REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS (1986) (Umbrella Entertainment DVD Review)

REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS (1986) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.77:1) 
Director: Tom DeSimone
Cast: Linda Carol, Sybil Danning, Wendy O. Williams, Pat Ast, Sherri Stoner, Darcy DeMoss, Tiffany Helm 

Reform School Girls (1986) was directed by Tom DeSimone who not only brought us the cult-classic revenger Savage Streets (1984) (The Exorcist) and the co-ed night slasher Hell Night (1981), both starring Linda Blair (The Exorcist), but also the talking-vagina xxx-film Chatterbox (1977)! This film offers a teen detention variation on the women-in-prison genre. The film is set inside the Pridemore Juvenile Facility, a soul-breaking facility for troubled teens run by Warden Sutter (Sybil Danning, Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf), a stern militant woman with fondness for biblical quotes and  slapping a riding crop into the palm of her as she asserts herself. Sadly Danning is not in the film all that much, with the warden leaving  the daily operations of the reform school to the sadistic big-girl Edna (Pat Ast, Foul Play), a ruthless woman who gives leniency to those who play nice with her, treating everyone else with scorn, cruelty and contempt. 

The newest arrival at the facility s first-time offender Jenny (Linda Carol, School Spirit), she's sort of good girl who got caught up in the crime-life after joining her boyfriend during a small-time robbery turned deadly. Inside Pridemore she befriends another newbie, shy-girl Lisa (Sherri Stoner, the voice of Slappy Squirrel in the Animaniacs TV series), a young girl with an unhealthy childhood attachment to a stuffed animal, who is woefully under-prepared for the harsh life on the inside of Pridemore.  

The pair of young ladies end up on the wrong side bad-girl Charlie - played with piss and vinegar by the late shock-rocker Wendy O. Williams of punkers the Plasmatics - who turns her legion of lingerie-wearing bad-girls, among them Knox (Darcy DeMoss, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives) and Fish (Tiffany Helm, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), against the newbies when they turn out to not play so nice with the lady-loving bad-girls. Williams was clearly in her late-30's when she made this, so buying her as a crime-hardened teenager is a bit of a hurdle, but it makes about as much sense as the Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie sponsorship that this reform school seems to have going on!

The film has all the seedy women-in-prison tropes lovers of this brand of exploitation cinema have come to expect, including lots of gratuitous nudity in the shower scenes, solitary confinement, lesbian-tinged naughtiness, sex-for-favors, a protection racket, attempts to escape, and plenty of in-fighting among the inmates, we even get cruel Edna stomping a poor kitten to death! All this sleaze and seediness aside DeSimone manages to wrap all the WIP filth and grit up inside a sour-candy veneer of camp that renders it all rather palatable and fun, which makes for an entertaining watch from start to finish, with Edna winning the day for me with her sour-faced cruelness, really coming off as a kindred spirit to Ms. Balbricker (Nancy Parson, Motel Hell) from teen-comedy classic Porky's (1981), but way more sadistic and only slightly more unhinged.

Not sure why but Sybill Danning doesn't get all that much to do here, even the do-gooder psychologist Dr. Norton (Charlotte McGinnis, Hardcore) get more screen time, with all the best wickedness coming by way of Edna with bad-girl Charlie coming a close second. Punk Goddess Wendy O. Williams as Charlie is the defacto third in command at the detention facility, with her menacing growl and snarling attitude keeping a smile on my face for the whole film. Despite her alliance with Edna she eventually turns against her following the death of Lisa, resulting in a chaotic prison riot with Charlie riding atop a driverless school bus into spotlight tower where a shotgun-toting Edna is holed-up,  providing a truly satisfying finale to this ridiculous and often over-the-top 80's teen delinquency film.

Audio/Video: Reform School Girls (1986) arrives on region-free DVD from Umbrella Entertainment framed in 1.77:1 widescreen, slightly cropped from the original 1.85:1. The image is solid enough, a bit soft in places but the source looks clean and the colors are generally well saturated throughout. It's a damn good looking standard-definition transfer, now for the love of Wendy O. would someone please give this film a new 2K scan on Blu-ray? 

