Prison of the Psychotic Damned Reviewed
October 29th, 2007 by 2xKnight
Today we’re taking a look at horror with a review of Prison of the Psychotic Damned from Red Scream Films LLC. Some of the best horror films of all time are independent works. It makes sense. Horror movies deal with some things that make the big names nervous. Horror also has a tendency to get slapped with ratings that the studios don’t like.
Story
Prison of the Psychotic Damned follows a small team of documentary film makers as they investigate the shocking past of an abandoned train station in Buffalo, NY. The station was built with a bright future ahead of it, but that all came crashing down when the depression hit. Eventually the station was turned into an asylum for the criminally insane. Corruption among those running the institution resulted in horrifying conditions among those who were unlucky enough to be inmates. As bad as that is, it’s only part of the dark history of the place they’ve come to explore.
Execution
There are some great moments and a couple of decent scares.
The filmmakers responsible for Prison of the Psychotic Damned show some real potential. There are some great moments and a couple of decent scares. As they improve their craft they’ll be making some very good movies. Prison isn’t one of them.
From the beginning of the film they made some choices I don’t agree with. It opens with a scene that I think is supposed to be disturbing, but falls far short. Once that is over we get right to the action, or about as much action as we’ll see for most of the movie. The crew is on their way to spend the night in the station and do some filming. We get a rundown of the history of the place and a brief explanation of why they’re going there. The scene drags on far too long. The rest of the movie follows suit.
The Biggest Problems
With the exception of a handful of cool scenes this movie is more suited to being an audio book. It’s filled with exposition. The characters talk about creepy stuff, but we don’t see it. There are numerous “artistic” quick shots and underlying audio that is apparently meant to put the audience on edge. All it does is irritate. Luckily the sound effects are so overused that before long you won’t even notice them anymore. It’s too bad the same can’t be said for the disjointed images that flash on the screen.
Verdict
This film had a lot of potential. There’s a good story in there somewhere. The unfocused execution and the maker’s choice to talk about the story instead of showing it to us ruined it. You might find something you enjoy in Prison of the Psychotic Damned if you’re a fan of bad horror.
Whoops!
I didn’t realize that I had comments turned off for this post. Sorry about that, they’re turned on now. (that’s what she said)