Fortress
5.938%40%6.1
In a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
Where to Watch Fortress
- Doc WormJune 17, 2026Nobody has a hotter taken on the prison industrial complex than Stuart Gordon! A fantastically original sci-fi romp with tremendous low budget set design and special effects. Great cast. Kurtwood Smith is an excellent foil to Chrsitopher Lamberts dopey everyman lead. Always love to see Jeffrey Combs, and you can tell he is having a lot of fun here. Weirdly horny and some GOOFY action segments. Script is easily the weakest aspect of the film and nothing to write home about. While far from his strongest venture, I found Fortress a great detour into Gordon's wider filmography and a unique vision into a future corporate panopticon.
- Kevin WardMay 24, 2026Really fun sci-fi dystopian prison film. Prisoners are forced to stay within the lines or else their Cyborg prison warden (Kurtwood Smith) will have them intestinated, wherein a medical implant in their intestines explodes. And we get to see this happen first-hand. The film has a lot of practical bodily explosions that are pretty great. Has a surprisingly good score, as well. Loved it completely and unironically. Also fun to see a young Clifton Collins Jr (credited Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) as one of the main characters.
- RichardApril 21, 2026I first saw Fortress as a rental, one of those tapes you grab because the cover looks intense and Christopher Lambert is staring you down like he’s about to break out of something. And that’s exactly what the movie delivers, a gritty, high‑concept sci‑fi prison escape that feels like it was built for the VHS era. Lambert plays a man locked up in a futuristic underground prison where the rules are brutal, the tech is invasive and the warden is basically a sadistic AI with a god complex. The film mixes cyberpunk ideas with old school action: body mods, mind control implants, steel corridors and inmates who know they’re not supposed to survive long enough to complain. It’s rough, loud and unapologetically 90s, but that’s part of why it works. Fortress has that perfect rental store energy, the kind of movie you take home expecting a simple action flick and end up getting something stranger, darker and way more memorable than you expected.
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Fortress was released on December 18, 1992.
Fortress was directed by Stuart Gordon.
Fortress has a runtime of 1h 35m.
Fortress was produced by John Flock, John Davis.
In a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
The key characters in Fortress are John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert), Prison Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith), Karen B. Brennick (Loryn Locklin).
Fortress is rated R.
Fortress is a Science Fiction, Action, Thriller film.
Fortress has an audience rating of 4 out of 10.
Fortress had a budget of $8M.
Fortress has made $6.7M at the box office.