Audio comes by way of English Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 with no subtitle options with everything coming through clean and free of hiss, the songs from Wendy O. Williams, Girlschool and Etta James sound terrific. The disc is bare-bones without even a start-up menu, it's too bad Umbrella do not - or were not able - to carry over the audio commentary from director Tom DeSimone and humorist Martin Lewis from the out-of-print Anchor Bay release from 2001. 

The single-disc release comes housed in a standard looking DVD keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork,wisely using the gorgeous original movie poster illustration on the wrap, not sure who did this one but it looks terrific, giving it some nice shelf appeal, and the disc itself featuring an excerpt of Edna from the artwork. 

Reform School Girls (1986) is a late-entry in the WIP-tinged troubled-teen genre, an entertaining slice of 80's exploitation that is so campy and fun that it sort of comes off as a send-up, and I totally dig it, a highly recommended piece teens-in-detention trash. 

JULIE DARLING (1983) (Code Red Blu-ray Review)

JULIE DARLING (1983) 

Label: Code Red
Rating: R
Duration: 100 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 (No Subtitles) 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Paul Nicholas
Cast: Anthony Franciosa, Sybil Danning, Isabelle Mejias, Paul Hubbard, Cindy Girling


Trashy 80's thriller Julie Darling (1983) opens around the breakfast table with teenager Julie (Isabelle Mejias, Meatballs III), her too-doting father Harold (James Franciosa, Tenebre) and her mother Irene (Cindy Girling, Meatballs), it becomes evident within seconds that mom and daughter do not see eye to eye, with the mother getting upset because Julie is putting three heaping tablespoons of Quick chocolate powder into her morning glass of milk, but the brat Julie just smiles at her father and he overrides mommy, and mom about loses it all together when Julie's pet python crawls up her leg a few minutes later  beneath the breakfast nook. Thus the stage is set for a twisted and delightfully trashy thriller from the director of WIP classic Chained Heat (1983). 

While father and daughter are off on a hunting trip mommy dearest asks the local grocery delivery beefcake Weston (Paul Hubbard, Funeral Home) to dispose of the phobia-inducing python , and when the teen disocivers her snake is AWOL she gets very angry, and a few days later when her mom is attacked by that same delivery guy Julie hesitates to shoot him after catching him in the act and the mom dies from a knock to the skull during the struggle. It's perverse the way that the teen almost shoots him but when she realizes this is her opportunity to be free of her she hold back, very twisted, and Julie couldn't be happier, she even let's the guy go, only too happy to have her beloved daddy all to herself without her mother's meddling. Working against her newfound happiness is that daddy was having a fling on the side and marries his mistress soon after mum's demise1 Enter super-vixen Sybil Danning (The Howling II: Your Sister's A Werewolf) as new step-mom Susan who brings an adolescent son along with her, drawing the ire of the deadly daughter Julie.

Poor Julie is having none of this, after she spies her father lovingly tucking the young boy into bed she gets down right murderess - attempting to snuff the boy out in refrigerator during a game of hide and seek! But that's not the weird stuff, she watches her dad get it on with his new bride - this is where it gets WEIRD - and she imagines herself in her step-mom's place having sex with her father! It's right there on screen, the teenage daughter having sex with her father and moaning like a cat in heat! Crazy stuff, this film is so damn perverse and trashy. Afterwards the scheming Julie tracks down the perp who killed her Mom after deciding not to finger him during a police line-up for the crime,  and blackmails her way into having him take out her new rival for father's affections, but not all goes as planned and we get some fun shenanigans in the final run of the flick. 

As previously stated this is a super trashy thriller,  Isabelle Mejias is pretty great I think in the role, she's young but is so damn conniving and jealous, a real schemer, and she puts it across on screen very well. James Franciosa is his usual self, a bit saccharine sweet with a TV soap-opera delivery, I don't know him from all that much aside from Argento's Tenebre but he doesn't seem to have a wide range, but he worked for me. Sybil Danning does what she does best, dropping her top to deliver her top-shelf assets for a prolonged sex-scene, she sells it but Franciosa is floundering in the scene. Danning also delivers some good acting chops, making it very clear what her opinion of Julie is and how she won't stand for any of her shenanigans, she gets a meaty-enough role and I loved the comeuppance at the end. The finale is a wonderful lurid cornucopia of voyeurism, teen-scheming and fun double-crossing - I loved it. There's even a twist to the twist at the end, and the revelation that Julie would sacrifice her only "friend" towards her own goal is delightfully awful. 

