FORTRESS (1993)

MORGAN'S RATING

It's 2018, and America is facing a terrible overpopulation crisis. To solve the problem, a strict limit has been set on the number of children a family can have: one. When John Brennick and his wife, Karen, lose their infant son, they try to have another illegally. However, they're caught and are sent off to the Fortress, a supermaximum security prison from which escape is impossible. Despite the robot guards, the laser beams, the mindscanners, and the death devices planted in all inmates' stomaches, Brennick plans an escape with his wife anyway.

Christopher Lambert (John Henry Brennick), Kurtwood Smith (Prison Director Poe), Loryn Locklin (Karen B. Brennick), Clifton Collins Jr. (Nino Gomez), Lincoln Kilpatrick (Abraham), Jeffrey Combs (D-Day, the Computer Geek), Tom Towles (Stiggs), Vernon Wells (Maddox), Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (Zed-10 voice), Alan Zitner (Claustrophobic Prisoner), Denni Gordon (Karen's Cellmate), Eric Briant Wells (Border Guard), Dragicia Debert (Bio Scanner Guard), Heidi Stein (Pregnant Woman), Harry Nurmi, Peter Lamb, Troy Hunter (Guards), Peter Marshall (Travel Authorization Guard), Michael Simpson (Medical Trainee), Tracy Martin (Woman Prisoner), Annika Thomas (Brennick as a Baby), Sam Copping (Brennick, Age 3), Kira Reed (Dream Girl), Nancy Grande, Josephine MacKenroth (Woman Prisoners, uncredited).

IN THE YEAR 2017 ONE CORPORATION IS BUILDING A FORTRESS FOR THE ULTIMATE TAKEOVER...YOUR MIND.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Stuart Gordon. WRITERS: Troy Neighbors, Steven Feinberg, David Venable and Terry Curtis Fox. PRODUCERS: John Davis and John Flock. ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Steven Feinberg and Troy Neighbors. CO-PRODUCERS: Michael Lake and Neal Nordlinger. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Graham Burke and Greg Coote. LINE PRODUCER: Irene Dobson. ORIGINAL MUSIC: Frederic Talgorn. DISTRIBUTOR: Dimension Films.

QUOTES

Prison Director Poe: Intenstinate!

FACTS

Nino Gomez: Try it motherfucker, and you're dead.

RELEASE DATE: September 3rd, 1993 (USA) BOX OFFICE OPENING: $4.0 million (USA) BOX OFFICE RESULT: $6.7 million (USA) BUDGET: $8 million (USA) - The film is dedicated to the memory of Paul Gantner. - Followed by a direct-to-video sequel: Fortress 2: Re-Entry (1999).

Abraham: Don't dream.

Prison Director Poe: The Men-Tel Corporation has transformed me into a more efficient human being. Once a month, I absorb amino acids, wasting neither food nor fuel. When my kind are in the majority, there will be no more world hunger, no over-population.

Zed 10: Crime does not pay.

CRITICAL COMMENTS

"Stuart Gordon pulls off some of this, but Re-Animator it ain't." -- Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress

"The perfect confluence of prison movie, R-rated sci-fi, Stuart Gordon, and Christopher Lambert. I couldn't ask for much more." -- Luke Y. Thompson, New Times

"It treats its audience with open sadism and offers nothing to compensate us for our pain." -- Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium