Presídio, Estadia no Inferno

Linda Blair is behind bars again! This time in ultra-communistic, ultra-fascist East Germany (if you thought the Cold War had died down in the mid-80s, films like this and "Rambo II" make you re-think your position). She gives an earnest performance in this (plus she has one terrific topless scene), and Sylvia Kristel makes a convincing "top bi*ch". The film has moments of artistry (Blair's voice-over reading of her letter, which stops when the warden throws it away), and the feeling of grim hopelessness inside the prison is well-portrayed. But there are some pretty boring parts too, mostly in the first and last 20 minutes. The long-awaited fight between Blair and Kristel is also a disappointment, because it takes place in near-complete darkness and the director keeps interrupting it with less interesting action footage. Footnote: avoid the Region 2 DVD version, it is cut in several places. ** out of 4.

Not to be confused with the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle with the same name, although released just a few years earlier and clearly featuring a couple of common themes, this "Red Heat" is actually a 'Women in Prison' exploitation movie starring Linda Blair (the amount of trashy B-movies she starred in during the eighties is nearly endless) and Sylvia Kristel; the one and only original starlet to depict the legendary soft-core film character Emmanuelle. The main reason why "Red Heat" isn't very popular or even commonly known among exploitation fanatics is probably because the script aspires to be overly ambitious and politically engaging. There's too much driveling about the Cold War and political conspiracies, instead of just focusing a little more on the obligatory "WiP" ingredients such as cat-fights, lesbian perversity and dark affairs ran from inside the prison walls. Don't get me wrong, "Red Heat" does feature all these elements, only in too small portions. That's why I think the comparisons between this one and "Chained Heat" (also starring Linda Blair) are completely unjust. I just watched "Chained Heat" as well and this movie is at least ten times more boring and less sleazy.

Blair stars as an America student who comes to pay her soldier boyfriend a visit in his stationary base in West-Germany, only to hear that he wishes to delay their marriage in favor of signing up for some extra years of service. Angry, confused and out for a nightly walk, Christine witness a political kidnapping and gets apprehended herself. Forced into confessing spying crimes she didn't obviously didn't commit, Christine is taken to an old-fashioned and secluded prison institution where contact with the civilized Western world is simply a distant dream. Sylvia Kristel – wearing a hideous red wig - stars as the bitchy inmate who's actually more in control of the prison than the head warden. Meanwhile, Christine's fiancée slowly attempts to set up a rescue mission with the help of his army buddies and some political volunteers. In all fairness, the film contains a handful of powerful sequences (like, for example, Christine's exhausting interrogation) as well as neatly atmospheric set pieces and steady direction by Robert Collector. Heck, come to think of it, "Red Heat" isn't even such a bad film. It's just too slow, talkative and wannabe informative and that simply isn't what the target audiences anticipate to see. Have no fear, though, as said there's plenty of other 80's trash featuring Linda Blair out there.

A few years before the Arnold S. / Jim Belushi team up action movie Red Heat, Linda Blair made yet another prison flick under that same title. As these exercises go it wasn't bad. The look of the picture is very Eastern Bloc - lots of dimly lit concrete corridors and depressing gray uniforms - and pretty realistic. The tone is one of grim Cold War authoritarianism. East Germany is made to look like just about the least welcoming place on earth, which it pretty much was. Plus, the script is a bit more literate, more realistic, less exploitative and more politically aware than what we usually get in one of these women-in- prison flicks. The resulting movie is a little better but a lot less fun to watch than the typical women-behind-bars (WBB) flick.

And honestly, just who exactly wants a more realistic, less exploitative WBB? Most of these movies are chock full of exploitative silliness and don't take themselves very seriously, which makes for a fun / campy viewing experience. Chained Heat, for instance, is objectively a pretty terrible movie but is a lot of fun to watch, mostly because it IS so exploitative and silly. Red Heat by comparison, is more convincingly realistic than Chained Heat, but also relentlessly grim and more than a little tedious as its unpleasant tourist-in-hell story line slowly works it way along.

Not quite, but close! Linda Blair has proved again and again that she shares a rare quality with Mark Hamill, the ability to attach herself to one cinematic landmark and follow it with an entire career of complete trash. I saw RED HEAT on TV when I was about 11. Perhaps I was too young to understand this film's more basic appeal at that time, what I did get from it was that women in prison do crazy things to each other. Was there a plot beyond that? I'm not sure. There's something about an escape attempt but it isn't very clear. RED HEAT can really be best described as crap. It doesn't even succeed at that fun/pathetic B-movie level. The picture is alternately boring and confusing. The ending is about as clear as a muddy ditch and a lot less satisfying. I'd comment on Blair's performance if she'd actually given one. RED HEAT is a forgettable, exploitive little thing that should have been made by someone who understood the genre. I give it no stars.

Linda Blair has stated that she was sold this film as a "female Midnight Express." Yes, it has elements of that. But it's more like an adult remake of Born Innocent. Linda's character even has the same name, Chris. Born Innocent represents Linda's best work as a juvenile. Her performance is better in Born Innocent than in The Exorcist. Red Heat may well be her best performance as an adult. Yet this is one of the most difficult Blair films to find. I don't think it ever got a proper theatrical release in the United States, although it may have played the grind house circuit. I first saw in on VHS year ago, and watched it recently again on YouTube. It's a wildly entertaining film that's face-paced and got it all - nudity, rape, cat fights, shower scenes, suicide, etc. You've seen it all before, but the setting in an East German prison before the wall came down (actually filmed in Hungary) adds a great deal to the mood and tone of the film. For Linda Blair fans, this film is essential. For fans of women in prison flicks, it's not to be missed.