Audio/Video: Julie Darling (1983) arrives on single-disc Blu-ray from Code Red in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The image looks good, grain is nicely managed, there's some nice fine detail and texture, colors are strong. There is some print damage to contend with, running vertical emulsion scratches, a few hairs and frame damage but none of it I found to be ruinous to the viewing, this I looks quite nice in HD. 

The English language DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 audio is strong and powerful, limited in it's range but coming through with some nice presence without being overpowering. NO subtitle options are available on this disc. 

Code Red carryover all the extras from their 2011 DVD release, we get a brief intro from Danning and Mejies, the latter of who warns against watching it, which I though was funny. We also get a commentary from each and interviews as well, and again Mejias picks apart the film at every chance, everything from the bad script to the cheesy exploitation elements - it makes fro a fun commentary and interview! You can see director David DeCoteau reflected in the gklass of a door in the Danning interview.
 
Special Features:
Intros from stars Isabelle Mejias and Sybil Danning (1 min) 
- Audio Commentary with Star Sybil Danning moderated by David DeCocteau
- Audio Commentary with Star Isabelle Mejias,
- Interviews with Sybil Danning (21 min) 
- Interview with Isabelle Mejias (16 min) 
- Code Red Trailers:  Nightfall, Acapulco Gold, Mind Ripper, and The Terror Within II. 

Julie Darling (1983) is a perverse and sleazy thriller, Isabelle Mejias is wonderfully over-the-top in a Bad Seed sort of way, add to that some sleazy incestuous weirdness, and you have a nicely lurid thriller for fans of killer-teen exploitation. The movie can be picked up at www.roninflix.com for about $23 and free shipping! 

HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF (1985)

HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF (1985)

Label Scream Factory 

Release Date: July 14th 2015
Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 91 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Philippe Mora

Cast: Reb Brown, Annie McEnroe, Christopher Lee, Sybil Danning, Marsha A. Hunt

This sequel picks-up just after the events of the first Howling movie, TV anchorwoman Karen White is dead following her transformation into a werewolf live on-camera during the nightly news broadcast, but apparently the entire episode has been swept under the rug and her lycanthropic revelation did not have the desired impact of exposing the world to the existence of werewolves. The movie opens with a very odd intro with Christopher Lee standing in front of a star field reading some cryptic passage all the while standing next to a medical skeleton. A very strange beginning for an oddball movie, and it sort of reminded me of the way Dune opens up with the narration only way ore confusing and weird.  

Then we're onto Karen's funeral which is attended by her brother Ben White (Red Brown, Captain America TV Move) and his girlfriend Jenny (Annie McEnroe, The Hand), a reporter. After the funeral Ben is approached by Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee, The Whip and the Body), who introduces himself as an occult investigator, informing Ben that his sister is not actually dead, that she is a cursed werewolf and the only way for her to rest in peace is to stake her through the heart.  Ben doesn't take the news very well but his girlfriend Jenny seem keenly interested in what Crosscoe has to say, and soon enough the trio are headed for Transylvania to fight Stirba - the Werewolf Queen! Wait a minute ...Transylvania, stakes through the heart ... I thought this was a werewolf movie, one of the many oddities about Howling II is they way they throw a bunch of vampire tropes into the mix, which is an odd choice. 

Stirba is played by the busty and lusty Sybil Danning (Chained Heat) wearing a very 80s leather and brass get-up that wouldn't be out of place in a Stryper music video. Striba hosts a series of werewolf orgies at her castle, when she's not sucking the life force from virgins or making glowing crackles of electricity emanate from her fingertips. I love Sybil Danning but this role is overwrought and ridiculous, which is part of the movie's charm, overwrought and fun in a bad sort of way that manages to keep things entertaining, if confusing. 

