Greta - Haus ohne Männer

As far as politically incorrect movies are concerned, this one (and the entire "series", for that matter) must rank as one of the MOST incorrect ever. Not a recommendation for all movie viewers, that's for sure. But for some of us, the blunt outrageousness of ILSA, THE WICKED WARDEN with its calculated S&M games filling in for a plot, and the grand, almost operatic, pleasure that actress Dyanne Thorne unapologetically conveys with each terrible torture bit, makes this a jaw dropping, exploitation adventure. WICKED WARDEN is my favorite of the series for a couple of reasons. First of all, Jess Franco, not one of my favorites and not a great one for telling an understandable story, obviously enjoys stringing together horrible moments of torture and violence. His approach, surprisingly effective here, is to provide a context for what's going on - and the context is enough. The prison is Ilsa's own private funhouse; what she does is for her own pleasure, period. Unlike Don Edmons, Franco understands this kind of movie: he starts with Ilsa and filters the punishment down through the ranks. Ilsa's brand of immoral hedonism turns the entire prison into an S&M club where inmates use sex and humiliation as currency. Franco knows how to stage scenes with pins and plastic bags; played low key and with simple means, this stuff gets to you. It seems like the movie is constantly crossing the line and what we're watching is real - which, of course, it's not. But Franco's straight forward, unashamed voyeuristic style transcends the silliness inherent in material like this and gives it a weird kind of weight. Sometimes you can hardly watch what's going on, but you can't take your eyes off of it either. The other element at work here is the GREAT Dyanne Thorne who in my mind is a terrific actress. As big a performance as her Ilsa is (and is in all the movies) there's not a hint of parody. That would be the easy way out for any actress playing such a despicable role. Thorne plays it straight. You believe that Ilsa's life is worth living because of what she does in this prison. Her gestures are grand, but her playing is internal: she shares Ilsa's dark and primal joy with the viewer. That's what makes these movies still sort of difficult today. Ilsa's not kidding, and Dyanne Thorne drives this movie with an unbeatable force. If these movies had been made in the 1940's (Ha!) Thorne would have emerged a big star. Where is she now? Am convinced that an actress who can pull off Ilsa can pull off just about anything. No longer a young woman, I know; but I'll bet she's still a striking figure. Come back, Dyanne, come back. All that said, ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN is worth the effort. It's as guilty a pleasure as you could ever hope to find.

ILSA--THE WICKED WARDEN (aka any one of the dozen other titles it goes under) is not the most disturbing, brutal or violent of the infamous series, but it is by far the sleaziest.

Dependably twisted schlockmeister Jess Franco dishes up enough nastiness, violence, sex, nudity and sleaze for a dozen average exploitation pictures. A female journalist infiltrates a women's prison to expose the corruption within. Once inside (posing as a prisoner), she is exposed to the grim, vile world that is a women's prison.

Ilsa (Greta? Wanda?), played by Diane Thorne, is the vicious warden, who puts her prisoners through all sorts of physical and psychological abuse, although the prisoners manage some pretty outrageous behavior on their own. There's a nice, long, voyeuristic catfight in the showers, as well as an unspeakably tacky scene in which self-appointed lead prisoner Lina Romay forces the reporter to lick her ass clean after a bout of diarrhea. That pretty much sets the standard for taste in this movie.

Franco shows an odd Tinto Brass-like fetish for female buttocks in this movie, as every prisoner's standard uniform is knee high boots and a prison shirt--no pants or underwear--thus giving the viewer plenty of glimpses of bare bottoms.

Overall, THE WICKED WARDEN is about as sick and twisted a movie as the average viewer is ever likely to find. There are nastier movies out there, even nastier women in prison movies, but this will more than acquaint you with the subgenre.

