7 movies shot inside Philly prisons
The crumbling Holmesburg Prison, the site of riots, rapes and murders in the 1970s, is the backdrop for the horror movie 'Death House.' (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Want to see inside a Philadelphia prison without handcuffs and a criminal conviction? Hollywood can help.
Plenty of movies have been filmed in the city’s old Holmesburg prison and Eastern State Penitentiary in recent years:
Law Abiding Citizen: Holmesburg Prison was the setting for several scenes in this 2009 movie about vigilantism, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler.
Animal Factory: Old convict mentors young convict behind Holmesburg’s walls in this 2000 film, directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Willem Dafoe.
Condition Red: A prison guard falls in love with an inmate in this 1995 flick, set at the Holmesburg Prison.
Up Close & Personal: This 1996 movie is a romance set in the world of TV broadcast news. Michelle Pfeiffer stars as the TV reporter who gets the story when a prison riot, set at Holmesburg, breaks out.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: In this 2008 sequel, stars Shia LeBouf and Megan Fox take shelter in the crumbling Eastern State Penitentiary.
Return to Paradise: Eastern State is a Southeast Asian prison in this 1998 movie starring Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn
Twelve Monkeys: In this 1995 sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, Eastern State served as a futuristic mental hospital.
Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, MTV’s Fear have all set episodes at Eastern State.
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