Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988)

Very disappointing...

ridiculous rating

Must See Movie...

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Even watching it, only the other day, this ultra prison future, set in the near future, still retains it's originality, and freshness, like it always has. It's a unique one of a kind prison flick, with mostly unknowns. A younger David Field, the main star, is one of many prisoners who's pushed by a most hardened bunch of screws, who don't take crap, the main one, looking cool in shades, and chewing gum, a no nonsense, if there ever was one. The prison is very modernized, some dorms, looking like holiday homes. Very like Stir, this film works on the same premise basically, with a couple of different angles. Being the future, these prisoners are the worst of the worst, ones that can't be rehabilitated. Violence runs heavy and hits hard, one unrelenting stabbing scene of a guard, by a prisoner, graphically violent, as the film nears it's climax. Too near the end, not helping the situation, a score of crazy cons join the other prisoners, a ranting hate filled Cave, the lead, I'll never forget, as I will crazy prisoner, Gill's monologue while caged, after the prisoners have been robbed of their possessions, hence the prisoner's bloodshed and rioting. One warden does himself, which results in the retaliation against a black prisoner. I enjoy this movie so much. It's one of a kind and always will be, thanks to multi talented Cave, who knows how to make great films, this 89 one being his debut, and his baby. From it's exterior establishing shot, it's visually intriguing, with it's hills in the backscape, while the prisoner's locale, looks like situated in some wasteland. It could be anywhere. That's what's coolly admiring about it. We too have a cross dresser amongst our prisoners, which makes for a few laughs, where really, I found it downright sick and disgusting, a little too much. But no holes barred films like this are great. I love em'. Honestly, just see this great film once for the experience, with great acting and script, and an awesome score.

Re-watching this again, goes onto consolidate how confronting, humiliating, intense and haunting John Hillcoat's nightmarish prison drama is. The unsparing atmosphere is so clinically cold and you really do feel imprisoned in this confined maximum security prison, as we watch the numbing existence of these prisoners through daily routines (where rules are virtually non-existent) and eventually the mental breakdown that occurs when what they hold close to keeping them sane is taken away by the prison administration. Then you have the prison guards (who are no better themselves) fearing for their own lives, because they sense its only time when the frustration boils over and its taken out on them.The controversially cerebral material (penned by Gene Conkie, Evan English, John Hillcoat and Nick Cave) is well-developed and profound, holding an unforgettable and gripping edge. It's a frightening, primal and brutal portrait, without over doing it or reverting to bad taste. It's a wicked look at the use of violence, despite those being inside are there for committing it. Even the ending leaves it opened to the true state of the criminal. Healed or not... do we really care? The central industrial prison is located in the middle of nowhere and has been locked down due to the spate of uncontrollable acts of aggressive violence. Soon it flashes back to open up the events that have caused this violent outbreak, and show the truth behind the system's polices and unusual acts to provoke it's prisoners and guards.The guerrilla style camera-work can become alienating, and Nick Cave's simmering score is sparsely used to put you off balance. Hillcoat's consistently slick direction is visually piercing and tightly constructed, invoking many dark and violent passages. The performances are mainly adapt with a solid central turn by David Field, but it's a blindingly compulsive performance by Nick Cave (who explosively hit's the screen almost a good hour in) as a downright maniac brought in to cause a ruckus.A powerfully nail-biting, ambitious and uncompromising slice of prison life.

Roger Wenzil is transferred to one of the new humane maximum-security prisons as an inmate.The new prisons have been built open plan and the guards have a relaxed attitude toward hard-drug use.However the prison bureaucracy begin a crackdown,stirring up minor incidents– confiscating all drugs and weapons,turning the TV's off–but this creates a state of high tension that sets the inmates and guards against one another.Everything finally explodes in one violently bloody outburst.This bleak and somber prison drama offers truly unsettling look into the penal system.There are some unflinching scenes of violence and heroin use,so be prepared.The performance of Nick Cave is absolutely insane.The singer plays a psycho,who screams obscenities and paints on the wall in his own blood.The climax where one inmate starts repeatedly stabbing at a guard's body is hard to stomach too.9 out of 10.

I saw this film in the early 1990s on British late night TV. I had never heard of it and caught it by chance, expecting a piece of gory men-in-prison schlock. I got a lot more. I recently had the chance to see Ghosts... again, and I wasn't disappointed. Although the film is deeply disturbing both visually and suggestively, the real kick in the head is when you start to think about what the film means. The prison can be interpreted as a microcosm of society, but also resonates with other cultural themes such as the loss of innocence, and the (illusory?)possibility of redemption. It is the kind of flick that Dostoevsky would have made had he been a film director in the 1980s!