending for a friends funeral. By the time they arrive at the middle of the night, which is at a funeral home, and as soon as they go inside, a former peer Bill (Jeff Peterson), along with his three friends of Kat (Alicia Arden) and Jeff (Mac Fyfe) wants to get even to Kristoff for a past event that happened during their college days. And it was then we find out that the so-called funeral to see their friend, Calvin (Sam Page) in the casket was nothing more but a gag. A ploy that was thought up by Kristoff to incite his former friends to uncover a key that was said to be undiscovered. As we find out that Kristoff is the son of a popular tabloid newspaper, and that his father had bought the funeral home for the intention of promoting a so-called contest that was going to happen from his father's paper. And it was not until Kristoff brought a Ouji board game and asked everyone to participate in that ignited the thousand year old "dead" to rise from the grave. Although, it was not scary I still thought it was interesting enough to warrant this movie a pass.
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OK, normally I like this kind of stuff....
innocuous18 May 2003
but this is a bit of an underachievement, even by my standards.

First, the positive aspects of this film: The acting is actually passable, especially when compared to some classic B-Movies. The setting and atmosphere are pretty good. The plot actually has some promise. Finally, it's short.

Now the bad things about this film: There is no sexuality or gore in this movie. Really. I don't understand how it even got an "R" rating instead of a "PG-13" as there's not even partial nudity and no overt gore. I guess it was the language. For example, there's a sex scene where both characters get intimate...while both are still in their underwear. (To be honest, the female character has apparently brought a negligee to the funeral home for a viewing, which I think demonstrates some forethought.) And every time a sharp object is brought down, the camera cuts away to a discreet spray of fake blood. The action itself is completely confined to three or four rooms in the strangest funeral home I've ever seen. It's a combination working funeral home, ruined prison, and fully furnished (with clean towels and hot water) caretaker's house. Go figure.

Anyway, don't waste your time unless you're a fan of the director's or one or more of the actor's.
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