L'enfer du plaisir

First things first, I quite enjoyed "Sadomania". Despite its low budget, the film is visually impressive with some atmospheric cinematography by Juan Soler.

In terms of plot, it comes as no surprise to learn that the script was adapted from an unused "Ilsa" screenplay. There are many similarities between the "Ilsa" films and "Sadomania". Here, transsexual Ajita Wilson plays Magda Urtado, the wicked warden of "a prison from hell". Well, a prison that contains nubile young women who all look like escapees from Hefner's Playboy Mansion. This is a cue for all sorts of softcore goings-on.

The film's tiny budget is obvious - some of the guards' weapons look like they've been sourced from the bargain bin of "Toys R Us" and the crocodile special effects are somewhat rubbery. On top of this, the prison governor's car is somewhat shabby for a man in his position. However, the film overcomes these trivial obstacles and proves entertaining, even if some of the humour is unintentional.

"Sadomania" even has an appearance by Franco himself as a homosexual brothel owner. As Franco was not keen on contact with a fellow man, Ajita Wilson was asked to play his lover, without wig and disguised by a moustache.

7 out of 10. Not half as seedy as you'd imagine it to be. It could do better in the exploitation department but the cinematography really is rather good.

Even though it's not a real word, the title pretty much sums this one up completely. Sadomania is yet another exploitation 'women in prison' film from the insatiable Jess Franco. I certainly don't have a problem with this sort of film in theory; I mean, who wouldn't want to see a bunch of naked lesbians having sex with each other inside a sleazy prison? But the fact is that these films are often really boring, and once you've seen one - you've seen them all. This one actually has a base plot, and it focuses on a couple of newly weds who get pulled over. She gets thrown into a lesbian jail, and he gets set free! (Sounds a bit unfair to me, who's going to cook his dinner?). After that, it's business as usual as the clothes budget was so miniscule that Franco couldn't afford to have his performers wear much; so everyone appears naked, while a few set pieces that involve a woman being 'hunted' and various other sleazy goings on populate the rest of the movie. I actually managed to get myself a copy of the 'uncut' version, which runs at a massive 102 minutes. As usual, a lot of this movie is filler that could have been cut but, I suppose, for what it is; Sadomania isn't a terrible film.

A young couple, just married, ignore the sign to not trespass. The moral of the film is obey the signs, but the movie has few morals. The main wardrobe item is a pair of daisy dukes, if they are even wearing anything. Even the guards are topless. If one took out scenes with nudity, there would only be a very short film left. The story is nothing new. The warden gets prisoners, and for this film, they all were apparently cast from a modeling agency, for a corrupt Governor, who naturally is married but impotent. He also likes to play a game, and it involves a naked woman trying to escape, and a rifle. It gets boring and predictable. But plenty of full frontal.

I can't help thinking that this is Franco's 'hamage' to the Marquis de Sade's "One Thousand Days of Sodom". People (in this case women) abducted to serve as slaves to a privileged elite? Check. Kinky sex? Check. Torture including whipping? Check. Victims chosen at random to be killed? Check.

Thank goodness Franco didn't go the whole hog and introduce cinema audiences to the delights of coprology (and indeed coprophagy), another perversion that crops up repeatedly in de Sade's tediously long and disgusting saga.

I rather hoped that this film would fall into the 'so bad it's good' category. But even the acres of naked flesh and numerous sexual encounters didn't make up for the dismal dialogue, dreadful acting, elusive plot and - just to put the tin hat on it - dubbing AND English sub-titles (a belt and braces approach missing from the women's costumes). The Alsation gave a very professional performance though.

Of course I could be wrong about the de Sade angle. After all, I failed to realise that the actor playing the head warden at the 'prison' was a trans-sexual. I must pay more attention to the size of people's hands in future.

According to another reviewer, the film was banned in the UK. Well it clearly isn't any more, though I fancy that the nipple-needling scene was cut to satisfy the censors. On the DVD I watched, it was only clearly visible on the Spanish trailer (which, in case you're wondering, I watched to compare it with the English one).

The DVD also features an interview with Jess Franco, though you'll need better Spanish than mine to understand it. Unless I'm much mistaken it's neither dubbed nor sub-titled. And it points out that the person sodomising the character played by Franco is Ajita Wilson disguised using a moustache. Kind of ironic, given that (s)he had had the requisite appendage surgically removed.

In Spain, a newlywed couple parks their car in a deserted land to make love and they trespass a private property. They are taken to a women's prison and the husband Michael (Ángel Caballero) is released by the warden Magda (Ajita Wilson) while his wife Olga (Uta Koepke) is arrested and forced to hard labor. Soon she befriends Kanita (Andrea Guzon) and Tara (Ursula Buchfellner) and she learns that the women in the prison are submitted to sexual abuse to satisfy the sadistic and lesbian warden and the impotent Governor Mendonza (Robert Foster) and his bisexual wife Luwa (Gina Janssen). Meanwhile her husband returns to the prison with a friend expecting to rescue Olga while Kanita and Tara are sold to a brothel.

"Sadomania - Hölle der Lust" is a soft-porn with a ridiculous and absurd story of sexual violence. Michael's friend is murdered and forgotten by the plot. Olga never dresses a shirt after rescued by her husband. But who cares? This sleazy and outrageous exploitation shows one of the greatest number of naked women, including the 20 year-old German Ursula Buchfellner, who was the Playmate of the Month and centerfold of October 1979. The warden is performed by the transsexual Ajita Wilson. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Sadomania"