Straflager Fernost

My review was written in April 1984 after a screening at Cine 42 theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Caged Fury" is a dull, low-on-action women's prison film made in the Philippines. It packs none of the B-movie fun of its forebears, which flourished on the drive-in circuit in 1970-74.

Plot device is reminiscent of "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Telefon". In contemporary Vietnam, American girls (as well as local girls who consorted with G. I.'s during the war) are rounded up and put in camps to be brainwashed (by electric shock aversion methods) into becoming zombie-like agents. Taking an unwise cue from Richard Brooks' "Wrong Is Right" film has them turned into "human bombs", exploding themselves (wearing vests containing explosives) back home in order to kill important people nearby.

While a U. S. officer (Ken Metcalf) tries to swap a renegade Vietnamese genral, wanted by his people, for the girls, the heroines attempt to escape from the camp in a series of laughably executed "action" scenes. Finale involving a train, tanks and U. S. helicopters is thoroughly unconvincing hokum.

Chief surprise here is in the casting, done by Jim Wynorski, former New World Pictures publicity man who is latterly an indie writer-director. While the Filipinos made films in this genre of the 1970s inevitably gave employment to Pam Grier, Jeanne Bell, or others, no black actresses appear in "Caged Fury". The actresses on view here give tired walk-throughs, indistinguishable from the "zombies" in the cast. Tech credits are subpar, with dialog articulated in English but inadequately post-synched.

Exploitation fanatics familiar with the name Cirio H. Santiago know that he's somewhat the Filipino counterpart of Jess Franco; meaning that he released an enormous amount of cheap trash movies of questionable quality, up to five titles per year, and mainly either dumb horror, jungle action, cyborg trash or so-called "women in prison" flicks. Some of his films, particularly "Equalizer 2000" and "Demon of Paradise", rank among the worst films I've ever seen, but at least this "Caged Fury" is watchable. The film is a couple of genres combined, but the script completely lacks coherence and direction. It starts out like the Charles Bronson espionage thriller "Telefon", with poor and defenseless women being brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers as soon as they hear a code phrase via the telephone. Subsequently, it's a women-in-prison vehicle, as the gorgeous Canadian journalist Denise is captured and brought to the hidden jungle camp where the brainwashing takes place. This is more familiar turf for Cirio, so there's a lot of sleaze (gratuitous shower scenes and seducing dim-witted guards) and humiliation (electrodes taped to the nipples). Tasty Denise also attempts to escape with the help of a hopeless romanticist guard, but without success. The final act of "Caged Fury" is pure – and inept – action with Denise and her fellow inmates revolting and taking over the steam train that transports them to a military ambush. The already quite dull and slow-paced film is too often interrupted by an Asian woman, supposedly an evil mastermind, negotiating with an American diplomat. The action sequences are poorly staged and amateurish, especially because the Filipino extras don't even bother to die spectacularly when they're being shot. In fact, the only positive elements to mention are the beautiful breasts of lead actress Bernadette Williams and a reasonably unexpected twist regarding the identity of a rat amidst the captive girls.

The best thing about my DVD version of "Caged Fury" is the tagline: "Alone they are dangerous....together they are deadly". If only the movie lived up to it! (by the way, the picture quality on the DVD is on par with a poor VHS tape). The movie starts as a standard WIC (Women-In-Camp) drama, with a plot element of brainwashed assassins triggered by a voice on the phone that reminded me of the Charles Bronson flick "Telefon". But that plot thread is forgotten somewhere along the way, as we focus on the heroine's escape attempts, first along with a male guard, later along with her fellow prisoners as they overtake a train. On the whole, the female action elements are disappointingly brief in duration, and the action scenes in general are unexciting. Unless you MUST see everything that Cirio H. Santiago ever made, "Caged Fury" can be skipped. (*1/2)

Busty blonde Bernadette Williams stars as Denise, a Canadian reporter captured by Vietnamese soldiers and taken to a camp deep in uncharted jungle where prisoners are brainwashed to act as human bombs.

None too thrilled about her predicament, plucky Denise makes a bid for freedom with the help of smitten guard Pram (Efren Reyes Jr.), but thanks to a camp spy, her attempt to escape is unsuccessful, and Pram is shot and killed in the process.

The future looks brighter, however, when it is announced that she and her fellow inmates are to be finally set free as part of a prisoner exchange deal with America; but once on board the steam train to the rendezvous point, the girls discover that the devious Vietnamese are planning to double-cross the Americans, and realise that their only chance is to make a last ditch effort to overthrow their captors.

I purchased Caged Fury at a car boot sale, successfully knocking the price down from 75p to 50p, to the obvious annoyance of the seller; having just finished watching the film, I reckon he still got the better end of the deal.

A low budget Women In Prison flick from prolific Filipino B-movie director Cirio H. Santiago, Caged Fury offers the usual mix of exploitative elements synonymous with the genre—a sexy, innocent protagonist, communal showering, betrayal, humiliation, degradation, and torture—but fails to take the violence and depravity to the level necessary for it to become truly entertaining (the only time it really hits the mark is with an 'electrodes on the nipples' torture scene).

The sappy romance between Denise and Pram certainly doesn't help matters much (although it does allow Santiago an opportunity to include a spot of gratuitous, soft focus love-making), and there are several dull scenes between a US agent and his Vietnamese counterpart that also serve to bog down proceedings.

Avoid unless you're a die hard Santiago fan (in which case you deserve everything you get), or simply must see every WIP flick in existence.