Caged Fury

Released by: MGM Limited Edition Collection
Released on: June 28, 2012.
Director: Bill Milling
Cast: Erik Estrada, Richard Barathy, Roxanna Michaels, James Hong, Michael Parks
Year: 1990
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The Movie:

Directed by Bill Milling (better known in porno movie circles as Dexter Eagle and/or Bill Eagle - the man who made French Shampoo, Blonde In Black Silk and a few other classics of seventies and eighties porn!), 1990's Caged Fury stars Roxanna Michaels as Kat Collins, a would be actress who says goodbye to her dad (Michael Parks) and leaves her family home in Utah to make it big in Hollywood. One her way to Tinsel Town, she meets up with Rhonda Wallace (April Dawn Dollarhide) who helps her out by suggesting they go hang out with her photographer friend, Buck (Blake Lewis). They hit it off and decide to head out for a night on the town which involves some hair metal and an altercation with some bikers - just as Cat is about to get raped by the bikers, who should show up but a guy named Victor (Erik Estrada) and his tough pal Dirk (Richard Barathy). They save her by using motorbikes and martial arts.

With that crisis out of the way, Buck introduces the ladies to some movie producers that he knows, insisting that they'll give Cat the big break she's been looking for. It turns out that this is all a front for a white slave trade and they set Cat up with an ingenious plan that makes her look like a hooker and that lands her a stint in the Honeywell Prison. This is no normal prison though - it's lorded over by a sleazy head guard named Spyder (Gregory Scott Cummins) and a lesbian warden who wears handcuffs for a belt and a leather cat suit. One of the other guards is played by a stone faced Ron Jeremy. At any rate, when Cat vanishes, her sister Tracy (Elena Sahagun) decides to take it upon herself to head to Hollywood and find her. She calls the cops, lead by Detective Randall Stoner (James Hong), but they're not very good at police work. Eventually Tracy falls for the same scheme that landed her big sister in the big house - but wait… Victor and Dirk are still out there… maybe they can save the Collins sister from a life of unending whoring?

Though Estrada is top billed in this, he wisely ducks out about half way through and leaves all the heavy lifting action hero work in the capable hands of Richard Barathy. Seen here wearing some American Combat Karate duds (Barathy founded the school before his death and this was probably a pretty sweet promotional opportunity), his mullet and his moustache show he means business, as does his penchant for breaking bricks, busting through walls, and climbing steel fences without shoes on. He's a no-nonsense warrior, a noble man who fights for what's right and kicks evil in the ass. He also did security for Twisted Sister once but sadly passed away from Lupus when he was forty-nine. At any rate, he's fucking awesome in this movie, just obliterating anyone who gets in his way and riding around on motorcycles and hanging out with Erik Estrada. Dude is having a really good time here and it shows. When Estrada is on camera, he's fine - he's all toothy smiles and bad stunts, but this is Barathy's show all the way.

The rest of the cast? Well, yeah, Ron Jeremy shows up and gets smacked around a bit. Michael Parks is oddly cast as the girls' father and Gregory Scott Cummins is good as the sleazy guard in charge. James Hong is awesome but isn't given much to do here while Elena Sahagun and Roxanna Michaels wander around looking ditzy. Lovely and talented porn star Janine Lindemulder is instantly recognizable as a prisoner named Lulu and adult actress Julia Parton pops up here as well. You can tell from the opening shot where a female inmate bends over and crawls through an escape tunnel where this one is going… and be thankful it does. This might be a trash film of the highest order that can't quite figure out if it wants to be a comedy or a dark and serious prison movie, but so much the better and we're lucky to have it.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Caged Fury looks good on DVD by way of MGM's 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer which seems to preserve the movie's original aspect ratio. Grain is moderate throughout but it adds to the atmosphere of the film and isn't ever a problem. Only minor print damage shows up here and there in the form of the occasional speck and that's mostly in the first five minutes or so, outside of that there's nothing serious to note in that regard. Skin tones look nice and natural, black levels are strong and there are no compression artifacts or edge enhancement problems to complain about. Not a transfer that will melt your eyeballs but certainly a more than respectable presentation.

The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track sounds just fine, offering up clear dialogue without any noticeable background hiss or noise. The levels are well balanced, the score sounds good and if it's a bit limited in range, that stems back to the source. No problems here.

Extras are limited to the film's original trailer, static menus, and chapter stops set up at ten minute intervals.

The Final Word:

Caged Fury is horrible yet at the same time, it's completely watchable and plenty entertaining. Make no qualms about it, it's a tasteless, cheap, tacky film - but how can you not love a movie where a giant hairy karate guy teams up with Estrada to save partially naked ladies from a lesbian slave trader? Sleaze-tastic! And MGM's MOD DVD-R looks pretty good too. Definitely worth seeking out for fans of trash cinema, especially those with a taste for WIP movies.