Escape from Hellhole

Well, I have to tell you, I'm not a real fan of W.I.P. movies, although I've seen quite many of them. This one is not so good as f. ex. 'Bare behind bars' or 'Bamboo house of dolls', but I've seen worse movies than this one too. I've heard this is quite rare one too, so if you like to watch women tortured by nasty men, this one is for you.

This Indonesian film essentially begins with a young woman named "Indri" (Lina Budiarty) accepting an offer from a friend by the name of "Cartina" (Siska Widowaty) to leave the country in order to live and work with her in the city. Since there are no real opportunities for her in her village Indri gladly accepts. What she doesn't know is that Cartina has made a deal with a rich businessman in the sex-slave industry named "M.G" (Dicky Zulkarnaen) who specifically wants young virgins for his own twisted pleasure--and Indri fits the bill quite well. Indri, on the other hand, has no intent of voluntarily surrendering her virginity to M.G. and as a result she is thrown into a make-shift prison with other women who are routinely tortured and sexually abused by the sadistic guards. It's at this time that Indri is befriended by one of M.G.'s former lovers named "Helga" (Leily Sarita) who has some small measure of freedom and is able to provide what she can to help her out. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that for a women-in-prison (WIP) film it was greatly limited by the social customs prevalent in Indonesia at the time. Specifically, although there are several scenes involving torture, this film doesn't show any nudity. Neither does it include any scenes of an overt sexual nature. Even so, the movie wasn't that bad necessarily and the fact that it had a few attractive ladies like those already mentioned certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, I rate this movie as about average and recommend it to those who might enjoy a film of this nature.

While it's one of two movies on Tales of Voodoo Volume 1, there's no voodoo or anything supernatural in it! The box labels it "Hell Hole" but the screen title is Escape from Hell Hole. The title is confusingly similar to Hell Hole (1978) aka "Escape from Women's Hell Hole" A group of women bathe in a river and seemingly the worst thing they have to worry about is a peeping tom, who they easily overpower. No nudity in this or any other scene, however. A woman named Cardena drives up in a car and seems to be known and liked by all the women. She invites Indri to come and live in the city with her and her uncle M.G. Once they get there, it becomes clear that M.G. wants to take Indri's virginity. M.G. runs some sort of house of prostitution, and he's either in charge of a corrupt branch of the military, or runs a paramilitary outfit, or prefers for his guards to all wear military-style uniforms. The women who refuse him or otherwise make trouble get put into a prison. Indri gets sent there. The women get tortured and sometimes possibly raped by the guards. Various unsuccessful attempts at escape or rescue are made, but inevitably fail despite the obvious advantages the women have: they outnumber the guards vastly, and relatively few of the guards have automatic weapons - most have semi-automatic rifles or handguns. WIP genre enthusiasts may like it, and the fact that it was made in the Philippines gives it some novelty, but otherwise... eh.

I obtained this little piece of scuzz on the VideoAsia "Tales of Voodoo" DVD label. Quite where the voodoo is supposed to fit in, I have no idea. Indeed I would not usually connect voodoo with Indonesia anyway (let alone with WIPs).

I know and love WIP movies. I have seen most of them. I could not therefore resist this little known gem from the description given to it on the cover.

It is APPALLING. You cannot have a WIP movie if the women keep their clothes on (even in the shower!). Although it gives a nod to the exploitation genre, WIP without nudity is like a Big Mac without the beef.

As my gym teacher used to say, on the whole, I'd rather be at the disco....

Escape from Hell Hole (1983)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Indonesian WIP (women in prison) flick has a female virgin kidnapped and forced to live with a pimp at a jungle resort. When she refuses to give her virginity to the man she is tortured, beaten and spit on.

If you're looking for a wild exploitation movie then sadly this here really doesn't live up to its somewhat weak reputation. In fact, I'd really argue that this film, tone wise, is a lot weaker than some of the tamer American WIP films released back in the late 60s and early 70s. For an exploitation movie there's really not enough sex, nudity or violence to make it worth on an entertainment level. The one highlight of the picture is when our virgin friend bites off someone's tongue.

If you're a die-hard WIP fan then you might want to check this out but others should go for something better like BARBED WIRE DOLLS.