FRANCO FEBRUARY - DAY 17! WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 (1978) (Full Moon DVD Review)

Day 17 of Franco February brings the WIP flick Women in Cell Block 9 (1978), a vintage slice of trashy women-in-prison fun that's entertaining but not a great film, heck, it's not even a good Jess Franco movie, but it delivers the usual WIP tropes in spades, including a non-stop barrage of nude, nubile flesh, which is always fun and usually why we're watching a women-in-prison movie to begin with, right? This is a review of the Full Moon Features DVD. 

WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 (1978) 

(aka Frauen für Zellenblock 9 and Tropical Inferno)

Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-FREE NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 78 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Surround 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. No Subtitles. 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Karine Gambler, Susan Hemingway, Aida Gouveia, Esther Studer, Dora Doll, Howard Vernon 

In this super trashy slice of Jess Franco women-in-prison (WIP) awfulness we have Karine (Karine Gambier, Caged Women) starring as a South American freedom fighter who along with the sympathetic driver of a fruit truck is transporting a group of freedom fighters and resistance sympathizers through the jungles, among the group are Barbara (Esther Studer, Jack the Ripper), and Aida (Aida Gouveia, Swedish Nympho Slaves). Along the way the truck is stopped by an armed group of men under the direction of wicked prison warden Loba (Dora Doll, Angel of Death) and the sadistic doctor Dr. Martin (Howard Vernon, Countess Perverse), a diabolical doc who specializes in torturing information from freedom fighters in the most painful and sexually perverse ways imaginable. 

The armed guards are told by Karine that they are just transporting fruit, that all their papers are in order, but a search of the truck's cargo reveals the women hidden away in the back, which is when the guard says "this is the kind of fruit my soldiers like!", haha, so cheesy. The women are roughed up, some are raped by the soldiers, and Karine, Barbara and Aida are brought back to Loba's jungle prison, chained by the neck in the standing position, where they await interrogation and further torture at the hands of the sadistic Dr. Milton, played with a wonderful demented glee by Franco alum Howard Vernon.

Also imprisoned at the camp is a young university student named Maria (Susan Hemingway, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun), who is also subjected to the gruelling sexual tortures of Loba and the doc. Dehydrated and dying for a drink of water Maria if forced to perform oral sex on Loba while an overly-pleased Dr. Milton watches, the scene ends with Maria drinking a flute of champagne laced with salt, and that's one of the nicer displeasures seen onscreen. 

The women are subjected to various tortures including the infamous Spanish donkey torture, which if you're not familiar, one of the women are forced to sit on a sharp edged wooden horse, ouch! Other tortures include electrocution through nipple clamps, and a few even harsher and weirder ones, one of the more demented one features an inclined seat with what looked like an ox-horn mounted on it that penetrates the lady parts, old doc Martin makes it a point to say that most men he's subjected to the same torture have turned homosexual! When that doesn't work a starved rat is introduced into the same orifice of the victim through a metal tube, which looks uncomfortable to say the least, oh boy. Now most of these aren't too graphic, thank the Lord, but these women victims are nude for the entire damn film, you kind of get numb to it after a half hour or so, and the tortures most graphic stuff tends to be blood trickling down the thigh and buttocks, and some foaming at the mouth, not too graphic, late in the film a headshot is pretty much a trickle of blood without any wound, silly stuff, but the idea of the tortures makes the mind reel with horror, Franco really amps up the icky factor with this WIP sleazefest. . 

Eventually one of the women cracks under the pressure of the horrific tortures and reveals the names of her contacts in the city, and the women decide they must break free and warn their contacts before they are captured and killed - leading to an escape that begins with the women feigning a group sex scene, inviting one of the more lustful guards to join in on the fun. When the foolish horn dog unshackles them he is knocked unconscious, the four women escaping into the jungle, still completely nude, of course, and armed with a rifle. One of them women is killed and another is shot and seriously wounded, slowing the others down.Eventually the women make their way to an ancient ruin in the jungle, where a final confrontation with Loba and Dr. Nilton takes place, and boy is this finale a dour one.  

