Tweet
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 8th, 2014.
Director: Eric Louzil
Cast: Melanie Cole, William J. Kulzer, Judi Trevor, Elizabeth Carlisle
Year: Various
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
From director Eric Louzil, the man who made Class of Nuke 'Em High Part II: Subhumanoid Meltdown and Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid comes the story of a sexy lady cop named Gillian Kaites (Melanie Cole). When she loses her partner/fiancé in a shootout with some crooks, things head south and she winds up in need of some rest and relaxation. So she gets in her car and heads out for a drive to the middle of nowhere. She stops by a scenic lake and then winds up getting tailed by two pervs in a black van. After she picks up a well made-up blonde at the side of the road, things get dicey. This blonde claims to have escaped from a nearby work farm and is freaking right out about the guys who are after her… guys who just so happen to be driving a black van.
The guys in the van pull them over, the blonde makes a break for it and soon enough, the local sheriff (William J. Kulzer) has got Gillian coming in for questioning. Only she's not. He tells her he's going to take her back to the base but winds up dumping her in a woman's prison after knocking her out with some drugs. She wakes up understandably confused about what's happened to her and soon finds herself being targeted by a tough inmate named Vicky (Elizabeth Carlisle). After a little bit of shower action Gillian becomes more acclimated to her surroundings but would still rather not be examined by the creepy doctor, be assaulted by the warden or be molested by a scary lesbian named Big Eddie (Dee 'Queen Kong' Booher according to the credits!). When it turns out that the warden is involved in a snuff film ring AND a white slave trading ring, Gillian and some of the other girls finally find they have what it takes to attempt a break out - this isn't going to end well for anyone now, is it…?
Played without any of the winking self-referential humor that populates so much of Troma's output Lust For Freedom may not reinvent the women in prison genre but it does what it does well and should therefore appeal to fans of the genre. The requisite lesbianism offers up some mildly sexy thrills and there's some enjoyable tough talking dialogue on display throughout the movie. Throw in some quality violence in the inevitable confrontation at the end of the film and a fun, if cliché ridden, series of exploitation set pieces that build to that finale and it's easy to see that this one puts cheap thrillers and entertainment value front and center.
Pretty much everybody in the movie except for Gillian is a bad guy, so she's near constantly got someone to contend with here. That keeps the movie going at a good clip and the inclusion of a few tracks from 80s heavy metal stalwarts Grim Reaper (including the film's theme song and Rock You To Hell) help to up the cult appeal ante a bit. The sex, most of which is of the forced variety, is seedy and rough and the characters consistently finding new ways to show just how despicable they really are. Never mind the fact that Melanie Cole is about as convincing as a cop as Victoria Jackson would be, because Lust For Freedom delivers the trashy goods in every other way you'd want it to.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Lust For Freedom appears on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome in a restored transfer done in 2K from the original 35mm blow up negative framed at 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. The previous DVD release from Troma supposedly presented the movie in fullframe (haven't personally seen it to confirm but that sounds right!). The presentation here is pretty solid. The elements are fairly clean and colors look quite good. Heavy grain is prominent throughout but there isn't much in the way of actual print damage to complain about. The framing looks good here and there aren't any obvious compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues at all. This would appear to be a pretty accurate representation of the presumably gritty looking source material.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 sound mix is fine. Dialogue is easy to follow and the soundtrack sounds nice and punchy without overdoing it. Some of the sound effects are a little on the hollow side, gun shots mostly, but it stands to reason that stems back to the elements. There aren't any problems with any major hiss or distortion and everything sounds fine for the most part.
The main extra on the disc is an audio commentary with Director Eric Louzil who speaks quite candidly about his experiences working on this picture. He covers the script, the locations, Troma's involvement in the movie, working with the cast and crew and more. As he produced, wrote and directed this movie, he's pretty much a wealth of information on the picture. He gives us a nice snapshot of what the low budget filmmaking scene was like in the late eighties, his relationship with Kaufman, the joys of having to try to blow up buildings in movies by using miniatures and his thoughts on Coll's acting. There's a bit too much of Louzil simply explaining to us what we're seeing happen in the movie we're watching, but when he starts dishing it the track is interesting. They did shoot the movie on location in a real jail in Los Angeles, but it's no longer an active facility in the traditional sense. He also talks about his attempts to add a bit of flavor by having sweet and innocent characters, distribution struggles in the low budget filmmaking realm, how we all 'kinda say to people' that Indians are rapists and much more!
Aside from that, we also get a ten minute video interview with a remarkably subdued Lloyd Kaufman who speaks about how he and Michael Herz came to be involved with the picture, how it was intended to and did play theaters and what makes the movie work. He also talks briefly about how director Eric Louzil came on board the production and how the movie has a bit of a feminist message. The original theatrical trailer, which hypes up the involvement of RCA heavy metal hit-makers Grim Reaper, is also found alongside menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Lust For Freedom is a lot of good, trashy fun. It's a fast paced chicks in chains picture with enough T&A and violence to keep things interesting and a really fun soundtrack from Grim Reaper! What more do you want? A good transfer? Some solid extras? Well you get that too. If you dig WIP pictures, pick this one up. You'll be glad you did.
