A young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
- Kevin WardMay 24, 2026Animal Factory is a prison film with an excellent cast, directed by Steve Buscemi. It’s well acted but ultimately kind of inconsequential. Ed Furlong lands in prison and befriends Willem Dafoe mostly out of a desire not to be sodomized. Dafoe’s character has sway and, for reasons never fully explained, decides to take Furlong under his tutelage. It’s similar to Shawshank in a loose way, just without the existential or institutional themes. There’s a wild Tom Arnold jump scare that genuinely caught me off guard, and Mickey Rourke shows up for a fun, odd little performance. It’s a good watch, but the story itself feels like kind of nothing burger and ends on a pretty anticlimactic note.
Get Plex on Your Devices
Free on 20+ platforms. Pick yours.Animal Factory Trivia
Animal Factory was released on August 1, 2000.
Animal Factory was directed by Steve Buscemi.
Animal Factory has a runtime of 90m.
Animal Factory was produced by Steve Buscemi, Julie Yorn, Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens.
A young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.
The key characters in Animal Factory are Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), Ron Decker (Edward Furlong), Vito (Danny Trejo).
Animal Factory is rated R.
Animal Factory is a Crime, Drama film.
Animal Factory has an audience rating of 5.9 out of 10.
Animal Factory had a budget of $3.6M.
Animal Factory has made $43,805 at the box office.