Incubo nella contea di Badham

The rifleman can keep his gun to himself.

This was part of the 1970s racial, prison and small town horrors exploitation movies. The difference is this was on television. I saw it as a kid I found it very disturbing. I just watched it again on YouTube and thought it was even more disturbing.

Lynne Moody deserved better than this. Even Deborah Raffin deserved better. If it is possible, this is even more tawdry than present day television. This was even more terrifying and frustrating than Deliverance.

Along for the ride ate Robert Reed, Della Reese, Ralph Bellamy and most disturbingly, Tina Louise.

Combining horror and women-in-chains elements, this little gem is quite scary indeed. The star-studded cast is in great form, with many effectively cast against type--Della Reese as a prisoner with an almost-broken spirit, Robert Reed as a perverted rapist, and especially Tina Louise as a sadistic trustee. Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody--two highly underrated actresses--are very sympathetic, and the film has a cheap, seedy atmosphere reminscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House on the Left.

Nightmare in Badham County was shown theatrically, in a much more explicit version, outside of the U.S. This version is available on videotape and is the one I've seen. It's memorably depraved, with brutality and full-frontal nudity abounding. One skin-crawling scene in this version has a naked, repulsive lesbian guard (Lana Wood, I think) exchanging food for sex with a terrified inmate. Another has Louise pawing and whipping a naked girl. Still another has a large group of women wrestling in a field until a hose is turned on them; clothes are ripped, and one woman's panties fall down as she stands up. This version could've been a big drive-in hit in the States, but alas, it was shown here only as an ABC movie of the week.

Whichever version you get, this oppressively grim torture epic is worth watching if you're an exploitation fan. An obscure cult classic with a very powerful ending.

Reminiscent of the Roger Corman cycle of "babes-behind-bars" flicks from the late '60s and early '70s, this is an enjoyable little exploitation item. Maybe some think it has pretensions to mask as "social commentary," but don't believe it, and just enjoy it for what it is--a made-for-TV version of those great Corman Filipino "prison-chicks" flicks. Apparently the video version is a lot more explicit than the TV version, but I haven't seen that one yet, so I can't say. Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody are the two poor souls who get shanghaied into a Southern hellhole, and while Raffin is her usual bland, whitebread self, Moody steals the show from her. She's a much better actress than Raffin, is (IMHO) prettier and far sexier, and has a fresh, approachable, open appeal that Raffin lacks. Robert Reed does a nice turn as the corrupt prison superintendent, and it's fun to watch Tina Louise playing the sadistic prison matron--and Lana Wood is a blast as a lesbian (ahh, where would women-in-prison movies be without them?) prison guard.

All in all, it's a fun watch if you don't take it too seriously--or seriously at all. Check it out.

One of those movies they used to show late at night or on Saturday afternoons on tv in the 80's. Scarred my little mind, with scenes of violence, rape, and racism. Like your worst nightmare come true. I refused to get out of the car in Georgia when driving to Florida every year after seeing this one.

UCLA coeds Cathy Phillips (Deborah Raffin) and Diane Emery (Lynne Moody) are driving around the country before the start of school. They get a flat tire. A black man is willing to help them but that gets the ire of Sheriff Danen (Chuck Connors). The Sheriff arrests the girls for trespassing and rapes Diane in jail. When Diane tries to raise the issue, the Judge adds prostitution to the charges and sends the girls to the prison farm in Badham County. The Judge turns out to be the Sheriff's cousin. The prison is a corrupt racist excuse to provide slave labor for the well-connected. It's run by Dancer (Robert Reed) and his sadistic prisoners-turned-guards.

I can't believe that this was a TV movie. Obviously, the nudity would be cut but it's still a brutal viewing experience. This is a mix of 70's sexploitation and social justice. Parts of this are very hard to watch. It is grindhouse in its nature. The acting ranges from solid professional to amateurish. Sometimes, the sexploitation detracts from the seriousness of the work.