I know it’s not a traditional horror film but damn this movie is pretty horrifying. Everything about it is just dismal. Truly provocative. Watched it last night and making my wife watch it rn too. It’s some hardcore shit and I highly recommend 😱
I’d love to know where it was filmed and how accurate it depicts mid-level security and maximum security prison systems in the US.
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If you like that movie, you should check out the director’s other movies, and his books. Dude’s brutal as hell.
I think I’ve only seen Bone Tomahawk, I liked it!
Dragged Across Concrete was great too
I second this. Really great movie
They also both have same actors, Vince Vaughn , Don Johnson, Dexter's sister
Haha. "Dexter's sister" lol
O hell yeah I’m definitely gonna deep dive into the director’s other stuff. Didn’t know he wrote books — thanks for the rec!!
What books would you recommend?
I’d start with the two westerns, and Mean Business on North Ganson St.
Rad thank you !
The westerns are A Congregation of Jackals and Wraiths of the Broken Land. They make his movie Bone Tomahawk look like a Disney movie.
The medium security prison was pretty spot on. They're not particularly dangerous, just boring. Only thing that isn't realistic is the boxing program the guard mentioned. Prisons haven't had them since the early 90s, most states got rid of them in the 80s.
The max security prison was hilariously over the top. Not realistic at all. The absolute worst prison in America is, by almost all accounts, Angola in Louisiana. The place is horrible. It routinely gets to 40C with 95+ humidity in the summer and only recently did they get air conditioning and it was put in due to the prisoners taking it to the supreme court, calling it cruel and unusual. The court agreed and they finally got air conditioning a couple years ago. It still has plantation style mandatory work so you're in the hot sun for 8 hours a day working in a "garden" which is basically just a slavery plantation.
As bad as that is it's still a far cry from the dungeons and shock belts in Brawl.
Brawl, like all of S. Craig Zahler's movies starts out perfectly normal then slowly descends into a nightmarish fever dream.
It’s brutal but it’s a great movie. Vince Vaughn was fantastic in it
It's crazy that I took him seriously...
I fucking love this movie. It’s probably my favorite from that director. The fight scenes are so badass
Never thought of Vince Vaughn as a total F'ing badass until I saw this flick.
Yep he was also convincingly menacing in season 2 of True Detective
Duuuuude I thought the same fucking thing. I think of him as a big, lurchy funny guy. He’s pretty hard in Reservoir Dogs but not compared to this. Shit.
Vince Vaughn isn't in Reservoir Dogs ... maybe you're thinking of Michael Madsen ?
Oh shit. You already knew who I confused him with haha. I envisioned VV in my mind in reservoir dogs for a min I guess? Thanks for the correction.
VV 6' 5" > Michael Madsen 6' 2"
Just saw it for the first time about six months ago and it quickly became one of my faves.
The director, S.Craig Zahler, also did Bone Tomahawk. Another film of his that I highly recommend is Dragged Across Concrete.
It's not horror but much like Brawl, it relies on the same sort of "slow burn" storytelling that culminates in explosions of extreme violence.
Nicccccce thanks for the recommendation. I rarely watch a movie twice in a day but good god this movie fucked me up.
I wonder if there is a name for this type of story cadence that’s more specific than “tragedy” (if it’s even a tragedy) 🤔
Kinda like Uncut Gems and Good Times, you just know it’s all getting worse and worse, instead of resolving. Because of the dark prison vibes and the gore, I’d still put this in the horror section over action I think.
"I rarely watch a movie twice in a day but good god this movie fucked me up."
I have you beat. The first time I saw this I liked it so much and watched it two more times within the same 24-hour period.
"Because of the dark prison vibes and the gore, I’d still put this in the horror section over action I think."
I actually discovered this movie through this sub because someone had posted the "face destruction" scene which is straight out of a horror film. It doesn't get brought him here a lot but I think it's well regarded here because of the practical gore effects which are definitely something else.
Hell yeah 🤘🏻you mean like THE the face destruction scene like when he executed the ninja fighter near the end? There are quite a few face destruction scenes in the movie but fuuuuuck. He said something like “I’ll kill him” like bro he’s already fucking dead
There’s a movie called Ricky oh that was the inspiration for this film
Zahler style for violence feels so rial, it's not cinematic at all, and that makes it better because it feels like you're there.
