In Hell (2003)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Ringo Lam

Writers:

Eric James Virgets (written by) and
Jorge Alvarez (written by)

Release Date:

8 August 2003 (Spain)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Rage unleashed.

Plot:

A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.

Plot Keywords:

Bribe | Corruption | Russia | Fight | Prison

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Jan. 17	7:00 PM	SPIKETV
Sun. Jan. 18	1:00 AM	SPIKETV

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Kyle
Lawrence Taylor	...	451
Lloyd Battista	...	General Hrusckov
Carlos Gómez	...	Tolik (as Carlos Gomez)
Manol Manolov	...	Ivan (as Emanuil Manolov)
Chris Moir	...	Billy Cooper
Billy Rieck	...	Coolhand
Kaloian Vodenicharov	...	Dima (as Kaloyan Vodenicharov)
Malakai Davidson	...	Malakai
Veselin Kalanovski	...	Sasha
Ivo Tonchev	...	Marko
Juan Fernández	...	Shubka (as Juan Fernandez)
Raicho Vasilev	...	Andrei
Milos Milicevic	...	Boo
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Valya

Also Known As:

Hell (USA) (working title)
Security Housing Unit (USA) (working title)
The S.H.U. (USA)
The Savage

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

USA:96 min | Argentina:100 min | UK:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (uncut) | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Japan:PG-12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

777 Films Corporation

Trivia:

Lawrence Taylor's character is named 451, a reference to Ray Bradbury's novel Farenheit 451.

Quotes:

451: Unity of people can bring down any establishment. Their power was gone.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Tale of Two Titans (2004) (V)

A new kind of Van Damme!

In Hell, you will find a different Jean-Claude Van Damme. Absent are the overused splits, jump kicks off walls, flips, and his infamous, head-snapping, ballet-like 360* degree jumping spin kicks (I still like them). Instead you find him just using ordinary street fighting techniques, wrestling and getting slammed around half the time. Everyone knows the old saying that a person is the sum of his or her experiences. Well, Van Damme proves it. Kyle LeBlanc (Van Damme)is an American resident alien worker at a Russian engineering plant who plans a vacation with his wife. Tragically, things come crashing down that same evening when his wife is brutally murdered. After the trial results in the killer's acquittal, Kyle, in a fit of rage, guns him down and the guard (by accident). The Russian court unjustly finds him guilty and sentences him to life imprisonment. This is one example of how often too many times politics is thrown into the legal system, American or Russian. Once Kyle sets foot in Kravai (the most notoriously brutal and corrupt prison in Russia), he instantly bears witness to man's inhumanity toward's his fellow man. After being accosted by both violent inmates and sadistic guards, Van Damme slowly turns into a savage monster. The evil warden and his cohorts notices that and forces him to participate in an illegal fighting program. Van Damme not only has to fight for his life, but to also retain his humanity and sanity. I think for a DTV movie Van Damme proved he could be a great actor. He did not play the one-dimensional shallow superhero. In Hell shows us how cruelty can build and at the same time undo a man physically, mentally and spiritually. Here is man who just about reaches the end of his rope, yet he has something to fight for: the memory of his wife still shines on him, in the form of a moth. NFL great Lawrence Taylor does a great job as 451, giving the film the philosophical context. Taylor's 451 reminds me of an ancient proverb: those that harm can teach. While 451 was outwardly a remorseless psychopath, he had in fact held on to what humanity he had left (you will find out how 451 ended in Kravai later). While In Hell is not a silver screen film, it still a great film.