Chaleur rouge

Linda Blair has stated that she was sold this film as a "female Midnight Express." Yes, it has elements of that. But it's more like an adult remake of Born Innocent. Linda's character even has the same name, Chris. Born Innocent represents Linda's best work as a juvenile. Her performance is better in Born Innocent than in The Exorcist. Red Heat may well be her best performance as an adult. Yet this is one of the most difficult Blair films to find. I don't think it ever got a proper theatrical release in the United States, although it may have played the grind house circuit. I first saw in on VHS year ago, and watched it recently again on YouTube. It's a wildly entertaining film that's face-paced and got it all - nudity, rape, cat fights, shower scenes, suicide, etc. You've seen it all before, but the setting in an East German prison before the wall came down (actually filmed in Hungary) adds a great deal to the mood and tone of the film. For Linda Blair fans, this film is essential. For fans of women in prison flicks, it's not to be missed.

An average women-in-prison exploiter, but for a change it is set in East Germany during the period of the cold war. Remarkable are a couple of casting choices: Elisabeth Volkmann, best known from numerous silly sex comedies and the TV sketch series "Klimbim" plays the tough warden, and the usually so vulnerable Sylvia Kristel plays the inmates' top bitch (in a red wig), the kind of role normally played by the likes of Pam Grier or Sybil Danning. Volkmann has enough acting range to pull it off, but Kristel is completely and utterly miscast.

Otherwise, this follows the genre rules extremely faithfully. We have all the compulsary ingredients: shower scenes, mistreatments by the staff, cat fights, revolts, escapes, etc. Virtually a remake of Chained Heat.

Women-in-prison flick involving an innocent American tourist in West Germany who is mistaken for a spy, grilled until exhaustion sets in, and sent to jail without a word to her soldier-fiancé. After publicly nixing her hit "Chained Heat" on just about every talk show of the 1980s, it's amazing that star Linda Blair would even think of doing another jailhouse underachiever. This one, filmed in chilly blues and grays, is just as seedy and depressing. The roster comes complete with a decadently lascivious guard (gaunt, kinky Sylvia Kristel), a terrified blonde, a friendly butch, and lots of malicious broads. Blair manages (somehow) to keep her dignity and has a few strong scenes, including being interrogated and collapsing under pressure or standing up to the review board with a firm "F*** you!" The direction is fairly tight, and the movie is engrossing almost in spite of itself. *1/2 from ****

Linda Blair is behind bars again! This time in ultra-communistic, ultra-fascist East Germany (if you thought the Cold War had died down in the mid-80s, films like this and "Rambo II" make you re-think your position). She gives an earnest performance in this (plus she has one terrific topless scene), and Sylvia Kristel makes a convincing "top bi*ch". The film has moments of artistry (Blair's voice-over reading of her letter, which stops when the warden throws it away), and the feeling of grim hopelessness inside the prison is well-portrayed. But there are some pretty boring parts too, mostly in the first and last 20 minutes. The long-awaited fight between Blair and Kristel is also a disappointment, because it takes place in near-complete darkness and the director keeps interrupting it with less interesting action footage. Footnote: avoid the Region 2 DVD version, it is cut in several places. ** out of 4.

Not quite, but close! Linda Blair has proved again and again that she shares a rare quality with Mark Hamill, the ability to attach herself to one cinematic landmark and follow it with an entire career of complete trash. I saw RED HEAT on TV when I was about 11. Perhaps I was too young to understand this film's more basic appeal at that time, what I did get from it was that women in prison do crazy things to each other. Was there a plot beyond that? I'm not sure. There's something about an escape attempt but it isn't very clear. RED HEAT can really be best described as crap. It doesn't even succeed at that fun/pathetic B-movie level. The picture is alternately boring and confusing. The ending is about as clear as a muddy ditch and a lot less satisfying. I'd comment on Blair's performance if she'd actually given one. RED HEAT is a forgettable, exploitive little thing that should have been made by someone who understood the genre. I give it no stars.