Women's prison tale, with Lina Romay as Maria who is jailed after killing her father, played by director Jess Franco, who tries to rape her. Lesbian wardens, torture, nudity, sex, insanity a... Read allWomen's prison tale, with Lina Romay as Maria who is jailed after killing her father, played by director Jess Franco, who tries to rape her. Lesbian wardens, torture, nudity, sex, insanity and conspiracy round out the formula.Women's prison tale, with Lina Romay as Maria who is jailed after killing her father, played by director Jess Franco, who tries to rape her. Lesbian wardens, torture, nudity, sex, insanity and conspiracy round out the formula.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Dr. Moore
- (as Paul Müller)
- …
- Prison Director
- (as Monika Swinn)
- Ingrid
- (as Peggy Markhoff)
- …
- Guard José
- (as Ray Hardy)
- Maria's Father
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
There's a scene in Barbed Wire Dolls that is so perfectly horrible it should be cinematic legend. It's a young girl's flashback of her father (played by Franco himself) attempting to rape her. The entire scene is shot with Franco's patented wandering zoom, a lens slathered with vaseline and a slow motion effect you have to see to believe.
Doing double-duty as "Cinematographer," Franco apparently didn't realize you could change the frame rate on the camera and decided slow motion is best acquired through slow motion acting. Yup, actors pretending to go through the motions in real time slow motion. Hilarious.
For someone who hates his own movies and wishes he'd directed Citizen Kane, Franco's taste is not nearly as bad as the choices he consistently makes behind the camera. Within the realm of bad movies, if Ed Wood Jr. is Orson Welles, then Jess Franco is quite possibly John Ford. High praise, indeed. Barbed Wire Dolls is a B- movie with so many juicy tidbits of ineptness, tasteless raunch, camp and cliché you can't help but love this senseless mess. See the slow motion genius for yourself:
Did you know
- TriviaProducer Erwin C. Dietrich put his faith in director Jesús Franco and left him to make the film in peace, he did not see any footage until the film was finished. When Franco screened the completed film to him, he was horrified by the quality. The shots were too blurry and no movie lighting was used, it was rough and raw. Franco defended the film and explained it was the style he was going for. Still dissatisfied, Dietrich told Franco it was a terrible film and wasn't sure if he would be able to sell it to theaters. However, much to Dietrich's surprise, he managed to sell it to numerous European cinemas and the film was a decent success at the box office and received several good reviews at the time. Many years later, in an interview, Dietrich thought more highly of the film and said it was the first film to use the Dogme 95 style before Lars von Trier. Franco went on to make 16 more films for Dietrich over a three year period, and he told Dietrich they were the best years of his life.
- GoofsWhen Dr. Moore gives an injection to Bertha, He jabs the syringe into her buttock and quickly removes the needle without depressing the plunger.
- Quotes
[Maria finds a dead mouse under the food on her plate]
Maria da Guerra: Ah! A mouse!
Guard: What's wrong?
Maria da Guerra: I found a mouse here on my plate. Look at it!
Guard: So what? It adds protein to your diet.
[Guard pushes Maria's face onto the plate]
- Alternate versionsThe film was rejected for cinema (as "Caged Women") by the BBFC in 1976 and then passed with heavy cuts under the same title the following year. The 2004 Anchor Bay DVD release (as "Barbed Wire Dolls") was cut by 41 secs to remove shots of explicit sexual penetration.
- ConnectionsEdited into Les Gardiennes du pénitencier (1981)
- How long is Barbed Wire Dolls?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Les Gardiennes du Pénitencier
- Filming locations
- Castillo de San Fernando, Omoa, Honduras(Main exteriors location.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1