She has a pair of minions named Vlad (Judd Omen, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) and the black beauty Mariana (Marsha A. Hunt, who Mich Jagger penned "Brown Sugar" about), whom have a threesome with Stirba (Dannning) which is fantastically awful, the half-transformed lycanthropes are covered in hair, making the most ridiculous oh-faces you've ever seen, clawing at each other, and cooing ridiculously, the contorted faces in this movie are simply laugh-out-loud funny. 

Unfortunately the design of the werewolves owe more to monkeys than wolves and look awful, rightfully so they are kept in the dark or glimpsed only briefly. Knowing that these werewolves were awful I think the filmmakers knew they had to give us at least some decent gore, and we get very little. One of the best is when a midget's eyes explode in a spray of blood, and a priest is attacked by a gargoyle who chokes him with it's tail before crawling down throat, but honestly these are few and far between. Mora seems to be throwing everything and the kitchen sink onscreen into this mess of a movie, but nothing can save it. The final showdown between werewolf-hunter Crosscoe and the Queen of Werewolves Stirba is pretty damn awful, with the Werewolf Queen not transforming into a monstrous werewolf but instead using her occult powers to summon an awful 80's laser-light show which ends with both going up in flames in a less than spectacular fashion. 

Apparently this movie is so awful that Christopher Lee apologized to Joe Dante on the set of Gremlins 2 - The New Batch for having appeared in it - wow. Highlights are some strange but inconsistent atmosphere, some fun set design, and a werewolf who looks remarkably like Daryl Hall from the band Hall and Oates, plus a memorable new wave musical performance from Steve Pasrons with the song "Howling", but not even the prestige of Christopher Lee and the voluptuous nudity of Sybil Danning cannot save this stinker of a werewolf film. 

Audio/Video: Howling II arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a 1080p HD transfer framed in the original widescreen aspect ratio looking pretty good for the most part. The source material has some minor print damage, some specs of dirt and debris and a few small scratches, but the colors are solid through and through, the black levels are decent and skin tones look good -- and trust me -- there's a lot of skin to watch. The mono audio does the job nicely, music, dialogue and score are well balanced and free of distortion. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

This may not be an official Scream Factory Collector's Edition but it is packed with special features, beginning with a pretty great commentary with director Philippe Mora moderated by Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures. A very candid commentary, speaking at length about shooting a film from behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, offering up some real nuggets about the making of this very strange movie, a lot of which explains the strange feel of the film. There's a second commentary from Composer Steve Parsons And Editor Charles Bornstein which I have not gotten around to yet, but I think that the Mora commentary is fantastic,and worth the price of purchase by itself. 

There are also brand new interviews with actor Reb Brown and actress Sybil Danning who chime in on their experience making the film, both with kind words about working with the recently departed horror icon Christopher Lee, and Danning speaks about the infamous topless scene in the movie which is replayed over a dozen times in the film.   

Special Make-Up Effects Artists Steve Johnson And Scott Wheeler offer up a very candid set of interviews about the making of the movie and the set of challenges they faced, including applying hair appliances to actor Judd Omen's cock. Additionally there's some Behind The Scenes Footage, Alternate Opening And Alternate Ending, Theatrical Trailer and a Still Gallery, plus a reversible sleeve of artwork with new artwork from illustrator David Levine.  Scream Factory have gone above and beyond what this awful sequel might have deserved, packing it with loads of great extras. 

Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Director Philippe Mora
- Audio Commentary With Composer Steve Parsons And Editor Charles Bornstein
- Leading Man - An Interview With Actor Reb Brown (14 Mins) HD
- Queen Of The Werewolves - An Interview With Actress Sybil Danning (17 Mins) HD
- A Monkey Phase - Interviews With Special Make-Up Effects Artists Steve Johnson And Scott Wheeler (15 Mins) HD
- Behind The Scenes Footage (In HD - From Philippe Mora's Archive) (4 Mins)
- Alternate Opening (In HD – From Philippe Mora's Archive) (11 Mins) 
- Alternate Ending (In HD – From Philippe Mora's Archive) (10 Mins)
- Theatrical Trailer (1 Mins) HD
- Still Gallery (8 Mins) HD 

Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985) is a seriously confused and awful film, and one of the stranger horror sequels, but it does have some minor appeal. It has a strange atmosphere, and some decent lensing, plus Christopher Lee and Sybil Danning add some legitimacy to the production, but those awful werewolves are pretty hard to forgive, particularly when the first film had such great looking werewolves. I cannot recommend this to the average horror fan, not even if you loved the original film, I think you would have to be quite a bad movie fiend to find this one fun, and I guess I love bad movies because I enjoyed it and have for years. I'm hoping this moves a lot of units and Scream Factory pick-up Philippe Mora's sequel The Marsupials: The Howling III (1987) for release on Blu-ray. that Ozploitation take on the genre is one I absolutely love. 2.5/5

DVD Review: Mr. Skin presents Women in Prison Triple Feature (1983-1985)

Mr. Skin Presents
WOMEN IN PRISON TRIPLE FEATURE

Panik House Entertainment [PH1012] 
Release Date: July 12th 2011

Celebrity skin legend Mr. Skin and Panik House Entertainment have teamed-up to bring you what is considered by many to be the Unholy Trinity of Women in Prison Films: CHAINED HEAD (1983), RED HEAT (1985) and JUNGLE WARRIORS (1984)! It's a triple-threat of 80's behind bars exploitation featuring Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST), Sybil Danning (HOWLING II) and John Vernon (CURTAINS) in three films guaranteed to slap, tickle and titillate those brave enough to bare witness to the depraved depictions of life behind bars 80's style. This triple feature is only available for a limited time so snatch it up while you can.   

CHAINED HEAT (1983)

Label: Panik House Entertainment
Region Code: All Regions NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 98 mins
Video: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digtal 2.0 Mono
Director: Paul Nicholas
Cast: Linda Blair, Sybil Danning, John Vernon, Henry Silva, Tamara Dobson
Tagline: What these women did to get into prison, is nothing compared to what they'll do to get out!

CHAINED HEAT is considered the ultimate Women in Prison film and I would have to agree, though my experience in the genre is actually quite virginal and relegated to the three films found on this set, so take that as you will. Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST) stars as Carol Henderson, a naive suburban teenager who is sentenced to 18 months in a women's prison for vehicular manslaughter. The "prison virgin" is in for a rather rude awakening to the realities of L.A. prison life. While being matriculated into the prison system Carol befriends a repeat offender meets named Val (Sharon Hughes, THE LAST HORROR FILM) and unfortunately also catches the attentions of the perverted Warden Backman (John Vernon, DIRTY HARRY) who always has an eye for fresh meat. Once settled in on her cell block she has an encounter with Ericka (Sybil Danning, THE HOWLING II), the leader of the white faction who along with Captain Taylor (Stella Stevens, THE MANITOU) are dealing cocaine within the prison walls.

Warden Backman is portrayed with delicious sliminess by the great John Vernon, the guy has a pimp office with a friggin' hot tub which he utilizes when making homemade porn with surveillance cameras. His current inmate playmate is the smokin' hot snitch named Debbie (Monique Gabrielle) whom he not only gives the double-secret penetration to but also enlists to sniff out who's selling the nose candy as it cuts into his own drug peddling activities, of course. Ericka finds out about the snitch and decides that the bitch has to go but this doesn't sit well with Duchess (Tamara Dobson, CLEOPATRA JONES), the empowered leader of the black faction, who fears that the heat will come down on the black inmates given that racial tensions are already at the breaking point. The shit going on on this prison is pretty epic; Captain Stella is smuggling girls outta the prison to pimp them out to L.A.'s sleazy elite, there's a shit ton of double crossing going on and the the coke-addled Warden rapes poor Carol when she comes to him for help, not knowing any better,  which leads to a scheme by which Val plans to seduce the Warden to get the videotape of him raping Carol and expose him to the authorities, but the hot tub seduction is interrupted by Captain Stella and the frightful red-haired guard Paula (Edy Williams, BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS) who drown the Warden and then kill Val by beating her with a billy club. Captain Stella then turns on Ericka and pins the murders on her - I told you this is Shakespearean, well maybe not all that but it is pretty awesome. Carol discovers Val dying and with her last breath she reveals the identities of her killers which transforms Carol from naive rape-victim to vengeful bad ass.  The waring factions join forces and riot in an effort to get the VHS tape which now has the murder of the Warden, Val and Carol's rape which leads to a satisfying finale stuffed with violence, revenge and mayhem.

