Le Camp spécial N° 7

Famous for being the very first in the wave of sleazy "Nasty Nazi" movies, predating the Canadian "Isla" and the notorious Italian "Death Camp" movies. 2 young WAC officers go undercover as POW's in a prison camp hoping to get some information from a scientist that's being held there, before being sprung by the french resistance. Unfortunately things go wrong with the break out and they end up overstaying their welcome, They are then subjected to the same indignities as the other inmates. A few nasty scenes appear in this movie but by today's standards these could be cut by the BBFC and passed for release.

Even though they all look sensational, shocking and hugely controversial, "Nazi-Exploitation" moves generally are the most boring and irritatingly awful titles that fall under the cult-genre. There are some notable exceptions (like "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" and "Salon Kitty"), but the vast majority is just boring rubbish with awesome looking VHS-covers. "Love Camp 7" was one of the first (maybe even THE first) Nazi-exploitation flicks ever made, and it already sucked badly, so it's only logical it spawned a whole series of terrible followers. The plot is very rudimentary and implausible, as you may expect. Two gorgeous looking (talking in terms of late 60's/early 70's standards) infiltrate in a Nazi Camp where random women are picked from the streets to serve as sex-toys for German military officers. So basically, these two girls are prepared to be humiliated, sexually harassed and maybe even tortured, exclusively to study and find out more about the perverted desires of soldiers of the Third Reich??? Quite unlikely to find volunteers for that type of assignment if you ask me, but hey…this is exploitation cinema. There's an overload of full-frontal nudity in "Love Camp 7", but the actual sleaze and sex footage is – understandably – still rather tame. Nazi Exploitation gradually became more rancid and explicit, and by the time of SS Hell Camp (1977), the female cast members were even submitted to having sex with genetically engineered and super-hairy monsters. That certainly doesn't imply the later efforts in this sub genre are any less boring and inept, mind you. "Love Camp 7" hangs together by awfully written dialogs, lousy acting performances and totally intolerable characters. Enduring this film until the end credits role over the screen is some sort of torture on itself. Go straight for Dyanne Thorne's grotesque escapades in the aforementioned "Ilsa, She Wolf in the SS". Or better yet, avoid Nazi-Exploitation in general.

Love Camp 7 (1969)

** (out of 4)

Maria Lease and Kathy Williams play women who agree to be sent to a Nazi concentration camp to get some information on a scientist doing experiments there. It doesn't take long for the women (and others) to sees the horrors that are going on at the camp.

LOVE CAMP 7 is a rather historic film because it took the women-in-prison genre and took it a step further. This here was the first film to throw in the Nazi side of things and the result would end up leading to the creation of Naziploitation, which would take over drive-in screens for the next decade. A lot of people call this film boring and they call it tame. This might be true but at the same time people need to remember that this here was the first film and everything that followed had a bar that they knew they had to surpass.

For the most part I didn't find this film as awful as some have. I actually thought for the most part it was well-made and it at least looked like a real motion picture unlike so many of the films that were to follow. The film really doesn't have much of a plot but this is exploitation we're talking about so the only "plot" needed is to just get us to the next bit of nudity. Speaking of nudity, there are plenty of women undressed here and that's the whole selling point of the picture.

The majority of the 96-minute running time has women standing around their cell naked or being sexually assaulted by the guards. The women are basically sex slaves so there are countless scenes of the woman being forced to have sex. The camera knows what to focus on and this is certainly clear during a scene where the women are forced to stand in a circle and hold up buckets. The camera is in the middle of this circle and basically just goes around capturing all of the breasts.

LOVE CAMP 7 isn't a masterpiece but it does deserve credit for being the first of its type and it did get the subgenre off the ground.

For those who prefer movies that degrade women and have an overflow of rape, nudity and violence, then this movie is for you! Maria Lease plays one of 2 women who are taken captive by the Nazis. She is one of the many women that are used to "amuse" the high commanders of the Nazi Military. The buxom Lease is stripped, hung, slapped and all other forms of sexual mayhem that come with being a pretty captive of the Nazis. An enjoyable film. At the time I am sure it was considered controversial.

Made in 1969, this is reputedly the first of the Nazi exploitation films but whether that should be looked upon as something to boast about is a moot point. On the one hand the credits say that all the Nazi equipment and regalia was hired out from experts but on the other hand the production leaves a lot to be desired.

Two British female soldiers are sent into a Nazi POW camp where all the inmates are all chosen for their womanly charms in order to please the high-ranking German officers who go there for their off-duty amusement. Surely German generals would take their amusements in palatial chateaux, not in some filthy prison cells as shown in this film. Perhaps so much of the budget was spent on the boys toys that there was none left for decent locations. The acting leaves a lot to be desired as well - the camp commandant, played by the film's director gives a hammy performance, to say the least.

It seems that no-one in this production knew how to film sex scenes. Any excuse was used to get the women naked but there is nothing erotic or titillating in this film. The sex scenes were filmed in the aforementioned filthy cells where the sex was nothing more than the men groping the women to the sound of guttural groans and moans. They did not even bother to take their trousers off.

This may have been the start of the Nazi exploitation genre but this one is surely notorious for all the wrong reasons. Exploitation films are OK in my book but not this one.