All of his 3 movies are incredible, can't wait for his next one.
He’s making a new one?! Awww fuck yeah
Incidentally, despite our lackluster reputations for our prison population, and the fact that there probably are prisons that aren't too dissimilar from the 'final' one in this film? I don't think that's a thing you're going to see in the US. You hear more about that in places where cartels run the show or the governments are just particularly nasty and brutal.
Everything up to that point was realistic looking enough, but they're not just going to constantly transfer someone who fights a lot. They're just going to make that person wish they didn't by taking away all of their 'good time', and not giving them more opportunities to do it.
I work at night and generally, being in a calm place and without people around, I usually put something on to see that it doesn't demand much attention. Honestly, the first part of the movie didn't seem bad to me, but I said what the hell am I watching? What's more, I did something that I should NEVER do and I went to look for opinions on reddit to see if it was worth it to keep watching, I swear I'll never do this even if the movie is bad, but let's be honest, no one would bet two cents on a Vince Vaughn movie . I quickly read words like "badass" "I will never underestimate Vince Vaughn" and "the fight with the Asian is incredible" and I said fucking I'm going to keep watching her. WHAT A CRAZY MOVIE! I can't believe what I just saw. Honestly, I'm going to keep the director on the radar and see many of the things that have already been mentioned here. It's incredible how the movie is divided into two: first segment "presentation of the story and motivations of the protagonist" second segment: justifying all the brutality and why all this is happening, honestly that b-class movie tone made me enjoy it even more everything, how fun and I LOVE it and today I reconfirm any movie that involves real bare-knuckle fights, no rings, no professionals, just mortal people giving each other madrasos without distinction and without forgiveness.
But if you don't understand shit what I put, use a translator just to capture everything that happened to me watching this movie that I finished watching 15 minutes ago hahaha greetings from Argentina
Man, I really liked parts of Brawl, but I was not sold on him going back to help the cops.
The director's politics are pretty sketchy, that being an example. Makes going back and watching stuff like Bone Tomahawk a bit uncomfortable.
Dragged Across Concrete is the one that’s just so on the nose, Don Johnson references Mel Gibson’s infamous phone call in a scene with him
I agree. It made no sense why he would do that and risk losing everything which he does anyway. I just thought maybe he was worried that if they survived they might come after him.
I thought he went back to kill them in case they were gonna lead a trail back to him and his family
Yeah, I thought he was going to kills the cops as well.
Great movie. Definitely don’t think it accurately depicts US penitentiaries tho. Like not even close tbh. But that wasn’t the point of Brawl so I still think it’s a great movie.
Watch Shot Caller if you want a (more) accurate look at US prisons and their politics.
“Blanco!”
Stellar movie !! Definitely one of my favorites !!
Awesome movie.
I am a huge horror whore and this is the only movie o have ever had to actually turn my head away. Maybe not horror but horrific.
Felt provocative like the movie Oldboy
checks out.
That movie was fucking terrible and it seems where they blow peoples heads off. You can totally tell it to fucking dummy lol
It’s a level-up video game, that’s all. It was ok, but I didn’t feel like it made any deeper meanings.
Gosh I fucking hated this movie. I loved the director's first film, Bome Tomahawk but it was like S Craig Zahler saw all the feedback centered around that scene and just doubled down on all the violence for Brawl in Cell Block 69, eschewing all of the characters and dialogue that made Bone Tomahawk so compelling.
I thought Vince Vaughn was like a comical Jason Vorhees, emotionlessly crippling everyone in his path. Glad you enjoyed it but I thought the movie was a joke. I didn't bother with the director's third film.
You don’t get his character, because you don’t get what he is portraying. I saw him as being on the spectrum. He wasn’t emotionless; he was overwhelmed with emotion and could only express it one way. For those of us that can relate to his stoic rage, it was spot on.
People who prefer Bone Tomahawk over this make me laugh. I think the love for that film is pretentious douchebags wanking over Westerns. Or trying to seem cool, by making out they like westerns. At least Brawl gets into the gritty action fairly quickly, with hardly any letting up once it starts.