I have seen all of the Ilsa movies several times and this one is by far the best. First, a warning: if you are easily shocked, offended, or disturbed, you won't make it through this (or any other Ilsa)movie. It takes a lot to disturb me, but this movie did the trick. If you love campy women's prison movies, this is also a must-see, though it is darker than most of them.Yes, this is an exploitation flick and does not try to hide this fact, but it has a plot, and characters you care about. A woman's sister is being held in a women's prison, so she goes 'undercover' to try to rescue her. The b*tch in charge of the prison is the most twisted, sick, evil, sadistic warden you will ever find in any women's prison movie--Ilsa, (or Wanda, depending on which version you see) the Wicked Warden. Her idea of a nice relaxing evening is using one of the female inmates for a pincushion, and I am describing the scene tactfully. Others she lobotomizes when they get out of line. The woman's plan to infiltrate the prison and her sister goes horribly awry when she realizes things in there are much, much worse than she could have dreamed of and there is no escape. The movie's ending is a total show-stopper, when Ilsa comes to one of the most fitting, vividly grisly, ugly endings that you will ever see. Not the most pleasant movie to watch--the first time I saw it, I felt sick for not turning it off and continuing to watch the horrible acts being committed. However, I've seen a lot of really bad horror/shock/exploitation films, and this one really stands out amongst the rest, with realistic characters, the courage to have a very downbeat ending, and no glamourization of the violence. The images in this movie will stay with you for a long, long time. For some people, that's a warning, for others, a strong recommendation. You think you've seen it all? You haven't, till you've seen this.

You have Jess Franco directing and Lina Romay starring, is there a more sure guarantee of a high sleaze content? You just can't ask for much more.

However, this movie doesn't approach the pure, unadulterated, in your face sleaze of other Franco/Romay movies, although it tries. It tries hard.

You have Ilsa, the wicked warden, torturing and tormenting the poor female inmates, although to be sure the torture and torment wasn't very convincing. You get the feeling the actresses might have looked a bit more tormented if Franco had told them they had to take a pay cut. So it goes.

You have Lina Romay, hot as molten steel, running around naked as the day she was born and enjoying it as usual. I have to admire a girl who is so completely dedicated to being naked all the time, in every situation. She is just an unabashed exhibitionist, not even requiring the flimsiest of excuses to remove her clothing. She insists on it! She demands it! It's probably in her contract somewhere that she gets to spend at least ninety percent of the runtime of any movie naked.

The plot line is the standard Ilsa fare, a wicked woman giving everyone a hard time until she gets her just deserts. Yawn. If you even thought about watching this for the plot then you are in line for a sanity check. This is, as has been said, Class A Euro-Sleaze.

Too bad they don't make them like this any more.

There are tens of thousands of DVDs out there for the customer to purchase or rent, but viewers will have to look long and hard before finding a sleazier one than Jess Franco's contribution to the Ilsa saga, "Ilsa the Wicked Warden" (1977). Here, Dyanne Thorne, who thrice before portrayed everyone's favorite buxom blond sadist, plays a buxom redheaded (her natural color...who knew?) sadist who's in charge of a women's mental hospital in some unnamed tropical country. (Though filmed in Portugal, the picture seems to be set somewhere in Central or South America.) Franco, an incredibly prolific, oftentimes slapdash director in many film genres, with over 140 (!) titles to his credit, throws quite a bit into this Ilsa story to guarantee a good time (well, better make that "memorable experience"). Thus, we get to see electroshockings, a human pin cushion, cannibalism, feces eating, shower fights, vaginal cauterization (yikes!), transgendered lesbianism, gang rape, bloody whippings and so on. While the tortures on display are not as hard to take as the ones in Ilsa's first foray, "She Wolf of the SS" (1973), this picture somehow feels...well, "sleazier" is the only word that keeps coming to mind. Ilsa herself, monster that she is, looks absolutely outstanding here, and her just deserts at film's end will long linger sickeningly in the viewer's memory. The DVD that I just watched looks terrific--a first-rate transfer job from the fine folks at Anchor Bay--although the execrable dubbing throughout the film is a significant drawback. I suppose this picture is best recommended for Jess Franco or Ilsa completists only; needless to say, it is NOT the movie to watch with Aunt Petunia! It is as sick and, well, sleazy as can be, but for lots of folks out there...hey, that's entertainment!