Storia segreta di un lager femminile

This is no simple little 'sexploitation' or 'women-in-prison' film. Rating this film is difficult because it attempts to do so many things. It's always cool when you put on a movie that you don't expect too much from, and the director surprises you with a whole bag of tricks.

If all you want is sexploitation, then this might work for you - I believe there are more panty-shots in this film than any other in history. Seriously. There is a hella-sexy scene of all of the women bathing together with bowls and barrels. If you're into torture in your women's prison films, then this 'Bamboo' can scratch your itch. There is some pretty hardcore stuff here - a little too much for my taste. The presence of a few Caucasian women in this Japanese concentration camp was also off-putting to me... and, the white girls always had clean hair. How stupid... Meanwhile, the director puts all of this extra effort and detail into these realistic explosions and attempted choreography. Speaking of...

Why does this sexploitation film have so many effects and stunts? Wtf was going on over in Hong Kong? There was actual fight choreography in this film... several times... and, it was bad... every time... the choreography was bad every time. The explosions were good. The car chase scene destroys an entire set. They just keep driving this car into buildings and props until they destroy the entire set they were using. And, it was awesome.

You would think that all of these explosions and poorly acted fights might distract from the either the 'sex' or the 'exploitation' aspect of the sexploitation, but, no! Even in the midst of the car chase, the director manages to include a ton of panty shots. Genius.

This film is way better than it should be and is a unique trashy gem in a genre full of generic trash.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1; Casting - 0.5/1; Directing - 0.5/1; Story - 0.5/1; Writing/Screenplay - 1/1;

Total Base Score = 3.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Gratuitous Female Nudity: +1 (Is it weird to say that this film makes me want to visit Hong Kong? Yeah, that's weird...);

Total RealReview Rating: 4.5 (happily rounded up to 5 for IMDB)

During World War II a group of nurses are captured by the Japanese army and thrown into a brutal internment camp presided over by a cruel Japanese woman (kind of the Nipponese equivalent of Ilsa). There's a subplot involving Chinese spies in the camp and a hidden cache of gold that both the Chinese and the Japanese are after, and there's not one but TWO big "bust-out" scenes.

This seems to be a Hong Kong take-off (produced by the notorious Shaw brothers)of the WIP genre made popular in the early 70's by people like Roger Corman. But since the American WIP films were usually shot in the Philipines and used Asian actors in supporting roles, and this movie cast Caucasian actresses in the lead roles, it isn't on the surface that much different from its inspiration (aside from the historical setting). However,the "American" characters here are actually Danish softcore porn stars like Birte Tove, and the whole thing apparently had to be dubbed clumsily into English, so this film lacks a lot of the character development of American WIP films. But at the same time it also lacks a lot of the chop-socky action sequences that characterized Hong Kong films of that era.

The tone of this film is all over the place. At times it is more serious and brutal film complete with torture and rape scenes. It is somewhat stronger than the American WIP films if not nearly as strong the later Eurpean WIP films made by people like Jess Franco or the notorious Italian "Nazi sexploitation" films (or their American equivalent, the "Ilsa" series). Other times, however, it descends into slapstick comedy like a long, bizarre food fight scene. Sex, as always, is the real name of the game, but even this is curiously circumspect. There's plenty of nudity (shower scenes, etc.), but when the cruel female commander apparently rapes her favorite Caucasian stoolie with a strap-on dildo, the action is kept so much off-screen that it's hard to even figure out what's happening. And after Birte Tove's character first discovers that the Chinese camp cook is a spy who is going to help them escape, she decides to have passionate sex with him, even though they just barely met, and they proceed to do so after lighting about a hundred candles--which is strange to say the least considering this is a spontaneous and furtive encounter in an enemy prison camp.

That's not necessarily to say this is a bad or entirely un-entertaining WIP film, but it is definitely a very strange one.

During World War II, a Red Cross hospital in China was ransacked by the Japanese army, and the female nurses were sent to a concentration camp. While there they are beaten, raped and tortured by the guards. However, the women have found someone to help them escape, and as soon as they get the chance, a small group of them makes a break for it. Unfortunately, things don't go exactly as planned because a traitor within the group has forewarned the beautiful but sadistic female officer in charge of security, named "Mako" (Terry Liu). And now their mistreatment really begins. Anyway, rather than reveal any more of the story and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this turned out to be a fairly good Women-in-Prison movie. I personally liked the luscious blonde prisoner named "Jennifer" (Birte Tove) and the aforementioned Terry Liu, although there were quite a few other pretty ladies in this movie as well. Be that as it may, I recommend this film to those who enjoy this particular genre, and I rate it as slightly above average.

During World War 2 a group of Chinese and American (Red Cross) woman are put into a Japanese military prison camp. They are sometimes made available to Japanese officers. A group of them seek a way to escape.

WIP (Women in Prison) films were very popular worldwide in the 1970's. Some were excellent, some awful and this one falls in the middle. Nudity & violence was required. This includes some torture and explicit violence by the Japanese soldiers. Chinese films used to show how violent the Japanese could be as memories of the war still was in the Chinese consciousness.

This could have been named House of Breasts as the first three-quarters have plenty. But they were just on screen a lot usually in long shots. There is a story and it evolves over the course of the movie which is good. Good special effects for it's time and set design at Shaw Brothers studio.

The problems include some scenes that didn't lead to anything going on way too long. They could have been edited down without losing anything. The second problem is sometimes characters do things or don't that didn't make sense. That's when I yell out "Oh, C'mon!" The third problem is the acting was very mediocre. The exception is Terry Liu who played the female head of prison security who was outstanding. A couple of continuity issues round out the problems.

It wasn't the worst movie of its kind. It just wasn't very good either. It wasn't even worth watching for the breasts.

I bought this film on DVD (from xploitedcinema.com) and expected an over-the-top, Women In Prison exploitation ride that would have me guffawing and slapping my knee as I had a good old time watching the girls get taken advantage of. It's a guy thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that BHOD kept me glued to the screen from beginning to end. It's an exploitation film no doubt, but it's done very well!

Even if a story is just loaded with plotholes, it's still a good movie if the characters are enjoyable. The female prisoners are very attractive, and the actors portraying the villains are really digging into their roles - you can tell they're having a good time. The sex scenes, when violent, are choreographed very well, and are done tastefully. Many of the erotic scenes have a comedic nature, and are welcome pauses in an otherwise non-stop action fest.

Though this film is now 30 years old, it looks like a recently-shot film. Hairstyles look fresh and modern, and there aren't really any props or items that mark this as an early 70's film. Very nice attentions to detail, even if it was unintentional.

What makes this film great is that its appeal is a lot broader than one might think. I love exploitation films and tend to watch them by myself, as my friends are into mainstream movies. But House OF Dolls is captivating enough to be watched all kinds of movie buffs. Just warn them of the impending nudity and enjoy the show :)