Bad Girls Dormitory

This film begins in New York City with a couple of female teenagers being sent to a juvenile detention facility for crimes they did not commit. When they get there, they find that the environment is anything but ideal as some of the guards prey upon them to satisfy their sexual appetites. In addition to that, one mentally unstable detainee named "Lisa" (Jennifer Delora) exerting her dominance over most of them due to her fighting prowess and reckless attitude. To make matters even worse, the director of the facility named "Miss Madison" (known only as Marita) deliberately looks the other which, in turn, makes things even worse. What nobody counts on, however, is one particular detainee named "Lori" (Carey Zuris) who refused to be abused any further. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a cheap women-in-prison film which relies upon scenes of either a violent or sexual nature. The problem, however, is that none of these scenes were really that impressive or interesting. At least, I didn't think so. Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a terrible movie necessarily, I honestly cannot rate it any higher than I have.

This is about as good as you'd expect from a group of novice actors, a minuscule budget and a story that must have been made up as they went along. It seems to have been shot in an abandoned Pizza restaurant, with static exterior shots of a huge grim old building arbitrarily inserted here and there. All the familiar W I P tropes are aimlessly trotted out, in most cases without a fig-leaf of basis or logic. As obligatory sadistic wardens go this one, abysmally acted, seems very tame and does little to warrant her bloody fate. Pretty Jennifer Delora gives her all in the largely unmotivated fight scenes and Rebecca Rothbaum really looks the part as the corrupt Nurse Stevens, making it worth a viewing at least for fans of trashy movies.

This opens with a trio of set-up-but-innocent girls getting arrested and shipped off to the titular facility. The place is run by Miss Madison, who wants to do some experimental reconditioning techniques on her charges and social worker Don Beach (Rick Gianasi) is concerned. Lori (Carey Zuris) emerges as our leading character and, naturally, there are tough chick adversaries in the form of Lisa (Jennifer Delora) and her sidekick Rebel (Donna Eskra). And, even more naturally, Lori and Don hook up.

If you want some 80s NYC sleaze, you can't go wrong with this. Sporting a lo-fi BASKET CASE aesthetic, BAD GIRL'S DORMITORY is rife with dirty NYC alleys, grimy apartment buildings, and basements with peeling paint. I love it. The acting is universally bad but lead Zuris, who looks a bit like Marilyn Chambers, is actually decent. She didn't do anything else. I'd also give Delora points for her tough chick portrayal (she is interviewed on the Media Blasters DVD). Special mention should be made for the obviously pseudonym donning Marita as the warden Miss Madison. Looking like a porn variation of Bridgette Nielsen in ROCKY IV, she is hilariously bad and her bizarre accent makes me suspect she may be Angelika Jager (another pseudonym?) from Kincaid's ROBOT HOLOCAUST (1986). Given how awful Jager was and the proximity of the two productions, they must be the same lady.

Entertainingly inept low budget sleaze set in the title place, with a series of sordid episodes on the way to the climactic action. The inmates are at the mercy of corrupt, leering, creepy staff, and among the story threads there's a girl who gives birth, our lead is raped by one of the guards, and there are assorted fights that go on. This melodramatic trash is brought to us by writer / director Tim Kincaid, who stresses the actresses' assets every chance he gets. Fans of "babes behind bars" cinema will be pleased to note the number of shower scenes. The acting, not surprisingly, is largely of the so-bad-it's-hilarious variety, with some choice dialogue along the way. Dan Barclay is particularly funny as Dr. DeMarco, what with his delivery. The accent of co-star Marita as strict warden Miss Madison definitely adds to the fun factor. Carey Zuris is sincere as principal character Lori, as is Natalie O'Connell as the naive Paige; Jennifer Delora and Donna Eskra are amusing as bad gals Lisa and Rebel, and Rick Gianasi is a hoot as nice guy guard Don Beach. The editing is choppy, and the pacing quite leisurely. It's clear Kincaid has padded this out as much as possible. The impossibly protracted dance sequence is proof of this; it goes on so long it's a riot. The look is very grungy all the way through thanks to the cinematography of Arthur D. Marks, and the non-stop pop / rock score composed by Man Parrish helps to enliven some scenes. Edward French supplies the gore, which greatly assists in the enjoyment of this scuzzy little flick. The fight scenes are awkwardly staged, and the action never too invigorating, but it's hard to deny the clunky charm of the film, which certainly does have its heart in the right depraved place. Seven out of 10.

Heck, I'm giving it a 10 cuz I star in it as Lisa and because I can. It's really exactly as reviewed. But a romp nonetheless.

Only wanted to add that if you checked the IMDb & other sites you'd see that I've been extremely busy starring in films after that and then for ABC, CBS, TV and so forth. SO I didn't stop at the low budget genre that they were. Yes those fights were pitiful mostly because the other woman did not follow the choreography: i ended up so bruised and battered: her kicks to my stomach were real, and so forth. Every choreographed move that was a hit became a kick and the kicks became hits so she beat the crap out of me!! Lots of stories about it but hell, the movie gave me a career. If it wasn't for 7 seconds in the shower topless I wouldn't have been de-crowned from Miss Ulster County for Miss NY Miss America and gotten the calls for all the work I've done. So the publicity didn't hurt! Just had to watch it for a thing I'm doing at my old high school where they've studied horror films and the like for their film history classes and they studied mine (poor them) and I'm going there for a "Inside the ACtors Studio" type thing for the school and have to show scenes and talk about all those films including this one that not at the time, but later made me a name and I STILL all these years later have fans of all those films so they are bad to the bone, but at least in a humorous, Saturday night nothing better to do way.

ENJOY Jennifer Delora