Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks

The cartoonish Ilsa (Dyanne Thorne) is the keeper of the Sheik's (Jerry Delony) harem, and trains the beauties kidnapped from around the world. She is just what you would expect in the role of a Nazi she-bitch.

The Americans are sending a Henry Kissinger type (Richard Kennedy) along with a naval officer (Max Thayer) to try and overthrow the Sheik and get his oil. So, what else is new? Ilsa and her henchwomen, Satin (Tanya Boyd) and Velvet (Marilyn Joi) are ruthless in their methods and devise extreme methods of torture to get what they want.

Despite what Ilsa tells the Sheik, it is apparent that she is becoming close to the naval officer. He becomes tired of her delay and devises punishment that was decidedly extreme.

Of course, there is a bloody Palace coup after that. And, Ilsa gets her reward.

The porn was decidedly soft-core.

I would definitely recommend this movie to any fans of 70's 'B' movie sleaze. Director Don Edmonds manages to pack copious amounts depravity, sex & violence into this flick, with Dyanne Thorne camping it up as the evil Ilsa. Actually, she isn't as evil as she was in the other Ilsa films. but she still manages to hand out several doses of deranged torture on her unfortunate prisoners. The film also features perhaps one of the most brutal film fights ever, when a disobedient male guard is forced to fight Ilsa's thong wearing female personal bodyguards !. I really enjoyed watching this trash - YES it is TRASH, but it KNOWS it's trash & didn't cost millions like Charlies Angels!. Now everyone has come across DVD commentary tracks which are along the lines of 'Yeah I remember that, yeah that was fun etc', but this one actually makes the film even more enjoyable. Thorne & Edmonds give a highly entertaining account of the movie, explaining why many of the performances were so wooden and how low the budget for the movie was. It makes one realise that many of our 'respected' actors would look just as bad as the cast of this movie if they were only allowed one take because the film makers only had a limited amount of film stock!. Not for the squeamish or lovers of 'quality' cinema, but great fun for sleaze addicts!.

Dyanne Thorne returns as buxom bitch Ilsa, in 'Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks—the second in the infamous exploitation series that began with the sleazy and repugnant She Wolf of the SS. Where the first film made viewers feel decidedly uneasy due to the controversial 'Nazi concentration camp' setting, Harem Keeper manages a lighter tone due to its comic book premise and tongue-in-cheek execution, yet it still contains enough violence and nudity to keep fans of the first film happy.

This time round the busty blonde sadist is to be found running a harem for evil oil sheik El Sharif, ably assisted by her two topless ball-breakers, Satin and Velvet. The buxom bitch has resorted to kidnapping beautiful women to ensure a steady supply of hot babes for the sheik; it seems that he has a nasty habit of getting carried away during sex and 'damaging' his ladies. Ilsa must train the newest additions to his harem, teaching them how to be subservient and willing to please; any resistance is punished with torture.

Meanwhile, two guests have arrived at the sheiks home; Commander Adam Scott and his associate Kaiser are hoping to convince El Sharif to give up some of his oil which lies untapped beneath the desert. As a last resort, they intend to use incriminating recordings of the sheik, secretly gathered by their undercover spy, to blackmail him into cooperating. Little do they know that the sheik has already rumbled their plan and isn't going to make life easy for them.

Ilsa, however, takes a shine to hunky Commander Adam and indulges in much rumpy-pumpy with him; when the sheik orders her to have Adam killed, she disobeys and leads a revolt against the despicable tyrant.

There is a real sense of fun to this installment of the Ilsa franchise; director Don Edmonds injects huge doses of camp into the proceedings making this film less of a 'guilty' pleasure than the first. Of course, a strong stomach and hardened sensibilities are still beneficial for those who choose to watch—there is still plenty of cheesy gore and inventive torture in evidence to qualify the film as a genuine shocker: a man has his testicles pulled off by Satin and Velvet, a thief has his hand cut off, two women have explosive vaginal implants inserted into them (which are triggered during sex), flesh eating ants eat a woman's foot, and an enemy of the sheik is doused in oil and set on fire.

It may be a different style of movie to the first one, but Ilsa Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheils is a more than worthy sequel and well worth checking out.

Rated highly by fans of the grubby 'Ilsa' series but for me it's way the weakest of the four movies. Also as Ilsa (herself), has been transported into different countries, even continents, the character or persona seems to be out of sorts with the subject matter. Still Dyanne Thorne (cult actress No 1), is always larger than life and this Italian style exploiter (extremely nasty in parts), is actually a Canadian, US co production. See it if you must.

The best of the three principal ILSA films, this one's got Dyanne Thorne, Haji Cat and the impossibly pulchritudinous Uschi Digart -- scenes such as the fight with the guards, the various audiences with El Sharif, and the tortures of Haji are just beyond belief! And you don't even want to know about the Love Machine... if you get the DVD, be sure to listen to the Director's Commentary, it's hilarious!