Furnace began as an original script by Anghus Houvouras, polished by director William Butler and his writing partner Aaron Strongoni.
A note at the beginning of the movie says that it was "inspired by real events". Thereafter, the credits roll over clippings about past mysteries and tragedies, beginning with the Roanoke Lost Colony in the 1580s, the disappearance of Henry Hudson in 1611, the loss of an entire Dutch settlement also in 1611, and the Small Camp Massacre in 1789. It then details the construction of Blackgate Prison, the fictitious prison where this movie takes place, from its 1849 construction on cursed tribal lands, through the murders, hangings, executions, fires, and suicides that took place, and the subsequent sealing of the south wing in 1957. Any of these could be perceived as "real events" which might have provided "inspiration" to the moviemakers, but no one specific event is mentioned.
In 1957, an inmate named Simon Furst (Richard Cowl) is said to have killed Warden Ephrem White (Frank Knapp Jr.) in the furnace room and then started a raging fire to cover up the misdeed.
Detective Turner (Michael Paré) and Dr Carter (Jenny McShane) realize that everyone who has entered the furnace room since its unsealing is dead...except for them. When they hear that Simon has been sent to mop the south wing, they go after him. While there, they have a vision of what really happened. (White attempted to molest his 9-year old daughter Lucille (Victoria Hester). She resisted, fell, and hit her head. Thinking Lucille dead, White got young Simon (Wes Murphy)s help throwing some "garbage" into the furnace. As the flames burned, Lucille suddenly awoke and began screaming. Simon tried to help her, but White accused Simon of putting her in there in the first place. Standing near the furnace, White was set on fire when Lucille reached out to him.) Turner goes off to ask the current warden to seal the room as a crime site while Carter and Simon take the elevator back to the prison floor. The elevator gets stuck and starts to burn. Meanwhile, Dufresne (Ja Rule) and Fury (Danny Trejo) attempt their escape through the unsealed manhole in the furnace room and meet up with Carter and Simon, rescuing them from the burning elevator. They set Simon free but keep Carter as a hostage. Back on the prison floor, guard Frank Miller has started a riot in order to cover up an attempt to kill Turner, whom he thinks is on to the fact that he's dealing drugs. Just as Miller is about to shoot Turner, Simon knocks out Miller. When Turner hears that Carter has been taken hostage, he hurries down to the furnace room. As Dufresne, Fury, and Carter make their way through the furnace room and the manhole, Dufresne and Fury are attacked and killed by the ghost of Lucille White. Turner and Carter get away, but are attacked by the ghost of Ephrem White. Lucille appears and strangles her father with a necklace. "She was just trying to stop him," Carter reasons. The warden subsequently orders the furnace room sealed. In the final scene, Carter watches as Turner leaves the prison. As he drives down the road, he suddenly sees Lucille in his rearview mirror.
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