The Jailhouse Horror Movie 2009
Cast & Crew
Actor: Brandon Luck, Billy Lewis
Director: Billy Lewis
Producer: Ryan Mcinnis, Brandon Luck, Brandon Luck, Billy Lewis, Billy Lewis, Heath Franklin
Art Director: Brody Docar
Cinematographer: Joe Stauffer
Composer: Alex Beard
Editor: Joe Stauffer
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: October 30, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distributor: 3L Productions
The Jailhouse
have to admit, I am a big C. Thomas Howell fan…at least based on one movie. THE HITCHER, from 1986 starring good old C. Thomas and perennial psychopath Rutger Hauer, was a classic horror/thriller film with two actors doing brilliant work, and will always be embedded in my subconscious as a wild ride and featuring one of the most maniacal performances of all time from Mr. Hauer. The years after THE HITCHER, unfortunately, have not been kind to co-star C. Thomas Howell, who has starred in one low budget disaster after another (THE DAY THE EARTH STOPPED, anyone?), doing movies just for the sake of paying the mortgage. I do, however, see the appeal of starring in THE JAILHOUSE. For the first time since THE HITCHER, C. Thomas Howell is fun again, channeling his own Rutger Hauer and relishing the role of a sociopathic deputy. Too bad the movie around him is not up to the task of complimenting his performance.
THE JAILHOUSE is a story about Seth Delray (Howell), the new deputy in town, a family man who has agreed to move into a combination house/jail at a bargain price. The Sheriff (Philip Troy Linger, barely present and very incompetent) needs to house six inmates in Seth’s abode for at least a month, until the prison, overcrowded and undergoing renovations, is all sorted out and able to house them. As soon as the inmates arrive, however, something begins to happen to Seth. He begins to act funny, change his demeanor and become violent towards the inmates and even his own family. The inmates are starting to disappear, Seth’s family is scared by him and move into the grandmother’s house, and it is up to the nice guy prisoner (Rey Valentin) and the token hot inmate (Lindsey McKeon) to figure out what is going on and save themselves before they are next
This movie really does make me go bananas. The premise is set up nicely and lays out the absurd plot of living with inmates rather cleanly. Director Billy Lewis also is very adept at the camera, and is able to provide nice zoom shots, old school “nickelodeon” style flashback sequences and interesting angle shots that liven up the festivities, even when there is no action on screen. C. Thomas Howell also knocks it out of the park as a possessed (?) new deputy who dispenses a little old school justice on the inmate inhabitants of his home, but that is essentially where the good ends. The plot, borrowing from THE AMITYVILLE HORROR in a few basic ways, is very thin and barely laid out in the film. Nothing is ever really laid out for you after the initial setup. Inmates go into their cells, Seth goes nuts immediately, inmates start to go missing, and so on. The other cops in the movie are very inept and slow-witted, even the Sheriff. The inmates, led by Stark (Rey Valentin), leave virtually no impression and make some truly dumbfounded moves (Why does Maddy only slightly slice Seth when she had all day to plunge that knife square in his head?). For an 86 minute movie, the pace tends to lag and drag due to the lack of background on the house and its previous inhabitants. The movie might have worked if details were explained or at least strongly hinted at, but then the ending essentially wrecked that possibility. I will not spoil it for people who want to see this film but let me tell you, for a movie that gives very little character or plot details through out, it certainly lays it on thick at the last minute. To be brief, the movie dumps a chunk of plot and character details in the last few minutes, and the movie, what good parts it had, was undone by the lame “twist” ending. It screams last minute rewrite (not to mention borrowing elements from the movie STAY with Ewan McGregor).
THE JAILHOUSE is by no means a flat out awful movie that has no redeeming values. The core concept is sound and C. Thomas Howell goes all out to make the movie interesting while he is on screen, and earns one skull based on his presence alone, but the lack of solid plotting and developed characters we might actually care about (I can’t even recall Seth’s wife and two kids, who were present at the beginning of the film and departed about a third of the way through, showing how much of an impression they left) do this movie in at the end. As for the ending, some will like it, some will despise it. It was like the movie - good idea, little positive execution.