I've long heard of this film's legend and I gotta say it lives up to the hype on every level, it's a fantastic cavalcade of lesbians in prison stereotypes, tough chicks, sleazy jailers, rampant drug use, rape, revenge and the all important nude shower scenes. The performances from Blair, Danning, Stevens, Dobson and Vernon range from grimly dramatic to pure delicious campiness and it's makes for the perfect balance of sleaziness and good campy fun, it's a great watch and highly recommended.

DVD: According to DVD this marks the films first-time available uncut and remastered in it's original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and I gotta say it looks pretty great, no doubt helped by Mac Ahlberg's great cinematography. Transferred from a clean source print with very minimal print damage of any kind, it's quite hard to pinpoint any issues with the print and the film's grain structure is nicely intact, bonus, the colors are strong and black levels are good. The English language Dolby Digital mono suffices, it's clean and free of hiss, crackle and pop plus Joseph Conlan's droning score sounds pretty sweet. No subtitles are offered.

Special features include an video introduction from Mr.Skin recapping the film's sleazier skintilating highlights, an anamorphic theatrical trailer and video interviews with both Stella Stevens and Sybil Danning

DISC 1 Special Features:
- Introduction for film by the Legendary Mr. Skin
- Captain Taylor Unchained: Interview with Stella Stevens (11:14) 16:9
- Ericka in Heat: Interview with Sybil Danning (11:23) 16:9
- CHAINED HEAT Theatrical Trailer (2:08) 16:9

RED HEAT (1985)

Label: Panik House Entertainment Region Code: All Regions NTSC


Rating: Unrated
Duration: 94 mins
Video: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digtal 2.0 Mono
Director: Robert Collector
Cast: Linda Blair, Sylvia Kristel, Sue Kiel, William Ostrander
Tagline: Only one film could top the intensity of CHAINED HEAT. This is it!

Linda Blair returns to the women in prison sub genre just two years later with RED HEAT as red-headed American college student Christine Carlson who comes to West Germany to visit her fiance, Mike, a serviceman in the US Army stationed in Germany. After an argument over dinner Christine goes for a walk when she stumbles upon abduction of a suspected spy by the East German Staasi who in turn kidnap her as a CIA accomplice. She's interrogated and deprived of sleep until exhausted she breaks down and confesses to the accusations. She is sentenced to imprisoned in an East German prison where she encounters the East German version of Ericka from CHAINED HEAT, Sofia (Sylvia Kristel, EMMANUELLE), who is the sadistic lesbian-rapist lover of the warden Einbeck (Elizabeth Volkmann, VERONIKA VOSS). Her fiance Mike at first assumes she's left him following the argument but when her passport is discovered in the parking lot outside he realizes something terrible has happened. Not getting satisfaction through regular channels Mike enlists the help of his military buds and stages a daring prison bust to free Christine. Sounds exciting, huh? Well, it's not as great as it could have been, the prison break-out is pretty anti-climactic but like I said, it's a good watch it's just not CHAINED HEAT.

It lacks that proper balance of sleaziness and camp that made the former so much fun, I think we needed John Vernon here to alleviate some of the oppressive atmosphere. This is a very dark film, it's not easy to digest the sleazier WIP elements when they aren't offset by some campier shenanigans, at least in my experience.  


DVD: Presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen with English language Dolby Digital Mono, no subtitles offered. Not a bad looking print but it's a dark and grainy affair, the film seems a bit underlit. Not sure if the film was going for a dark look or if the production couldn't afford decent lighting, either way it's a drab film but it suits the film's grim tone. The Dolby Digital mono handles the dialogue, effects and Tangerine Dream's kind of bland score pretty well. Special features include a fullscreen trailer and a Mr. Skin introduction for the film.

