Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

cybersleuth58 Some of this contains descriptions that could serve as spoilers... So be warned... Michael Pare, Danny Trejo, and Tom Sizemore are not exactly unknowns! So how could it be that bad??? Furnace is a movie which proves that even with talented actors a movie can be awful! There are so many elements that make this movie terrible. The lines are delivered poorly. There was no attempt to research the material; too much of it was completely ridiculous. For example, when an inmate is brought up from the furnace area speaking nonsense, the "doctor" orders "20 cc's of Haloperidol"! What???? Do you mean mgs?? Michael Pare's character makes some stupid comment to the "doctor" about having a posh practice in the suburbs to which she responds something equally as stupid about not "learning about the depths of the mind from sexually repressed housewives". The script is full gems like that! I could not figure out if the "Hot CSI girl" (aka coroner) was supposed to be the Medical Examiner or a crime scene tech...Unreality takes this movie to the point of being farcical. The prisoners all get to be one to a cell. (No overcrowding here)! There was also no racial tension... The Hispanics hang with the blacks and the whites. The doctor chalks up a lot to "narcotics" but apparently no one even thinks to pull urines on the prisoners or the guards. In fact, no one at the prison impresses the viewer as being particularly competent. I got so bored after about 30 minutes that I found myself checking my email. Because of the complete lack of character development there is no desire to see them resolve the conflicts presented by the... errr.... plot, and I use that term loosely.This was so far fetched that it felt like something a kid might have written. Don't waste your time with this one... Unless of course you've come out of surgery and have been given such good drugs that you don't care ...

Paul Andrews Furnace starts as Blackgate Prison guard Joey Robbins (Paul Wall) kills himself at home, his wife tells detective Michael Turner (Michael Paré) that there was no reason for her husband to commit suicide. Then later that night a prisoner named Jamison (Taylor Kinney) seemingly also commits suicide at Blackgate, detective Turner feels the two cases are linked somehow & when a third inmate is also found dead Turner is convinced something is going on. Turner befriends & enlists the help of Blackgate psychiatrist Dr. Ashley Carter (Jenny McShane) who is sure that illegal drugs are to blame but as Turner investigates the three apparent suicides the one connecting factor is a recently reopened cell block that has been bricked up for fifty years after the previous warden was murdered there, Turner discovers the dark past of the cell block has a very real present day effect as vengeful spirits seek revenge...Co-written, co-produced & directed by William Butler this feels like a fairly standard rip-off of The Ring (2002) as the vengeful spirit of a young girl is awakened & seeks some sort of revenge or some wrong that needs righting, as such I suppose it's OK but nothing memorable & there are better examples out there. The plot is fairly standard stuff but the prison setting is quite cool & one underused in the horror genre, the actual revelations at the end are forgettable & don't seem to have much thought put into them. There are also various plot ideas that go nowhere, Tom Sizemore's character in particular is just totally forgotten about, the prison riot is never resolved & there's no real reason given as to why the ghost makes people commit suicide rather than just kill them. The character's are alright & they are fleshed out a little (although it's never made clear why Turner & Miller dislike each other so much), at 80 odd minutes in length it's not too long & while it's not the most incident packed film ever there's just about enough going on to sustain ones attention.Text at the beginning of Furnace claims it was 'Inspired by Actual Eevnts' which I found hard to believe. There seems to be comic book references aplenty here, the two main characters called Frank Miller & Michael Turner are both real life comic book artist's & Blackgate Prison is the name of the prison used in the DC comic books including Batman. Although quite well made it's not that scary & the ghost scenes are a bit dull, the usual slightly pale looking girl who moves in strange ways as well as a burned man who are typical ghost fair. There's very little gore, there's a bit of blood, a couple of severed fingers & nothing else.The IMDb reckons Furnace had a budget of about $3,000,000 which sounds like a lot of money to me, the production values are good but bland. Filmed in the old Tennesse State Prison apparently which explains why there's only about ten inmates. The acting is alright, rapper Ja Rule has a cameo while Tom Sizemore probably filmed his footage in a couple of days.Furnace is an OK time waster, it's the sort of Asian ghost story that has been done to death & the sort of story you can't do much with & Furnace doesn't even try. I've seen worse but I've seen better too.

lastliberal There is nothing like an old prison to add to the creepiness of a horror film, especially if there is some old murders that are at the root of the horror.Looking at this from just a detective thriller, it is very interesting as Michael Paré looks into a couple of suicides related to the prison. He hooks up with the prison psychiatrist (Jenny McShane) to investigate.Lots of creepiness and excitement for those that like Ring-type horror.Always love a chance to see Danny Trejo.They had to add that irritating rap during the credits! Biggest disappointment: Just who in the world runs out of a shower screaming at the sight of the ghost and takes the time to put on a bathrobe? You have to be kidding me!

carolyn-carter50 My boyfriend and I rented this yesterday. I loved it! Him not as much as me but overall the film was very scary and dark. The little girl in the film who had been burned badly was really hard to look at though the make up was so painfully created and realistic! I don't know many of the actors but over was scared to death! I highly recommend. The story stakes place in a dilapidated old prison where the ghost of a murdered young girl wanders the hall in search of her killer. Its not until the ending that you realize that her killer is the last person you expected. It's a pretty twisted premise so I don't recommend it for the kiddies!