Schoolgirls in Chains

The term 'grindhouse' gets bandied about a little too much these days (thanks, QT), but Schoolgirls in Chains is the real deal, a sleazy, low-budget shocker aimed specifically at drawing in a crowd keen to see pure exploitation—in this case, beautiful women abducted and abused by a pair of demented brothers, who have been raised by their sick mother to believe that ALL pretty young females are evil (when, in fact, it's only about 90% of them).

Trapped in the grungy basement of a remote house, the captured women are kept as playthings for man-child John (John Stoglin), whose over-enthusiastic approach to his depraved games often results in his 'toys' being broken (and consequently buried in the family's vegetable patch). Meanwhile, big brother Frank (Gary Kent) is on hand to keep the ladies in control, under the ever watchful gaze of domineering, woman-hating Mother (Greta Gayland).

When John's game of hide and seek with his latest toy Sue (Merrie Lynn Ross) ends up with the gal receiving both barrels from Frank's shotgun, Mother agrees to the abduction of Bonnie, an attractive student who John has been spying on. After Bonnie goes missing, however, her lover—a professor at her college—sets out to find what has become of her...

With a dab of psychological drama (ala Psycho), a soupçon of incest (mother loves her lads a little too much), a smidgen of rape (Frank forces himself on pretty prisoner Ginger, played by lovely Suzanne Lund), a touch of torture (I want to play doctor!), and a whole lot of grubby, low-rent photography accompanied by a suitably discordant soundtrack (complete with an effectively unsettling nursery rhyme theme), Schoolgirls in Chains achieves exactly what it sets out to do—entertain its audience through a series of sensational and sordid scenes in which girls in peril are subjected to all manner of horrors.

It's not exactly art, but it sure is fun (but don't tell mama I said so: she doesn't approve of me watching filthy girls). 7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Charming little thrust of misogyny concerning two psychotic brothers(one, a drooling, feeble-minded idiot, the other a more literate and functional idiot) who abduct random pretty girls off the interstate and imprison them in a filthy storm-cellar. The purpose for this is that the girls are regularly utilized as props for the brothers' sick, perverse "games". The reclusive mother of the boys, a strict, punctilious old broad, oversees these sadistic activities with loving but cautious approval.

A gleaming example of "only in the 70s" cinema, this lovably tactless little mud-wallow is a treasure-trove of trash-a-plenty. Incest, torture, nekkid gals, rape, and murder...all the requisite bases are covered, and there's even some almost-artful production qualities. Sure, the conceptual nuts-and-bolts of SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS might be hackneyed and unoriginal, but this flick injects some pretty edgy nastiness into those worn-out ideas and shoves them straight up your nose.

Recommended to most, and mandatory for vintage trash-film zealots...7/10

Although this Grindhouse-era sleazer is the genuine article, and features enough griminess and mysogeny to merit its title, the film's relative tameness and tediousness made for a fatiguing watch. As such, this trash is recommended only to genre completists. The women are mixed, from very hot to rather plain, and they seem to be dispatched in order of their overall sexiness. That said, however, there isn't a lot of violence here, with the majority of the encounters relegated to generic harassment and lame-o psychological domineering. The story involves a pair of backwoods brothers, whose mentally ill, incestuous mother has twisted them into dementia. After years of abuse, the brothers eventually find solace in kidnapping young women and keeping them captive in a makeshift cellar, visiting them periodically for faux-childish "playtime," which involves anything from kiddie-style doctor scenarios, unwholesome "hide-and-seek" stuff, with the brother's shooting one girl as she runs away; and miscellaneous intimidation and humiliation. There is a decent amount of nudity, but no more so than your average grindhouse flick. The dialog and scene structures are repetitive, and the story is basically a joke. In the end, this one looks fugly and sounds fugly, and you'll spend the majority of the time just admiring the 70's skin. Been there, done that, friends, and I've seen it done a whole lot better than "Schoolgirls in Chains." Unless you just have to see every entry from the sleazier end of the Grindhouse front, you can pass on this one. ---|--- Was this review helpful?

Schoolgirls in Chains (1973)

** (out of 4)

Two brothers, one a good-looking, seemingly normal man (Gary Kent) and the other a retarded, child-like man (John Stoglin) are sent by their mother to kidnap women and keep them chained up in their basement. Mommy does all of this so that her retarded son will have someone to "play" with. This film certainly fits into the exploitation genre but it isn't as wild or as sexual as the title would make you believe. During an interview on the DVD the director lets it be known that this title was just thrown on by the producer so that it would draw people in. Overall the film isn't too bad but it contains a "twist" in the story, which is so obvious that it really slows the film down because we have to wait eighty-minutes for the characters in the film to pick up on it. If I named the movie or director that this is ripping off then it would be a dead giveaway but I'd be shocked if anyone didn't have it figured out by at least the thirty-minute mark. I picked up on it right when the first clue happens and I'm sure many others will as well. Other than that the film actually delivers some decent performances and direction. The most interesting scene is one that seems to have been copied later in HALLOWEEN. There's a scene where the retarded brother is stalking a future victim and he walks from the front of the house to a side window to look in on a couple making out on a couch. This whole sequence is very close to what we see at the start of HALLOWEEN so it was interesting to see it being done here five years before the Carpenter movie. The low budget actually helps the film because it creates a nice atmosphere and really makes the movie seem all the more realistic. Kent gives the best performance in the film and Stoglin is good too even though his performance is more off the wall during certain times. The nudity in the film is rather low, although the retarded brother does like to play "doctor" with his female victims. There's really nothing too special here but there is enough where fans of drive-in exploitation will want to check it out.

"Schoolgirls in Chains" is a "Psycho" inspired low-budget slice of sleaze that chronicles the events of several young girls kidnapped by two maladjusted brothers named Frankie and Johnny who store them in a fruit cellar and routinely subject them to harassment.The films underlying theme of misogyny is primarily filtered through verbal intent rather than visual shocks.The film features Gary Kent as a brooding,incestuous bruiser,John Stoglin as his creepy retard brother and Leah Tate and Suzanne Lund.There is a decent amount of smut and perversity and plenty of nudity,so I wasn't disappointed.Unfortunetely there is not enough violence for my liking and the action is rather slow,but if you like grindhouse exploitation flicks you may give this one a try.7 out of 10.