Les évadées

I must not have done my research or just forgot that I was about to watch a 1980 Italian "women in prison" flick because my jaw dropped upon seeing some of the sex scenes in this. I am wondering if there is an X-rated version floating around out there because it was obvious that there was some real oral sex going on in this movie.

Another reviewer mentioned they thought this was Troma's worst film in their library. You must not have seen all of the Troma films because Troma has some real stinkers. But I wouldn't call this a Troma library film, but a Troma sponsored re-release. There are Troma films and then there are films that Lloyd Kaufman buys the rights to so he can make more cash on them by packaging them and releasing them. This is one of those. I guess if Troma was going to re-release a "women in prison' flick this is fits the Troma standard- trashy.

This is about your typical "women in prison" type scenario. The women are incarcerated, try to escape, get raped in the process etc.etc. There is a lesbian scene towards the end but, the rest of the movie was quite boring. I found myself pressing the fast-foward button most of the time. I would say forget about it but, the love scene in the cell was eye catching and is probably the only reason I would recommend this film.

Anthony Steffen trades in his Western poncho for a whiskey bottle in this sleazy Italian W.I.P. film. He plays a drunk Doctor in a jungle prison for women only. This leads to all sorts of depravity by the male guards. Everything is as you would expect, with rape, torture, lesbian groping, and of course that old standby implied bestiality. The movie is grainy, dark, and the acting marginal high school caliber. You have to ask yourself this question, why would anyone want to sit through this train wreck of a film? The dubbing alone is so atrocious that lips are moving before and after the over dub, but none of that matters because the intended audience will be totally fixated on the grimy writhing screen images. One other thing, I just hope no snakes or leeches were harmed during filming? - MERK

A film so good they made it twice (they shot the equally lurid `Hotel Paradise' at the same time), and even released a scratch mix version called `Savage Island' with Linda Blair which wasn't so good. We all know by now that the plot involves a couple of dozen half naked women being terrorised by the brutal guards in a jungle prison camp. It also has a host of titillating titles which translate as `The Torture Camp of the Dear Witches', `The Dear Witches of the Rio Cannibale' `Escapees from the Love Camp' and `Infernal Women', although that was the original. In Britain it was called `Hell Prison' and back in 1980 when I saw it the cover was enough to get me interested, probably a bit too interested. I've seen it twice since and might even buy the DVD one day.

On the cast, everyone seems to know about the late Ajita Wilson, but have you noticed that Christina Lai (Vivien) appears in Moonraker for all of two seconds (credited there as Christina Hui)? So 1979 was a big year for her. All of which set me to thinking who she really was, and what was her real name. Well, she was Miss Italy 1978 (then known as Loren Cristina Mai). Further `research' reveals that Zaira Zoccheddu, who plays `Lucy' was a Miss World contestant in 1974, but she finished nowhere. Don't you just love the internet?

Also Anna Maria Panaro (aka Annamaria Pace) appeared in a couple of `Sword and Sandal' epics in the 60s and then seems to have disappeared until she turned up in an episode of Sex and the City. Here she plays `Marie Antoinette' who pretends to be mad and has an affair with a dog to keep the guards off her case, smart move.

Handsome Serafino Profumo (`Martinez') has a scary list of film credits, though I think the IMDB has missed at least one of those icky Italian Nazi-sex epics of the 70s. And Brazilian born Anthony Steffen did a lot of spaghetti westerns before landing his greatest role here as the alcoholic doctor.

Wow, there's certainly more to this skin-fest than meets the eye. I'm going to write a thesis on this movie. Or maybe start a fan club which is long overdue. Help me out and I guarantee a million hits.

Whoever has the rights should be informed that some of us are crying out for the director's cut. Or maybe we could arrange a 25th anniversary reunion somewhere in Italy.

For my money, this the best WIP flick I've come across. Or at least the most watchable. Being a WIP flick, however, means it's a trashy exorcise in sleazy cinema.

The story...well...gee whiz, there isn't much of one. In an all women prison camp located in the steamiest jungle on earth, guards regularly abuse the poor inmates. They decide to do something about it. Can you guess what? It's a prison movie...it's called "Escape from Hell"...do the math.

It's nice to see lost 'gems' like this can still turn up in the age of the PC movement. The goings on are what would be expected: gang rape by guards, lesbian hook ups by inmates, sadistic wardens, a sympathetic doctor, violent revolt, etc. What made this work for me was the setting, it really seems like a plain nasty place to be stuck. Seeing where they are, it's no wonder guards and inmates alike are hostile toward each other.

As far as the violence goes, it's bloody, but not excessively so. The sex, on the other hand, is really graphic. In several of the encounters it is clear as day that the action is not simulated. One rape scene in particular features a guard obviously performing actual oral sex on an inmate. There are no 'hard-core' shots however, for better or worse.

The picture is really grainy and often so dark as to obstruct the action. Also, the sound is pretty poor with some laughter inducing dubs. But, again, it's about what would be expected.

If one is thinking about watching this, then they should already know what they are getting into. Otherwise, this probably won't be your cup of tea.

6/10