Chained Heat

Fans of the women-in-prison film genre, your "Citizen Kane" is here. "Chained Heat" contains every stereotyped character, every impossible (or at the very least improbable) plot point, and every bit of risible dialogue you have ever seen and heard in every other women-in-prison movie, pumps them up tenfold, and unleashed them in a never-ending barrage on your senses. And yet for all that, it's a movie that's virtually impossible to dislike. It seems to make up for all it's shortcomings by never, ever being boring, unlike many other examples of the genre. And let's face it, it has a cast for B-movie fans to die for.

I thought this was the greatest "Women in Prison" movie until "Reform School Girls" came along: It presented a gritty, "realistic" (although no real fatsos in this one) look at what our prisons must really be like. Although there was more cold blooded murder in this one, the high camp of "Reform School girls" took much of the edge from this one.

Sybil Danning and Tamara Dobson do great jobs as the leaders of their respective gangs and try to act this one up, but the rest of the cast does not seem to be taking their jobs all that seriously. This film may have one of the best prison riots ever filmed though.

If you cant get "Reform School Girls", but you can get this one, definitely give it a look!

"Carol Henderson" (Linda Blair) is a young woman who has just been sentenced to 18 months in a very harsh prison on the charge of vehicular manslaughter. When she gets there she is totally unprepared for what awaits her as "Warden Bacman" (John Vernon) is not only corrupt--but due to one of his subordinates named "Captain Taylor" (Stella Stevens)--he is incapable of exercising even the slightest control over some of the more reprehensible situations that develop within the prison. As a result the women are often beaten, sexually abused and sometimes even murdered. And because she is new Carol soon finds herself in the center of it all. Now rather than reveal any more about the story and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an average "Women-in-Prison" (WIP) movie which certainly had the potential to be much better. Although the cast was pretty good the story itself seemed to jump too quickly from one scenario to another without the necessary development to back them up. Additionally, some of the scenes were simply too unrealistic which caused the film to lose its credibility. On the other hand, this film certainly had its share of eye-candy with Sharon Hughes (as "Val") and Monique Gabrielle ("Debbie") being my personal favorites. Again though, had some of the scenes been more plausible, in addition to having a more thorough setup between them, it could have been a much better movie. As it is, I have to give it a rating of only average.

What a hoot! There's plenty here to appeal to lovers of many genres. John Vernon's acting is comically inept and the never ending stream of stunning inmates never seems to amaze. Linda Blair exhibits a constant look of concern, especially as the hilarious riot scene takes place. Sybil Danning shines as usual displaying her fine attributes regularly,

I'm a sucker for 60s and 70s exploitation movies - Russ Meyer, Roger Corman, Jess Franco, Jack Hill, Larry Cohen, all those guys. While there was some great movies made in the 80s, very few exploitation movies from that era reached those dizzying heights. Crud like 'Porky's' and 'Hollywood Hot Tubs' were the order of the day. No thanks! However 'Chained Heat' is simply sensational, comparable to the classics of the genre and will appeal to discerning trash lovers everywhere.

Newbie Linda Blair ('The Exorcist' kid all grown up) enters a tough women's prison, where lesbianism, drug use, racial tension, violence and sneering are prevalent. The white inmates are ruled by tough-talking Erika (Sybil Danning, star of more b-grade nudies than you can shake a stick at), the black ones by tough-talking Dutchess (the fabulous Tamara Dobson of 'Cleopatra Jones' fame). Also in the mix are veterans John Vernon (at his sleaziest!), Stella Stevens, and Henry Silva. The superior cast is one of the things that makes 'Chained Heat' so great. The other is the sheer ludicrousness of it! The best women-in-prison movie I've ever seen. Highly recommended!