Violez les otages!

"ESCAPE" is a wonderful film from the land that time forgot. Actually it's pretty much a cut-rate exploitation movie, but it's got a lot going for it: sex, violence, some pretty hilarious dialouge, and a busload of nubile tennis players. throw a terrorist, a judge, a nymphomaniac, a lesbian prostitute, and a woman who is obsessed with food and you have the ultimate party movie. Actually, your friends will probably hate it, but for you undiscriminate types out there (and you know who you are) search out this gem before it becomes extinct. Originally on a double feature tape with "Sweet Sugar" at a running time of 70 min. I have the original uncut version at 100 min. (get this one).

This movie has kind of a bad reputation, largely because people expect it to be an American WIP movie (it was released on video in a double bill with "Sweet Sugar") when really it is an Italian "terror film" along the lines of "Late Night Trains", "The Last House on the Beach", and the notorious "House by the Edge of the Park". These films, inspired by the seminal American horror movie "Last House on the Left", typically involve often young and always comfortably middle-class protagonists being held captive and/or terrorized by lower-class miscreants until they find the strength to fight back, often proving even more vicious than their tormentors. This film is an interesting variation on this in that the captives are a girls' tennis team being held in a judge's isolated villa and the tormentors are four escaped female convicts. And while some elements, like the Marxist terrorist leader of the gang, may seem strange to the terminal Americans out there, you have to remember this movie was made in Europe in the 1970's when the Bader-Meinhoff cells in Germany and Red Army cells in Italy were still running loose.

This movie is actually somewhat realistic with decent character development and pretty good acting (especially considering that two of the leads, Lili Karati and Dirce Funari, would later move to hardcore sex films, and two others, Zora Kerova and Marina D'Ania, were usually reduced to piece-of-tail supporting roles in the more vile Italian cannibal and Nazi prison camp flicks). It does, of course, have to make the standard nods to the demands of sexploitation--most of the female cast have (usually pretty gratuitous)nude scenes and there is a whole variety of ridiculous rape scenes--man by woman, woman by woman, the female Marxist terrorist by a bourgeois judge (the latter is either incisive political commentary or a sorry excuse to get the luscious Lili Karati naked again). On the other hand, this movie is nowhere near as violent or harrowing as many films of it's kind (it's a Disney film compared to "House by the Edge of the Park"). It's kind of like "Terror Express" with its over-the-top sexscapades, but more realistic with a nice cynical ending. It's a decent movie if you know what you're in for, even though it will probably disappoint American WIP fans.

With the undertitle "a story of sex and violence", this Last House on the Left-type exploitationer doesn't excuse itself. A very cheap production with unknown actors (lots of women in hotpants and disco dues and men with greasy moustaches and tight blue jeans... Zora Zerova was the only actor I recognized) and dull photography in brown, grey and orange color schemes. The story is about a couple of female convicts, a leftwing political terrorist and her jaded band of robbers, whores and dykes, who've escape from prison and hide out at a luxurious mansion where they hold a judge and a female basketball team hostage. The schtick being, of course, that its the females that bring the terror and havoc this time around! Highlights include female-on-female rape, the gals forcing the judge to pee his pants, forced dogfood-eating and of course lots of nasty, hateful dialogue! Not the strongest or best in its genre, but I liked it, these nasty Italian disco era exploitation flicks are always enjoyable at worst (and from all the wrong reasons).

This is one grubby little flick with four girl prison escapees hijacking a coach load of female tennis players. Lilli Carati (The Alcove and To Be Twenty) stars and is lovely throughout whilst seemingly everyone in the film, takes their clothes off at some point, even the judge who rapes the star! Lots of running about and fighting plus the aforementioned undressing to keep the interest but whilst the pseudo intellectual political chat may have seemed 'right on' in 1978 it is a real embarrassment now. We get the odd twist and turn but really it is all rather predictable and it only just manages to keep going.

This is really bad. Awful dubbing, rubbish acting, badly shot, choppily edited and generally terrible.

I also didn't like the fact that the scummy rapist judge didn't get shot at the end and was allowed to completely get away with forcing himself on another woman! that was a sickening scene and its a fairly misogynistic film.

However, there are 3 plus points. All of them are the foxy women. Erica (Ada Pometti) is particularly sexy and has a great but brief sex scene. Patrizia Funari has a nice backside which is shown off. And the girl who isn't listed here but plays 'Susanna' is very gorgeous.

I shall be checking out more of their films!

However, they were the ONLY three plus points and thats why the film gets 3 from me. 1 POINT for each sexy woman!