Women of Cellblock 9 (1977) is a pretty threadbare WIP entry, even by the already low standards of WIP movies, the driving force of the film are nude women and horrific torture, and it delivers the goods on both ends with plenty of gorgeous women being treated subhumanly throughout. This feels like a Franco rush job, a movie made on the fly, for cheap, for some quick cash, there are no real leanings towards his artsier smut films from the 70s, and nothing as extravagant as is first WIP film, 99 Women (1969). 

Not sure where this one was shot, but the jungle locations worked for me, they're obviously not too deep in the jungle, but just deep enough to look green and lush, with plenty of luscious green fauna, and some supposedly croc infested waters from which our heroines just barely seem to escape, though they never even share a frame with the crocs, we just get some rather poorly matched stock footage of the toothy creatures. Funnily, just after evading the crocs the three women take a nap/sunbath right on the grassy edge of the water, apparently these crocs don't ever come out of the water, and they're not in too much of a hurry to evade their captors, haha.  

The movie benefits from a rather good score by composer Walter Baumgartner, who scored a load of 70s Franco movies, including Jack the Ripper (1976), Wanda the Wicked Warden (1977) and Marquise de Sade (1976). As threadbare as the story is this is enjoyable as a sleazy WIP entry, some decent enough lensing from cinematographer Ruedi Küttel (Wanda the Wicked Warden), who captures the flesh and lush jungle nicely even if it's a far cry from Franco's more artful and thoughtful productions of the era. 

As a bit of trivia, apparently the movie has steadfastly been refused classification by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) for home video release because actress Susan Hemingway was barely sixteen years old when she made the film, here's the official reason for the BBFC rejection and glorified sexual violence: 

Under the Video Recordings Act 1984,the Board is required to consider any harmful effect that a video work may have upon potential viewers or,through their behaviour,to society by the manner in which it deals with (amongst other things) violent behaviour,horrific behaviour and human sexual activity. Women in Cellblock 9 contains many sequences depicting the abuse,torture and humiliation of naked women. These sequences were found to be in conflict with the Board's published classification guidelines,which prohibit scenes that eroticise or endorse sexual assault. The Board's strict stance on titillatory sexual violence is supported both by public opinion and by a large body of media effects research. In addition,The Protection of Children Act,as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 2003,makes the distribution and showing of indecent photographs of a child under the age of 18 a criminal offence. One of the lead actresses in Women in Cellblock 9 was just over 16 at the time the film was made. The Board was in no doubt that many of the sexualised scenes involving her would therefore be illegal. Although the amendment will not take effect until May 2004,the BBFC cannot classify material which would be in circulation in breach of the Act. The Board considered the option of cutting the work. However,the quantity of scenes involving eroticised sexual violence,combined with the indecent photographs of a person under 18,meant that cuts were not a viable option.,Dubbed,Widescreen

Audio/Video: Franco's Women In Cellblock 9 (1978) arrives on DVD from Full Moon as part eight of their ten volume Jess Franco Collection. The uncut transfer struck directly from producer Dietrich's own archival negative, restored, and looking quite nice in standard-definition. Colors are vibrant, jungle foliage looks good, and the amply seen flesh tones are natural looking. The source is in great shape without any notable defects, white speckling is kept to a minimum, I saw what looks like some telecine wobble at certain points, but overall this is very pleasing. 

Audio on the disc includes an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track and French Dolby Digital 2.0, the English dub on this is atrocious, the French dub isn't perfect either but the performances seemed a bit more nuanced and not so clumsily assembled, but there are no English subtitle for the French track, which is the biggest mark against it. That said the English dub has more oomph to it, it's more robust and full bodied. There are no subtitle options 

Extras on the disc include a 40-min audio interview with Franco from 1976, conducted in Spanish with English subtitles. There's also a trailer for the film and a 7-min VHS trailer reel of Franco films. 

