Greta - Haus ohne Männer

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.

Strange, depraved vision of Jess Franco's concerning Ilsa, that wicked, blouse-popping sadist of the famous/infamous series starring statuesque/bosomy Dyanne Thorne. This time around a young girl gets into a hospital run for women who suffer from sex-related diseases such as lesbianism and nymphomania. It seems she had a sister admitted a year ago and wants to find out what has happened to her even though she knows no patient has ever left. The film takes place somewhere in South America where a government is fighting rebels. Well, you get what you might expect from a series like this: lots of nude girls, lots of perversion, lots of sadism, lots of sleaze, and generally a sick/guilty feeling having seen it. There are many scenes which are downright disgusting such as one dealing with the use of a plastic bag, another with pins and a human pin cushion, shock therapy, a night with the boys from the local prison, and the grand finale where Greta(Thorne) is out to lunch with the girls. Franco is a decent director in terms of piecing a film together(despite what the subject matter might be). He can draw scenes out for suspense. He can also shock which he does well too. The acting was decent overall. Thorne is way over-the-top, but hey who cares once they see her? She is the personification of voluptuousness wearing her strained military blouse and high boots with red hair this time round. Ilsa, the Wicked Warden is a unique look at what film can do...and perhaps should not do.

I´ve always been a huge fan of the wonderful depraved Ilsa-series: "She Wolf of the SS" is a classic sexploitation sicko, "Harem Keeper" a funny desert adventure and "Tigress" a silly but entertaining secret agent story. However, Jess Franco´s more indirect sequel is the most disturbing one, because "The Wicked Warden" is most realistic installment and the silly humor of the other parts is totally missing. The WIP-part of the series.

So get ready for a range of all thinkable sickness like violent torture with whips and electro shocks, snuff movies or a gruesome mass rape sequence, which brings director Jess Franco almost on the same level as a Joe D´Amato or a Bruno Mattei! The final Ilsa-munch is one of the most disgusting scenes ever, although it reminded me somehow on the showdown in William Lustig´s "Maniac" (1980)...

Not to forget its unique main actress Dyanne Thorne who is damn hot, even with over forty! Dyanne makes the whole film, ever scene is hers! God, how I love that woman! Franco´s darling Lina Romay looks pretty pale in comparison..!

"The Wicked Warden" is a sicko de luxe: realistic background, disturbing violence and hot sex! What do you want more?!? Go and see it now!!!

I've never understood the Ilsa films. They are set across different parts of the world, different time periods and the ending of certain films suggest that a sequel simply should not have been possible.

This one goes by about three or four different names which confuses matters even more. Whats even more confusing is just how little entertainment value there is. I know this is an exploitation flick but the previous two had their moments, this is just bafflingly poor.

This is the worst third part of a franchise since Terminator, I mean seriously who thought it'd be a good idea to make that R rated franchise so tame and do cut away deaths? That person needs to be punished with having to watch this Ilsa movie on a loop for 6 continual weeks. That right there is cruel and unusual punishment, but so is this film

Today, I watched another 2 Jess Franco titles from the Anchor Bay UK 8-Disc Set (which I rented from my local DVD outlet): ILSA, THE WICKED WARDEN (1977) and JACK THE RIPPER*** (1976).

Though I wouldn't say that ILSA is exactly a good film, I was still quite surprised by how it managed to hold my interest throughout. Not that it made particularly inspired use of the various subtexts suggested in the script (the snuff movie angle, for instance, is not dealt with in any depth) – apart from its over-the-top, and undeniably horrific, conclusion – but it was certainly above-average for an Erwin C. Dietrich production with adequate scenery, an evocative if repetitive score and competent performances. The dialogue of the German-language version, however, was pretty hilarious (the various odes to Greta/Ilsa recited by the inmates, the sanitation officials who arrive for a surprise inspection complaining that the rumors of the supposedly corrupt management inside the prison are unfounded – for obvious reasons, they may not have been taken to see the dungeons where the female convicts are tortured, but did they even question themselves why these were forbidden the use of underwear while serving their sentence?!); still, the English dubbing (heard during the interview section of the supplements) makes it sound even worse!

I haven't seen the 'original' Ilsa films but, while Dyanne Thorne seemed to be relatively at ease inhabiting the Jess Franco movieworld, I also feel that her character was pretty one-dimensional and not really the main focus of the film; Lina Romay, on the other hand, has a lot of fun with one of her better roles; even Tania Busselier (in her third and last film for Franco) seems to have matured somewhat and here makes for a creditable heroine (for whom Franco boldly reserves an unexpected tragic fate, though this was perhaps done so as not to involve her in the film's cannibalistic climax).

Unfortunately, this edition was cut by more than 2 minutes by the BBFC: the death-by-asphyxiation of Rosa Philips was evidently trimmed as it now occurs in a split-second; I may be wrong but I reckon that the remainder of the censored footage involved the lobotomy performed on the Tania Busselier character (did they even show this?) as her sudden appearance as a 'vegetable' is most jarring…

Anyway, I look forward now to renting and watching another of Franco's notorious 'Women-In-Prison' films for Dietrich, namely BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975).