Prison-a-Go-Go!

In a short interview included in the DVD extras of "Prison A-Go-Go!", the very young director comes across as a pleasant guy who is also very knowledgeable about B-movies, and especially Women-In-Prison films. However, the fact that you LOVE movies does not necessarily mean that you should MAKE movies. "Prison A-Go-Go!" plays like a very bad Troma flick - and speaking of Troma, Lloyd Kaufman does not belong in front of the camera, he can barely keep a straight face at his own (embarrassingly unfunny) jokes. Mary Woronov, the other big "name" of the cast, appears only in the first 5 minutes. The film has zero production values, taste, and, most importantly, laughs (the "shower clock" is a good idea on paper, except that all the shower scenes are some of the most uninspiring I've ever seen), but some of the girls are cute, so I'll give it 0.5 out of 4 stars. If you do get the DVD, look for the Q&A sessions with Roger Corman and Mary Woronov among the extra features.

The title itself should give you an idea of how campy this film is going to be. Prison-A-Go-go! Completely lives up to the cameo by Troma's Lloyd kaufman.

A strange parody of woman in prison films, a woman gets herself incarcerated in order to find her roommate who gets kidnapped and sent to a prison in the Philippines (Ironic in the 70s, women in prison films took place the Philippines to save money, now they take place right here in America… to save money).

In prison, the girls go up against a newly hired early 20 something warden who just needed a job that did not require a drug test, and a mad scientist who looks to do weird experiments on the ladies. Plus a few more oddly place surprises that goes with the outrageousness of the film and only increases the hystericalness.

Prison-A-Go-Go! Lives up to every stereotype in the book, from inserted needlessly shower scenes (woman and men), homosexual guards (just the male ones) participating in rape (or rather being raped by the prisoners), and the torturing of prisoners with ear flips and tickling. It even has an elaborate prison escape plan. The only thing it does not have is a Pam Grier-like black girl that appeared in the first batch of women in prison movies.

Join the cult following and see this one.

If you take this movie for what it is worth, it is actually quite fun. It was meant to make fun of the classic 70's prison movies. It does that in spades. This movie isn't meant to be some deep, great blockbuster. If you go into it thinking that, you will get burned. However, if your looking for a mildly amusing, gratuitous nudity filled movie to waste a couple of hours, then this is for you. The acting is quite poor, but thats to be expected out of a no-budget movie. The sound is also atrocious, but that may have just been the copy I was watching. I especially liked the countdown clock that informs viewers of when the next shower scene will take place. The product placement was brilliant. Besides, there just aren't enough movies about mad doctors turning hot women into porcupines.

There's no reason at all for a film like "Prison-A-Go-Go!" to exist. Let's just be thankful that it does. It's pure fun and exploitation. Not a single raison d'etre to worry about and not much of a plot so you can keep your mind on vacation and just sit back and enjoy the raucous goings on. Whenever Mary Woronov is in the cast you have to sit up and take notice. A little longer in the tooth than you might remember from "Eating Raoul" or "Rock-n-Roll High School", she remains the premiere female thesp of high comic villainary. If you thought Rhonda Shear's career disappeared when she was replaced by Gilbert Gottfried on television, "Prison-A-Go-Go" will surely remind you why she used to keep you up all night. Lots of pretty girls, lots of gratuitous scenes, lots of laughs. You may not find this on your local vid store shelf but pick up a copy somewhere whenever you can smoke one out.

In my mind Prison-a-go-go represents what movies should be. It is a movie that entertains viewers because of its plot and content as opposed to trying to dazzle us with eye-candy special effects. It also shows that a entertaining movie can be created without a large budget. Prison-a-go-go has it all, evil scientists, a mean bitchy prison warden, Lloyd Kaufman, ninjas, and most important. . .shower scenes. Keep in mind Prison-a-go-go is not intended to be a women-in-prison movie, but is intended to poke fun at 60s/70s women-in-prison movies. The movie features Rhonda "up-all-night" Shear and Mary Woronov in prominent roles and a small appearance by Lloyd Kaufman. In addition to the movie, the DVD features some great bonus footage. The director Barak Epstein gives a great pool-side interview and also very entertaining info in the director's commentary version of the movie.

Prison-a-go-go is a refreshing break from the big-budget schlock that is peddled to us by Hollywood. Check it out !