Révolte au pénitencier de filles

"Women's Prison Massacre" is the last of the "Black Emmanuelle" series of films and this time director Joe D'Amato abandons his trademark sleaze for an attempt at an exploitation flick with a plot.

Emmanuelle (Laura Gemser)has gotten a bit too close to exposing a corrupt government official during the course of her investigative journalism, and he has her sent to a vicious women's prison on trumped up charges. 4 dangerous male convicts (including Gemser's real life husband Gabriele Tinti) are transferred there to be held until their trials and manage to create jailbreak mayhem a nasty hostage showdown with police.

I really wanted to like this film, but I just couldn't do it. The plot is a fractured mess, the acting awful and this film is so evasively shot (not enough film or budget for much visual explanation or gore, I guess) that I didn't even know what was supposed to be happening in most of the sleazy scenes (the razor blade castration, horny female convicts ripping one of the guys apart) until I read the DVD liner notes. Also gorgeous Gemser keeps her clothes on the entire time, and the actresses who do disrobe are less than stunning.

3 stars, one for Laura Gemser having a genuine beauty and screen presence that deserves something better than this drivel, one was a whole lot of accidental comedy ("I'll bite your nipples off!" and the blow up doll are the first examples that come to mind), one for Lorraine De Salle sticking it out in a film where she looks extremely uncomfortable in every scene (as if she's ashamed of being in this throwaway, whimpering end to an otherwise fun series).

"Emanuelle" (Laura Gemser) is a journalist who has been setup and sent to prison by "District Attorney Robinson" (Jacques Stany) because she was getting too close to exposing his corruption. Yet even in prison he considers her to be too dangerous and so he conspires with the prison warden named "Colleen" (Lorraine De Selle) to have her killed before she can be released. To do that Colleen turns to the most vicious prisoner there by the name of "Albina" (Ursula Flores). However, as luck would have it 4 extremely violent men are sent to that same prison awaiting execution and they manage to take over the prison. When they do all hell breaks loose and nobody is safe from them. Now rather than reveal any more of the story and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie seemed to have potential but the low budget and over-acting really stood out and greatly weakened the overall effect. Likewise, although it contained quite a bit of nudity there wasn't much passion or eroticism to really make much of an impression either. That said other than the performance of Laura Gemser I didn't see anything that remarkable about this film and I rate it as below average.

Every once in a while there are films that come along and enlighten us. For some it was ET for others it was Gone With the Wind and for me it was Women's Prison Massacre! I Felt moved just by picking up the box at the video store. This movie has everything sleaze, torture, sex, rape, throat ripping, violence, forced suicide, more sleaze, more sex, more torture, and more bullet hits then Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs put together. When the credits rolled tears fell from my eyes. Bravo! Bravo! I love this movie!!

This film has been identified in some secondary sources as an alternate title for the one released in US as CAGED WOMEN but they are in fact different, though not *too* different. For the greater part, WIP fans do prefer "the mixture, as before," without innovations, though it helps if there is a plot more coherent than the average Jess Franco production.

In this outing, Laura Gemser is not Emanuelle, doing undercover journalism at a prison, but rather a hard con doing time. Lorraine de Selle is still on staff and still has that hooker underwear she modeled in CAGED WOMEN, and best of all, the haystack hair blonde and skinny teenish brunette are both doing 20-life here too. The blonde looks as if she's eaten a little lasagna since the previous picture. Her opening scene finds her wearing nothing but *tight* kini panties, over which her tummy roll hangs enticingly. Wow! (scene is 'way too short.)

Here, dangerous male cons are temporarily housed in the women's lockup, but they get loose and a riot ensues -- at least when they're not having sex with horny femme cons who haven't seen a man since the Aldo Moro administration. No shower scene in my video copy, which is always a drawback, though it does feature a weird theatrical presentation by the inmates, for the inmates. (And you thought WEEDS was an original idea!) OK of its type.

In WOMEN'S PRISON MASSACRE, Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is a reporter "in stir" due to her being framed by a drug dealer. She's under heavy scrutiny by prison security. She's also on the last nerve of Albina (Ursula Flores), who challenges her to an arm wrestling match.

Next, we're off to the showers, where the female inmates just can't keep their hands to themselves! In no time, their fun is interrupted by the fascistic femme-guards and their aquatic torture techniques.

These guards are awful! They're nasty! They're available!

Then, everyone's in trouble when a gang of male inmates invade the prison, quickly subduing the guards and killing anyone who resists.

These guys are pigs! They're dogs! They're irresistible!

Annnd, on and on it goes.

While this movie isn't unwatchable, its soft core cheeeze-factor is stratospherically high! Those unaccustomed to such ridiculous goings-on might find that their brains have died in their skulls by movie's end!

Be careful out there...