Death Row starts as six on the run jewel thieves decide to seek refuge in an abandoned Texas prison called Isla de la Roca, one of their number Vincnet (James Leo Ryan) has been shot in the leg. The thieves manage to get the electricity running again but the prison automatically goes into maximum security lock-down trapping them all inside. Inside with them are also five teens making a documentary on the notorious prison & it's violent past, a past which is still present in the ghosts of the inmates that died there. Strange things begin to happen, people start to die horribly & the two mismatched groups decide they have to work together if they ever want to leave the prison alive...
Co-written & directed by Kevin VanHook this made-for-TV horror thriller isn't anywhere near as bad as I feared it would be despite yet again plenty of 'this is the worst film ever' type comments here on the IMDb, I really wish the IMDb would ban 'this is the worst film ever' threads on the message boards I really do. Anyway, the script by VanHook & Rick Glassman maybe takes itself a bit too seriously & the story is somewhat underdeveloped but it moves along at a decent enough pace, I was never bored with it & there's some satisfying gore in it. The whole explanation behind the haunted prison is weak, the script indicates the prison has great evil in it & that's all there is too it. I'm sorry but couldn't the makers have come up with a slightly more substantial reason behind the ghostly events than that? Then there are some inconsistencies with the ghosts, some have this blurry edge around them while others don't, some can speak while others can't, some can possess human beings while others can't & it would have been nice to have things a bit more consistent. Then there's the somewhat clichéd character's, they are alright by low budget horror flick standards but why do they keep splitting up? It's so annoying when it happens & why don't they spend more time on trying to find a way out of the prison? It seemed to me they spent most of the time walking around doing nothing in particular. One also feels obliged to point out that the ending isn't very good either. The actual story is sort of fun, there's enough gore to keep one entertained & at least it doesn't last too long so I'd say it's worth watching if your a fan of this sort of low budget horror flick although more demanding viewers will probably want to give it a wide berth.
Director VanHook does alright although I thought it was too over-lit at times which limited any sort of atmosphere that could have been achieved, the film looks too much like a film as it were. I wouldn't say there's many scares here either but there is some good gore including someone chopping his own legs off with an axe, someone is sliced in half by a spinning ceiling fan complete with guts splattering on the floor as well as assorted spinal column pieces & the like, someone is wrapped in possessed barb wire in a scene similar to one seen in another haunted prison flick Prison (1988), someone is cut up into little bits in some sort of machine with the cut up bits of their body falling off the end of a conveyor belt, there's plenty of blood, gory gunshot wounds & my personal favourite kill when someone is pushed through wire mesh fencing & there's shots of the mesh sinking & cutting into their flesh. For those interested there's gratuitous & pointless shower scene in the prison toilets but she keeps her underwear on so it's a bit of a none starter.
Technically the film is fine, it's well made & competent although it's not stylish. The special effects are pretty good with CGI computer effects kept to a minimum. The acting is OK, there a couple of familiar faces faces here including Jake Busey, Stacy Keach & Danny Trejo.
Death Row is an OK way to pass 90 odd minutes, it's nothing deep or meaningful & it won't change your life but I thought it was watchable enough for what it was. Better than I had expected although to be fair that wasn't going to be difficult.
Co-written & directed by Kevin VanHook this made-for-TV horror thriller isn't anywhere near as bad as I feared it would be despite yet again plenty of 'this is the worst film ever' type comments here on the IMDb, I really wish the IMDb would ban 'this is the worst film ever' threads on the message boards I really do. Anyway, the script by VanHook & Rick Glassman maybe takes itself a bit too seriously & the story is somewhat underdeveloped but it moves along at a decent enough pace, I was never bored with it & there's some satisfying gore in it. The whole explanation behind the haunted prison is weak, the script indicates the prison has great evil in it & that's all there is too it. I'm sorry but couldn't the makers have come up with a slightly more substantial reason behind the ghostly events than that? Then there are some inconsistencies with the ghosts, some have this blurry edge around them while others don't, some can speak while others can't, some can possess human beings while others can't & it would have been nice to have things a bit more consistent. Then there's the somewhat clichéd character's, they are alright by low budget horror flick standards but why do they keep splitting up? It's so annoying when it happens & why don't they spend more time on trying to find a way out of the prison? It seemed to me they spent most of the time walking around doing nothing in particular. One also feels obliged to point out that the ending isn't very good either. The actual story is sort of fun, there's enough gore to keep one entertained & at least it doesn't last too long so I'd say it's worth watching if your a fan of this sort of low budget horror flick although more demanding viewers will probably want to give it a wide berth.
Director VanHook does alright although I thought it was too over-lit at times which limited any sort of atmosphere that could have been achieved, the film looks too much like a film as it were. I wouldn't say there's many scares here either but there is some good gore including someone chopping his own legs off with an axe, someone is sliced in half by a spinning ceiling fan complete with guts splattering on the floor as well as assorted spinal column pieces & the like, someone is wrapped in possessed barb wire in a scene similar to one seen in another haunted prison flick Prison (1988), someone is cut up into little bits in some sort of machine with the cut up bits of their body falling off the end of a conveyor belt, there's plenty of blood, gory gunshot wounds & my personal favourite kill when someone is pushed through wire mesh fencing & there's shots of the mesh sinking & cutting into their flesh. For those interested there's gratuitous & pointless shower scene in the prison toilets but she keeps her underwear on so it's a bit of a none starter.
Technically the film is fine, it's well made & competent although it's not stylish. The special effects are pretty good with CGI computer effects kept to a minimum. The acting is OK, there a couple of familiar faces faces here including Jake Busey, Stacy Keach & Danny Trejo.
Death Row is an OK way to pass 90 odd minutes, it's nothing deep or meaningful & it won't change your life but I thought it was watchable enough for what it was. Better than I had expected although to be fair that wasn't going to be difficult.