Synopsis

Storyline:

When 17-year-old Butch is sent to the Enola Vale Youth Correctional Center in Montana for blinding an abusive correctional officer, he brings with him a deep-seated intolerance for injustices and a penchant for meting out retributions on his own. No one had better mess with him or anyone else while he’s there. Unfortunately, many do.

Written by

statmanjeff

User Reviews: A mean prison thriller that goes for the jugular throughout, the Canadian film DOG POUND is in actual fact a remake of the British borstal classic SCUM from 1979. While it’s not as powerful or harrowing as that film, nevertheless it packs a punch in its harsh depiction of bullying and brutality within prison confines.

The prison in this film is a juvenile one and the movie is populated by new and unfamiliar faces, but don’t let that put you off, because DOG POUND turns out to be a highly effective movie in its own right. The acting is up and down and probably the weakest part of the production, but that matters not when the direction is strong and the writing compelling.

DOG POUND is a slow paced film for the most part and yet it’s alive with simmering tension as character relationships develop and things move towards some scenes of violence which are devastating in their depiction. Some of the sub-plots are distinctly underwhelming (with the fate of one particular character not a patch on his counterpart in SCUM) but others hit home with precision force, making this a film I really got into.