''Animal Factory'' is a 2000

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

film directed by

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

and starring

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

, Edward Furlong, Danny Trejo, John Heard,

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...

Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to: * Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor * Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide * Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer * Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), B ...

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...

, Shell Galloway and Mark Boone, Jr. Set in

San Quentin San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is th ...

, the film is about life in prison. It is based on the novel of the same name by

Eddie Bunker Edward Heward Bunker (December 31, 1933 – July 19, 2005) was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, convicted felon and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films. He wrote the scripts for—a ...

who plays the part of Buzzard in the film.

Plot

Ron Decker, a young man convicted for drug possession, is sent to prison where veteran con Earl Copen takes Decker under his wing and introduces him into his own gang. Copen first helps out Decker when three Puerto Ricans attempt to lure him into a cell block to rape him. Copen sees through their plans and talks to the Puerto Ricans, who quickly abandon interest in Decker. Over the next few days, Copen helps Decker out by getting him better jobs, food, and even transferring him to his own cell block. Mainly Copen helps Decker's case and points out that under a new article passed by the legislature, a judge can modify a sentence in the first 90 days if he sees fit, so Copen (who is the assistant to the Captain of the Guards) helps write false reports and gives Decker advice to stay out of trouble, which will make Decker appear as a "very small threat to society". Unfortunately, after a large inmate called Buck Rowan attempts to rape Decker in the bathroom, Decker stabs Rowan in a fight involving Copen, paralyzing Rowan. Rowan signs a statement claiming Decker and Copen are responsible and their cells are stripped and they are restricted to them. Decker's attempt at a modified sentence is denied and his sentence remains five years. Meanwhile, Copen manages to get word out Rowan is "snitching", and an inmate working at the infirmary poisons Rowan's IV with cleaning fluid. The case against Copen and Decker is thrown out as the victim and main witness is dead. Shortly after their release, Copen tells Decker he plans to escape, and they plot to hide in a garbage truck and avoid being crushed by the compressor by using a bar to stop it. Decker escapes in one truck, Copen is unable to jump into the truck after the appearance of one of the prison guards. Decker manages to flee to Costa Rica and Copen stays behind, after stating "This is my prison, after all" and quoting Satan from ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...

'' by

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and politica ...

: "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."

Cast

as Earl Copen * Edward Furlong as Ron Decker * Danny Trejo as Vito * John Heard as James Decker *

as Jan the Actress *

as Buck Rowan *

as Lt. Seeman * Mark Boone, Jr. as Paul Adams *

Edward Bunker Edward Heward Bunker (December 31, 1933 – July 19, 2005) was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, convicted felon and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films. He wrote the scripts for—a ...

as Buzzard * Shell Galloway as Johnny Handsome * Michael Buscemi as Mr. Herrell * Jake LaBotz as Jesse *

Chris Bauer Mark Christopher Bauer (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work in ''The Wire'', ''Third Watch'', ''True Blood'', ''Survivor's Remorse,'' '' The Deuce and'' the Apple TV+ original science fiction spac ...

as Bad Eye * Mark Webber as Tank *

as A.R. Hosspack Anohni makes a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as a prisoner performing at a musical night in the prison.

Production

''Animal Factory'' was filmed at Holmesburg Prison in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. Filming was completed in 30 days, two days longer than originally scheduled. Buscemi employed hundreds of prisoners from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, the prison that replaced Holmesburg Prison in 1995. The film is based upon the novel of the same name by writer

. Bunker, who has a small part in the film, also co-starred alongside ''Animal Factory''s director Buscemi in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's '' Reservoir Dogs.''

Reception

The film received positive reviews. It was highly praised at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an approval rating of 83% based on reviews from 35 critics, with an average rating of 6.90/10. The site’s critics consensus reads, "''Animal Factory'' is an honest attempt at a humanizing prison drama that stumbles with its performances but Buscemi's ambitious directing makes up for it." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 65% based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Elvis Mitchell Elvis Mitchell (born December 6, 1958) is an American film critic, host of the public radio show ''The Treatment'', and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', the ''LA Weekly ...

of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "Willem Dafoe steals the picture with his comic timing." Gene Seymour of the ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "One of the least sensationalistic--and therefore, more unsettlingly plausible--visions of prison life ever transfigured into big-screen drama." Alex Raynor of ''Empire'' magazine wrote: "Steady-handed direction and a number of strong performances allow Animal Factory to maintain a decent balance between prison violence and inmate camaraderie, making for a well-paced and thoughtful prison drama."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

places the film in his book ''151 Best Movies You've Never Seen''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Animal Factory 2000 films 2000 crime drama films 2000 independent films American crime drama films American independent films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Steve Buscemi Films set in San Quentin State Prison Films shot in Pennsylvania 2000s prison films Franchise Pictures films Films based on American novels American prison drama films Films produced by Elie Samaha 2000s American films