Review: Prison Pit ‘Book One’ (Uncensored)

As most of you guys know, I have been a fan of extreme music for pretty much all of my adult life. In the late 1980s and 1990s, guys like Monte Conner of Roadrunner records and Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records would scour Planet Earth looking for the most extreme bands they could find. For Brian it was all about find the cream of the crop for thrash music including the likes of Slayer, Metallica, and others. For Monte it was going to Florida and signing musicians whom sang about death, mutilation, and gore. No matter who signed what, all bands have had cases of having their art presented to an audience that is just a little different then the mainstream. This is the kind of stuff that speaks to me.

The year 2014 will be known as the year producers on both television and the internet begin to really find a way to find that line that you aren’t supposed to cross, and from that comes a new genre of cartoons: Death Cartoons. Animated television shows led by the likes of Superjail have spawned a crop of TV like King Star King and Mr. Pickles that have pushed the envelope as far as you can go on television. King Star King told TV to fuck themselves and put it on AdultSwim.com to much fan fare. Johnny Ryan has produced an animated web series that pushes the envelope even further, to a point of no return…and that’s just the way it should be.

Prison Pit takes place in a world that looks straight out of Chronicles of Riddick, a desolate area filled with some of the most extreme looking creatures that you will see anywhere. Starring James Adomian as ”Cannibal Fuckface’ a masked Brock Lesnar-looking type of a man that loves to eat body parts of any kind, no salt needed. Quite simply, he’s trying to figure out how to stay alive in his new hellacious habitat, and it’s not easy. Cannibal’s gotta deal with Prison Guards (Rick Shapiro), mace-wielding executioners (Kyle Kinane), and jizz-spewing humanoids that turn into cum-monsters (Blake Anderson). The result is an orgy of mutilation and debauchery that puts hair on your chest and lead in your pencil.

Unlike shows like Superjail and King Star King that LOVE background gags and design, Prison Pit eschews this and instead puts a greater emphasis on plot and character interactions. Laden-throughout are characters cutting crass-based promos that would make Stone Cold Steve Austin shit in his pants. The blood spews like the geysers at Yellowstone, the bones snap like Rice Krispies, and that’s not even the most extreme scenery that is presented for ya…trust me…you’re gonna need an umbrella to get through this one.

Included in the $6 download, is a fascinating documentary that not only goes into the history of how Prison Pit came about, but we also get a snap shot of the comics underground that simply grew board of the typical Marvel/DC shit in favor of MAD-inspired juxtapositions of art that still stand the test of time. Included are interviews with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, Blake Anderson of Workaholics, Johnny Ryan, Kyle Kinane, and more.

Is this short film for everyone? No. The feint of heart, the un-initiated in violent subcultures, the easily offended, those people won’t get it. This one goes out to the kids who wear Suffocation t-shirts, and Forbidden bandannas. Johnny Ryan and Six Point Harness combine and hand us what could be one of the more important web-based animations of recent time.