Newly discharged from the military, a former soldier accepts a job in a prison for damaged criminals where she notices a strange man is brought in that speaks no English, and after witnessing him transforming into a vicious creature rounds up the remaining inmates to get them to safety.
This one isn't all that bad as a monster-in-a-prison film. One of the strongest elements here is an intriguing storyline that provides the kind of setup necessary for this kind of feature. Offering the idea of smuggling the creature inside the prison using the unassuming body of a mysterious prisoner and forcing it to get loose and hunt down its quarry inside which sets this going quite nicely when it performs a ritual to break free. The fact that it started early and fast was best, allowing for the action to start up and get the interest level way up quite rapidly with there being no real build-up to it as it just gets loose inside and sets off on its quest. The small prison it's set in is the perfect way to generate some suspense by showing that there's nowhere to hide. That puts them constantly in danger from the creature, and it makes the peril all the more suspenseful. That leads incredibly well into the other strong feature here with the action coming across strongly. The creature itself is one of the best parts of the film. A fully imposing design, bulky with large arms, huge claws, and a shocking-looking head that strikes fear on first impression. The fact that it's a real costume instead of some CGI creation goes a long way in creating a lot of fear in it during its scenes from chasing the group through the hallways of the prison as a series of plans to stall it until help arrives keeps it going along nicely. The next best feature here is the gore, which is quite abundant and appealing with a very vicious mangling, a person ripped in half in the waist, a couple of stabbings, and a head bashed into a pulp, among other kills. There's even a scene where a person gnaws on their arm and chews through it, leaving this pretty gory when it needs to be and making for some decent enough positives. Beyond those few reasons, there's very little to like in this one. The small setting, while also a positive by having a closed-off area to drive suspense from, hurts it by showing off what little there is to the production. Normally, this isn't a problem, but when there's hardly anything to it that indicates it's just a small part of something bigger, then it hurts the film a little as this is a small prison that does have the appearance of just being that big in real life. Another big problem is that there is a very fast start to it, but then the middle section slows down to a near crawl that is painful to sit through. The action slows down to finally get some other scenes in, which is a shame as it started so fast. By selecting that part of the movie to get to know the characters only slows down what momentum that was built up. These reasons keep it from being the simple monster-on-the-loose film it could've so easily been.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Brief Nudity.
