Lust for Freedom

My review was written in May 1987 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Lust for Freedom" is a sexploitation mishmash, the result of Troma acquiring an unreleased feature entitled "Georgia County Lock-Up" and fiddling with it, somewhat in the manner (though less extreme) of Woody Allen's Japanese dub job "What's Up, Tiger Lily?". Result is difficult to endure, though probably better than a straight version would have been.

Reason for this is that producer-director Eric Louzil delivered utterly listless footage, a mechanical and boring run-through of women's prison film cliches. At least the Troma dubbed-in asides, grunts, wisecracks and dumb narration fill in a few of the dead spots.

Melanie Coll portrays an undercover agent for the government who is aimlessly driving through Georgia County (supposedly located near the California border with Mexico and filmed in Ely, Nevada), when he is detained by the sheriff (William J. Kulzer), who escorts her to the women's correctional facility. It turns out this lawless county, under the auspices of dirty old man Warren Maxwell (Howard Knight), grabs women passing through, incarcerates them and sells them as part of a white slavery scam.

Premise is simply an excuse for softcore sex scenes, ranging from 1960s soft porn-style whipping scenes and rape to a sensual lesbo coupling featuring familiar sex stars Crystal Breeze and Michelle Bauer. Deana Booher, known for her tv appearances on Roller Derby and the female wrestling show "GLOW", plays a huge thug who wrestles uppity prisoners to their death.

Drab, ugly visuals make the picture appear to be 20 years older than it is, as does the content. Acting is so bad it's funny at times without the soundtrack prompting.

I also caught this on USA "Up All Night" a few years ago. My friend and I stayed awake until 3 AM just to finish it. It was too ridiculous to ignore! I also couldn't believe people actually spent money to make this film.

"Lust For Freedom" is the type of movie you watch with your buddies when you're all looking for a few thrills and a bunch of laughs. There is gratuitous violence. There are performances worse than what you see in a soap opera. There are scantily-clad women running around, fussin' and fightin' as they try to escape some slavery ring. If you're on the hunt for MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENT, "Lust For Freedom" is just what the doctor ordered. If you're looking for something even marginally intelligent, don't bother.

"Lust for Freedom" is a pretty typical entry in the familiar "Women In Prison" genre from Troma films, and considering the often outrageous and overtly campy nature of many Troma productions, this is actually played rather straight most of the time. That's not to say that it's not without its cheesy charms, of course. Most of the villains *are* overplayed. However, co- writer / director Eric Louzil ("Class of Nuke 'Em High" Parts 2 and 3), making his directing debut, handles things in a surprisingly tame fashion at first: it's a half hour into the story before we get our first shower scene, and he actually makes the viewer until the thing is half over before he starts treating us to more truly exploitative moments, with many appreciable leering shots of the female anatomy. There's also a sufficient amount of gore in the more violent moments.

Gorgeous and sexy Melanie Coll, who somewhat resembles Virginia Madsen, stars as Gillian Kaites, an undercover detective who loses her partner / fiancée in a sting gone bad. Needing a breather, she heads for the hills, only to fall prey to a very crooked ring of corrections officers who abduct mostly innocent young women and keep them prisoner. Gillian doesn't care much about anything since the loss of her beloved, but after witnessing enough depravity towards her fellow inmates, she's motivated to start kicking ass.

In general, "Lust for Freedom" just might not be sleazy or grimy enough to suit the tastes of some trash fans watching. Its script is largely of the routine variety, and Louzils' pacing is a little sluggish, but there's adequate entertainment in eyeing the assorted attractive female cast members. As was said, some of the performances are pretty unsubtle: Judi Trevor as hostile matron Ms. Pusker, Howard Knight as cheerful warden / judge Maxwell. Elizabeth Carlisle is a hoot as tough gal inmate Vicky, as is the towering Dee Booher as thuggish con Big Eddie. John Tallman is likewise fun as the creepy Jud, Elizabeth Carroll is appealing as the innocent Sharon, and William J. Kulzer is very effective in a low key turn as the morally compromised but not completely villainous sheriff; Kulzer also worked behind the scenes, functioning as stunt co-ordinator, associate producer, and special effects creator. Coll is decent in the lead.

If you're an addict of this sort of entertainment, you may be reasonably amused by this one.

Seven out of 10.

There may be messages here about the importance of freedom, but they were lost amid guffaws prompted by the abysmal quality of this movie. The screenplay was awful, the acting for the most part dreadful, the editing appalling.

Melanie Coll is marginally better than most in the film, but hers is hardly a sparkling performance. Many of the rest of the cast appear to be enthusiastic amateurs.

It appears that the censors have forced cuts to the version put on to DVD in the UK in 2004, probably because of excessive violence. But the cuts were made with sheep shears rather than anything sharper, so the viewer is left wondering how the action has moved on so quickly and inexplicably.

Don't waste 90 minutes of your life on this garbage.

This Troma Women In Prison film ticks all of the genre boxes and then some. It takes a while to get going, kicking into gear at about the half-hour mark with the obligatory shower scene, after which it's non-stop trash and sleaze all the way, making it hugely entertaining for fans of exploitation cinema.

Melanie Coll stars as Gillian Kaites, a former undercover cop who is framed by a corrupt sheriff, finding herself thrown behind bars at a women's correctional facility where the warden and staff use the inmates for their own perverted pleasures and to line their pockets.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the delights on offer…

Catfights, including a no-holds-barred wrestling match to the death.

Full frontal nudity, most notably from '80s scream queen Michelle Bauer.

A flogging/lesbian sex/rape montage, set to a heavy rock song.

Seedy warden Maxwell (Howard Knight) making snuff movies.

Scar-faced psycho Indian Jud (John Tallman) forcing himself upon innocent inmate Sharon (Elizabeth Carroll).

Elderly white slaver Doc Bass (George Engelson) leering over 17-year-old hottie Holly (Terri Beck).

Jud killing a couple on the highway, setting fire to the man and forcing the woman to crash her car (which explodes).

A violent breakout in which Gillian blasts the deserving guards and warden with a machine gun (resulting in lots of blood!).

High art it most certainly isn't, but for those with a taste for the outrageous, Lust For Freedom is well worth tracking down. I rate it 7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.