Each year, many fans of “The Shawshank Redemption” make a pilgrimage to the Mansfield area. It’s certainly not unusual to see a social media post not only of the Ohio State Reformatory, but also of places like Brook’s Bench in Central Park and other stops along the Shawshank Trail.
Visitors to local filming locations for movies like 1989’s “Tango & Cash,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, and “Air Force One,”starring Harrison Ford, are much less common.
How about fans of the 2006 horror thriller “Fallen Angels?” That film, which starred Michael Dorn and Bill Mosely, was also shot – at least in part – in the Mansfield area.
Go to the well-known IMDb website, which is the go-to database for film, TV, and video game information. Look up Mansfield as a filming location, and you’re going to bring up a whopping 47 hits! Many were clearly “B” movies. Others likely had even lower budgets. You can view the entire IMDb list here.
A handful are currently in production according to the site, including:
- “The Mansfield Killings” — Two ex-convicts go on a killing spree murdering six people. In a cornfield in Mansfield Ohio John Niebel, his wife, and their daughter find themselves at the hands of these brutal and gruesome killers. Based on the book by Scott Fields (News Journal story here).
- “Alive on Stage: The Return of the Midnite Spook Show” – no plot listed, but the case includes a Todd Robbins – perhaps a brother of Tim of Shawshank fame (movie website here)?
- “Mock and Roll” — When a clueless parody band, Liberty Mean, sets out to make it on stage at SXSW, their plan is interrupted, putting their music careers – and lives – in jeopardy (movie website here).
The website of the Ohio State Reformatory adds another movie to this list, that being 2013’s “The Wind is Watching.” It also references several music videos filmed there as well as television clips.
Truth be told, we had originally concluded this story with the trailer for “Fallen Angels.” Because of its content, however, we thought we’d share a link instead and a suggestion that it’s not for the faint of heart. Click here to watch it on YouTube, and for those who do, see if you can spy the well-known local landmark. And, while your’e on YouTube, this is the trailer for “The Wind is Watching.”
