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Movies / On DVD / Animal Factory
Animal Factory

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Animal Factory (2000)

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83 %
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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:25

Rotten:5

Average Rating:6.7/10

Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

Genre: Television

Synopsis: For his second film as a director, actor Steve Buscemi (TREES LOUNGE) brings ex-convict Edward Bunker's poignant jail drama to the screen. Trapped with a long-term prison sentence in a Pennsylvania... For his second film as a director, actor Steve Buscemi (TREES LOUNGE) brings ex-convict Edward Bunker's poignant jail drama to the screen. Trapped with a long-term prison sentence in a Pennsylvania state penitentiary, 21-year-old Ron Decker (Edward Furlong) feels like a terrified fish-out-of-water. His cellmate, Jan the Actress (an impressively unrecognizable Mickey Rourke), is a cross-dresser who won't stop talking. Enter Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), an aging convict who has been in prison so long that he runs the show. Earl takes Ron under his wing, and a strange and intense relationship develops between them. However, the relationship offers Ron the protection he needs and gives Earl the feeling that he is a father figure. After Ron's appeal is denied, ensuring his place in the penitentiary for five more years, Earl thinks up a dangerous plan of escape that will either set them free or cost them their lives in the process. Buscemi's drama successfully balances the brutality of prison life with the touching, intimate relationship between Ron and Earl, providing ANIMAL FACTORY with a sensitivity that most prison films rarely contain. The movie features an atmospheric score by actor-musician John Lurie. [More]

Starring: Edward Furlong, Willem Dafoe, Seymour Cassel, Mickey Rourke

Starring: Edward Furlong, Willem Dafoe, Seymour Cassel, Mickey Rourke, Steve Buscemi, Tom Arnold, John Heard, Danny Trejo, Mark Boone, Eddie Bunker, Chris Bauer

Director: Steve Buscemi

Director: Steve Buscemi
Screenwriter: Eddie Bunker
Producer: Julie Yorn, Elie Samaha, Steve Buscemi, Andrew Stevens
Composer: John Lurie

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Animal Factory

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
07/08/03
Guardian [UK]
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
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Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/24/03
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
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Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/28/03
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

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Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
05/16/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Intriguing.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
E! Online
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jam! Movies
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Film Threat
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/27/08
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's the relationship between Willem Dafoe, as Earl, the hard-time veteran, and Edward Furlong, as Ron, the new boy he takes under his wing, that makes the film so compelling.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
08/17/01
Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin
Village Voice

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/04
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

there are two reasons to fast-forward this offering when it's released on video: (1) Mickey Rourke's over-the-top bejeweled drag queen and (2) Tom Arnold's truly rotten performance as a baddy who has the hots for boy-buns. Roseanne's finally gotten her re

Full Review Source: Detour Magazine | comment Comment
11/17/02
Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell
Detour Magazine

We may have seen this type of Animal before, but Furlong and Dafoe's work -- and Buscemi’s honest, caring touch with these fringe-dwellers -- make it seem fresh.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
01/16/03
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

The most disturbing thing in Animal Factory is watching sleepy Edward Furlong try to act.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/25/02
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Similar to "Shawshank", "Animal Factory" is a far-less-established outing, but never the less interesting. Without the weighty support cast it mightn't have been as intriguing though, because there's a lack of depth missing from the screenplay

Full Review Source: Moviehole | comment Comment
06/20/02
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Moviehole

"Animal Factory" shows in unflinching scenes of stabbings, race riots, drug use, attempted rape, and constantly boiling chaotic violence, how hardened criminals are formed by incessant molding inside American penitentiaries.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
05/16/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Gets much of its power from Willem Dafoe's potent portrayal of Copen.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

The prison atmosphere of constant danger was fully captured, as the film had a gritty, realistic look.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
 
 
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