Good concept, poorly executed.

good back-story, and good acting

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Over twenty years ago I caught an unknown Australian film on channel 4 one night set in a maximum security prison . The passage of time meant I even forgot the title but neither the bleak , oppressive atmosphere or certain scenes . It was one of those films that hits you with the impact of a sock filled with billiard balls and like so many things from the past the memory can play tricks on you . Things that become ingrained on our memory aren't the same viewed years or even decades later so sitting down to watch GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD I was all prepared for much disappointment . I needn't have worried because it's the same bleak , brutal and very depressing film I remembered It should be pointed out that this film is definitely not for everyone . If you're one of those people who award ten out of ten to the uplifting mawkish fable of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION then give this a very wide berth . If you're only interest in movies involves the cinematic telling of a story then you'll probably not like this either since it really isn't about narrative storytelling . If you think the HBO show OZ was a good show but started to lose it due to more and more outlandish plots being introduced then make sure you don't miss GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD , but again I should warn you of the depressing toneThe story takes place in the aftermath of a prison incident and shows the events leading up to it . It starts off with Wenzil arriving at a maximum security prison and from the outset conveys the fear and loneliness of being a new arrival in prison where ones peers are effectively facing the rest of their natural life inside and therefore they have nothing to lose The film quickly loses character focus and you expect the story to be seen through the eyes of Wenzil . In some ways Wenzil is the central character but that's only due to the fact that he's the first character we see and is also the last character seen too but the film really doesn't concern itself with this and often subjects the audience to both prisoners and guards spoken thoughts overlaid with scenes of not much happening . It's a film more to do with the existentialist dead end of imprisonment and does so brilliantly It's also a film that has an understated on screen attitude to violence . A gang rape is merely alluded to , a description of a torture and murder of a prisoner by two fellow inmates is told via voice over but is still nevertheless shocking . All this takes place in a movie that has a very uncanny and disconcerting atmosphere that is overwhelming . The prison itself resembles an anti-septic sterile place you'd expect to see in 2001 or THX1138 , almost as though the characters have been lifted from the real world in to a cruel system of another dimension which is probably the effect director John Hillcoat wishes to force upon us . He succeeds too and it wasn't till after I saw this again after a gap of 20 years that I learned Hillcoat also directed the bleak apocalyptic drama THE ROAD . Some films you watch in the cinema with a large box of popcorn . With Hillcoat you need a large dose of Prozac Some things don't entirely work . It's difficult to believe that the state would assign a serving police officer to protect an inmate in case he gets attacked by guards , but then I didn't go and research the Australian prison system . The guards of course are either corrupt or violent bullies but it is part of prison folklore the world over that the guards have the biggest and hardest gang . Considering the screenplay has five different writers and convention dictates that the more writers a screenplay has the worse it will be GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD is a very powerful and disturbing movie that will stay in the memory for a very long time

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.

And not only that this movie is based on a true story as well.The Movie uses a prison near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory as its location but the story itself is sourced from the US.The script is loosely based on events witnessed by whistleblower and former U.S. Prison Guard, David Hale.The Score which was composed by "Nick Cave & The Bad Seed members", Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey and Nick Cave, is quite haunting and disturbing and sets the right tone for the movie.What makes this movie so disturbingly realistic is the fact that this movie only has 6 Professional performers in it, the rest are played by real ex-cons, guards, cops, etc. The Eric Bana movie Chopper also used real criminals/ex cons in its movie to great effect and Ghosts was the inspiration for Choppers Director to use this technique.Ghosts is one of those rare movies that has never ever gotten the widespread acclaim that it deserves and continues to be a movie that is becoming increasingly hard to get.Hopefully the latest Nick Cave/John Hilcoat project, "the Proposition", will change all of that and we will see it finally start to find the audience it truly deserves.While this movie is very hard to find in video stores (even in Australia) it is most definitely worth trying to track down. And if you collect DVD's it is a must have for your collection and worth getting or importing from EzyDVD or DVDorchard.

This film was screened on Australian TV when I was about 15. It's extremelly violent and psychological, a study in deprivation and pain. I mainly remember Nick Cave's performance (he co-wrote it). He plays a lunatic that get's moved to an already tense prison. His ranting and self-mutilation escalate the other prisoners sense of panic and chaos. Incredible acting and a very realistically frightening film. It's not fun, exciting or most things people look for as a distraction in modern day cinema, but if you're looking for something challenging and thought provoking it's well worth trying to find.