Paranormal Prison Review: A Spirited Cast and Creepy Location

Release date: February 19, 2021
Running time: 71 minutes
Starring: Todd Haberkorn, Paris Warner, Don Shanks, Corynn Treadwell, Easton Lay, Brian Telestai
Directed By: Brian Jagger

The impending demolition of an abandoned prison has the paranormal investigation team “The Skeptic and the Scientist” rushed to spend a locked-in night within the prison’s walls before the wrecking balls start swinging turning the now state historical building to condos.  Knowing their channel needs views, team leader Matthew (Todd Haberkorn) funds one last-ditch effort in hopes the device science expert Sara (Paris Warner) has invented will be their ticket to fame and fortune. Along with their sound technician Ashley (Coryn Treadwell), cameraman Jacob (Brian Telestai) and guided by their assigned park ranger, the team recorded everything, hoping to capture elusive spirits. What they captured instead will change paranormal investigation forever, and may have even solved a long-standing mystery.

Paranormal Prison has a lot going for it.  It is an indie found footage style film that focuses on the paranormal investigation side of things.  The setup is clever, with a camera crew coming to investigate paranormal activity in an abandoned prison, which lends itself perfectly to the found footage style.  The film also uses filters and other effects to demake the footage to look like it was filmed on older camera equipment.  And the actors that come to the prison are fun to watch.  They give spirited performances and do the most with the limited resources in the film.  And I also liked the setup with a paranormal believer and a skeptic together.  It was a nice back and forth, especially at the beginning when the paranormal investigation is being setup.  And you can't beat this location for an atmospheric horror film.  An abandoned prison is a great place to film a found footage haunting film, so smart choice on their part.

But Paranormal Prison is let down by the effects, the short duration, and the overall story.  The effects were not scary, despite the good attempts by the actors to sell them.  They mostly consisted of spliced scenes, some strange happenings, and some digitized effects.  But they just did not look that authentic, more like something you would see at an amusement park.  And the film did not even get to this level of scaring quickly.  I appreciated the build up, but when the movie itself is just over an hour there needs to be more paranormal happening earlier on.  The story itself was nicely interconnected, with a good twist at the end, but again was too short in duration to really walk away feeling fulfilled.  You get some backstory for the characters that felt unnecessary for the overall movie, and I wish that had been used to more effectively include early scares or footage from past investigations.  If you want a similar style film, but one that has better effects and a more over the top experience, check out Followed or The Cleansing Hour.

Paranormal Prison's spirited performances and creepy setting make this found footage film entertaining, but be skeptical of some of the effects and the short duration.

Pass on it.

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Paranormal Prison is available in select theaters, digitally, and on demand on February 19, 2021.

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