The Hot Box

Hellcats (aka The Hot Box, 1972) continues the jungle sleaze tradition, co-written by the future director of Silence Of The Lambs, Jonathan Demme. Director Joe Viola and Demme had already worked for Corman on the low-budget biker flick Angels Hard As They Come. They now headed to the Philippines to film the story of four deliberately vacant nurses (including its token black actress) kidnapped by the 'Peoples Army', a ragtag bundle of greasy drunks and lechers, and forced to spend most of their incarceration topless. Despite their hysterical over-acting, they slowly become politicized gun-toting radicals, once they are shown parallels between the corrupt local government and the Nixon administration. It's a real pre-Watergate oddity, doling out its heartwarming liberal sentiments while blatantly exploiting its female flesh.

If you expect sweaty chicks behind bars you're in for a major dissapointment.

The gals spend like one minute in the "hot box". Some third world rebels kipnap 4 American nurses to help their revolution. At first they protest but later they "wake up" and start diggin' the rebels' political aim. Jonathan Demme, who scripted this, has made some fun Women-In-Prison flicks for Roger Corman like "Caged Heat" and "Black Mama, White Mama" but this halfbaked "Exploitation With A Cause" is pretty boring despite massive doses of nudity and decent acting.

People who saw this at a drive-in in the early 70's must've been a bit confused.

The Hot Box provides almost everything the true connoisseur of sleazy trash B-movies of the 70s craves for - some hot girls, some nudity, some solid gunpowder smoke, and a production that is not too cheap for that kind of movie. The story revolves around some American nurses who get involved in revolutionary activities, leading to a real battle in the end. Additionally, we are treated to the beautiful Margaret Markov in her prime. It's astonishing that she did not receive more major roles considering her talent and charisma. The Hot Box only touches on the sexploitation business in a few scenes, with nudity portrayed in some scenes to spice things a little up. Torture is only briefly explored - so. If you're looking for movies like Black Mama, White Mama or Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, this may not be the right choice. However, I found The Hot Box entertaining enough to pass the time, although it may not be essential for hardcore sleazehounds.

While serving at a hospital in a small South American country four American nurses are kidnapped by a group of bandits and then sold to some revolutionaries who insist that they train them in first aid and other necessary health skills. At first the women are very reluctant to help out and look for a means to escape. Over time however one or two of the women begin to take a more positive approach but in any case still don't like being held as prisoners against their will. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it I will just say that this was a slightly different type of "Women-in-Prison" film in that it didn't have a warden and vicious inmates clawing at each other. But there are some characters in this movie who manage to fill in all the same. Likewise, as the movie continues things change for the women-and not for the better. Anyway, while all of the females were rather pretty I kind of liked "Bunny Kincaid" (Andrea Cagan) the most. Obviously, others may disagree. Be that as it may I rate this movie as about average.

As other reviewers have already mentioned, "The Hot Box" has been mis-marketed as a Women-In-Prison film, when in fact it is a low-budget action film with four American nurses getting caught up in a revolution taking place in the "republic of San Rosario". This was one of the earliest scripts that Jonathan Demme ("Silence of the Lambs") wrote in his career, and personally I found the structure a bit heavy-handed. I assume that the goal was to make the viewer root for the revolutionaries and against the oppressive government, yet for the first half of the movie most of the revolutionaries we meet are little more than cackling sex maniacs! And even the more "civilized" ones treat the four American women - who are nurses, mind you, not their enemies in any way - pretty horribly. In the second half, they are subjected to even worse treatment by the government side, and finally the revolutionaries are starting to come off as "the good guys" (by default!). Wouldn't it be wiser to try to build more sympathy for them earlier on? I also didn't like the small comedic touches in the film, they felt awkward given the generally grim and unpleasant content. What I did like are the four female leads, who make a likable and good-looking team; their unabashed nudity is most welcome. Is it just me or would Margaret Markov (who plays the most "idealistic" of the four) have been perfect for the part of an angel in a fantasy? (**)