Yes, you read that right. There is a Japanese version of The Stanford Prison Experiment. Prison 13 is directed by Kensaku Watanabe
There have been 3 other remakes that tell the exact same story. The story is also true. The experiments that take place in the film are based on actual events that took place at Stanford University between August 14th–20th, 1971.
A professor by the name of Philip Zimbardo used his students and put them in a prison environment. Roles were chosen at random; some would be, prison guards, and the others, prisoners. the results, as you can imagine ending in severe psychological trauma and violence.
But now, having this tale told through the eyes of Japanese director Kensaku Watanabe, we could see a far harsher, grim and brutal tale.
The film was first made in Germany and was called Das Experiment. To date, this is still the most extreme version available. Then we got a Hollywood remake starring Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker. If you were not familiar with the German release, you may have liked this. I was though, and I thought all intelligence was lost and it followed every cliche in the book. Then we got the phenomenally acted The Stanford Prison Experiment. Although I loved the brutality and rawness of Das Experiment, The Stanford Prison Experiment blew me away. The acting from that group of young people deserved way more attention and respect than it got.
Which Now Brings Me To The Japanese Version
For this tale to fit into our modern age, there’s a new approach to Prison 13. Our new prisoners and prison guards are part of an experiment by a popular vTuber (guessing that’s sort of like YouTube). Another aspect of this new Japanese retelling that I like is that our main protagonist is female, in fact judging from the trailer I just watched I think most of them are female.
Here’s The Trailer – PRISON 13 TRAILER
As always, thanks for reading.
Words by Gary Gamble
Founder/Owner/BigCheese @ Moviehooker
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