JUNGLE WARRIORS (1984)

Label: Panik House Entertainment
Region Code: All Regions NTSC

Rating: Unrated
Duration: 95 mins
Video: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digtal 2.0 Mono
Director: Ernst R. Von Theumer
Cast: Sybil Danning, John Vernon, Paul L. Smith, Nina Van Pallandt, Marjoe Gortner, Kai Wulff 

Interestingly the third feature is not really a women in prison film at all. JUNGLE WARRIORS is in fact a jungle/action film with some minor WIP elements. That's kind of cheating but since it brings both Sybil Danning and John Vernon from CHAINED HEAT back together I'll allow it.

This time out five gorgeous American models along with pretentious art director Larry (Marjoe Gortner, THE FOOD OF THE GODS) and photographer Joanna (Nina Van Pallandt, THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER) charter a plane piloted by Ben (Kai Wulff, ASSASSINS) to fly them to some exotic jungle locations in South America for a sexy fashion photo shoot.

Enter the always entertaining John Vernon (ANIMAL HOUSE) whom appears as the American drug lord Mastranga who along with his second in command Spilotro (Alex Cord, THE DEAD ARE ALIVE) have arrived to trade 50 million in gold for cocaine with drug lord Cesar Santiago. Whiler scouting for some scenic locations the plane encroaches on the drug lord's compound and is shot down. After escaping the crash unscathed the group are left to fend off pythons, cayman and the drug lord's mercenaries who are in pursuit. When the soldiers of fortune catch-up to them the usually uppity Larry momentarily turns bad ass and takes out a few mercs until he is impaled by a nasty trap. After being captured the group are taken to Cesar Santiago (Paul L. Smith, PIECES, POPEYE) doing what he does best, being awesomely odd, his delivery is quite weird but always fun. He invites them to dinner were he introduces his half-sister Angel (Sybil Danning, CHAINED HEAT). During the uncomfortable meal things go awry and Ben is decapitated and the girls are imprisoned in a dungeon. Hanging by chains from the ceiling the girls  are interrogated by Angel who gives 'em the once over and a nice titty squeeze for good measure and then throws them to the typically savage mercenaries who squeeze, grope and rape the women though what we see onscreen is pretty tame. Later the models escape from the dungeon with the help of a sympathetic elderly woman, they arm themselves and make a break for it. Hot babes with guns in the jungle, it's not quite WIP but I'm not gonna complain, this is a fun watch. At about the same time Santiago double crosses Mastranga and everything goes south with the three armed-to-the-teeth factions engaging in an intense gun battle as the CIA moves in further complicating matters. The remainder of the film climaxes as an 80's jungle-action flick and in the end it's all a bit slightly goofy but still a pretty damn entertaining action flick. It's not on the same level as CHAINED HEAT but I prefer it's trashiness to RED HEAT's rather grim aesthetic. If you enjoyed Brian Trenchard-Smith's CUT AND RUN I think this will be a fun watch. Plenty of violence and a tiny smattering of the WIP tropes.

DVD: Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with English language Dolby Digital mono with no subtitles. Of the three films on this set it's the softest looking image of the bunch, but despite some lack of fine detail, heavy grain, truly poor black levels and some super-hazy cinematography it does come from a clean source print and is quite watchable. The special features include a 16x9 enhanced trailer and a Mr. Skin introduction for the film.  

DISC 2 Special Features:
- Introduction for each film by the Legendary Mr. Skin
- RED HEAT Theatrical Trailer (2:08) 4:3
- JUNGLE WARRIOR Theatrical Trailer (1:37) 16:9

Verdict: As my introduction to WIP films I think this was a great set that I would recommend to devotees of the subgenre as well as newbies like myself. Good sleazy slammer exploitation nastiness, chock full of nude babes, vile jailers and every other stereotype you could hope for with an exploitation flick. When it comes to WIP films I can tell that for my own enjoyment I need a certain amount cheesiness, camp, kitch or whatever you wanna call it to offset the the heinous rape scenarios.  

CHAINED HEAT 4 outta 5
RED HEAT 2.75 outta 5
JUNGLE WARRIORS 3.5 outta 5

CHAINED HEAT Screen Caps

RED HEAT Screen Caps

 

JUNGLE WARRIORS Screen Caps