Special Features:
- Franco, Bloody Franco: An Interview with Jess Franco (Spanish with English Subtitles)(40 min) 
Trailer (3 min) 
- Vintage Jess Franco Trailer Reel(7 min) 

This vintage slice of WIP is trashy fun, though it's not a great film, it's not even a good Jess Franco movie, but it delivers the usual WIP tropes in spades, including a non-stop barrage of nude, nubile flesh, which is always fun and usually why we're watching a women-in-prison movie to begin with, right? I love that these Erwin C. Dietrich produced Franco films getting a release in the U.S., and I am hoping we see them make the leap to Blu-ray soon. 

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

Mr. Skin and Panik House release the unholy trinity of WOMEN IN PRISON films

Panik House Entertainment will be releasing a limited edition run of classic mid 80's women in prison exploitation films completely uncut and remastered under the title Mr. Skin Presents Women in Prison. Super-psyched for these as I know next to nothing about the women in prison exploitation films. Two of these WIP films feature the extreme hotness of Linda Blair       (The Exorcist, Savage Streets) and the always awesome John Vernon (Curtains) plays a perverted warden in Chained Heat, what's not to love?

WOMEN IN PRISON TRIPLE PACK DVD

Chained Heat (1983) - Red Heat (1985) - Jungle Warriors (1984)

 Release Date: July 12, 2011

LABEL: Panik House Entertainment

DURATION: 287 minutes

LANGUAGE: English

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9 Widescreen 1.78:1

REGION CODE: NTSC ALL
DIRECTOR: Paul Nicholas, Robert Collector, Ernst R. Von TheumerSYNOPSIS: Mr. Skin and Panik House Entertainment Present the Unholy Trinity of “Women in Prison” Films! CHAINED HEAT, widely regarded as the greatest “women-in-prison” film of all time, finally comes to DVD in a totally uncut, re-mastered version. This triple-pack of “boobs behind bars” mid-80s exploitation classics will only be in print for a limited time.

CAST: Linda Blair, Sybil Danning, Stella Stevens, Sylvia Kristel, John Vernon

CHAINED HEAT (1983), widely regarded as the greatest “women-in-prison” film of all time, finally comes to DVD in a totally uncut, re-mastered version. This triple-pack of “boobs behind bars” mid-80s exploitation classics will only be in print for a limited time. CHAINED HEAT – Linda Blair (The Exorcist) stars as Carol Henderson, a woman sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after accidentally killing a man. With the perverted warden (John Vernon, Animal House) seducing the inmates and two rival gangs fighting a race war, Carol struggles to survive her remaining days in the sleazy slammer. Also stars cult film favorites Sybil Danning, Tamara Dobson and Stella Stevens. Newly re-mastered in anamorphic widescreen and presented totally uncut for the first time in North America!

RED HEAT (1985) – Linda Blair heads back to prison as American tourist Christine Carlson, a woman wrongly sentenced to three years in a brutal East German penitentiary after being forced to admit to false charges of espionage. Tormented by the evil prisoner Sofia (Sylvia Kristel, Emmanuelle), Christine must fight for her life as her fiancée tries to rescue her from the sadistic hell behind bars. Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen.

JUNGLE WARRIORS (1984) – A group of gorgeous models flies to a South American country to scout locations for a photo session. When their plane is shot down, the models are imprisoned and subjected to horrible torture and rape by an evil drug lord. In an effort to escape, the girls grab some firepower, take revenge, and try to shoot their way to freedom! Stars Sybil Danning and John Vernon. Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

- Features Introductions for each film by the Legendary Mr. Skin!

- Video Interviews with Actresses Stella Stevens (CHAINED HEAT) and Sybil Danning (CHAINED HEAT, JUNGLE WARRIORS)

- Theatrical Trailers