Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Violence In A Women's Prison

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Violence In A Women's Prison



    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: May 8th, 2017.
    Director: Bruno Mattei
    Cast: Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Lorraine De Selle, Franca Stoppi
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    In the late seventies and early eighties women in prison films were big business in Italy and playing in grindhouses across the world. They were made fast and cheap and concentrated less on actual storylines than on gratuitous set pieces that served as showcases for explicit sex and violence (often times both at once). In 1983, Mattei basically shot two films for the price of one and he churned out a pair of memorable women in prison films with Violence In A Women's Prison (also known as Caged Women and presented here by Severin Films in its proper uncut form) and Women's Prison Massacre. These films used many of the same story ideas, performers (both star Laura Gemser as Emanuelle!) and some of the same sets and crew members as well.

    Story-wise what's it all about? Emanuelle is to the big house, posing as a prostitute so that she can go undercover and submit a report on human rights violations - or something to that effect. Once she winds up on the bad side of the sadistic lesbian guard Rescaut (Franca Stoppi of Beyond The Darkness), who delights in making some of the other inmates like Kitty (Maria Romano) and Conseulo (Ursula Flores) get it on for her enjoyment. Emanuelle, however, befriends an older lady who keeps a cockroach for a pet and hits it off with Doctor Moran (Gabriele Tinti), who is an inmate at the connected men's facility where a gay man who talks like Snagglepuss gets raped all the time. Adding to the insanity is the head warden (Lorraine De Selle), who struts about her chambers in sexy lingerie, peering at people through stained glass windows.

    Eventually Emanuelle is found out for the nosy reporter that she is, and things get bad for her. Oh, and at one point she's attacked by a horde of black, red-eyed rats and some women fight on a floor covered in poop.

    Yep, this one has girl on girl poop wrestling in it. God bless you, Bruno Mattei.

    Reasonably quick in the pacing department and competently shot in some decent and admittedly effective locations, Violence In A Women's Prison doesn't break any new ground in the genre but it does what it does well enough to at least stand out as a memorable entry. The whole thing has an appropriately dire vibe to it, what with the decaying prison walls (some of which are painted a sickly shade of pink!) and the large cell doors looking like they haven't been washed down in decades. Mattie might have been a hack, but he had a good eye for locations.

    Bug eyed Franca Stoppi is pretty great as the requisite lesbian prison guard. When she uses the inmates for her own sick pleasures, she really does look to be enjoying it. Her facial expressions are consistently over the top and she's nothing if not an absolute asset to the picture. Gabriele Tinti plays the kindly doctor well enough. He's charming, reasonably enthusiastic - just fine in the part. Lorraine De Selle vamps it up really nicely and looks great dolled up in her finest slinky attire. And at the center of all of this is poor Laura Gemser, a real glutton for punishment. She's got great screen presence and plenty of appeal, playing the part with the utmost seriousness and sincerity and doing a more than fine job of it.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Severin brings the picture to Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer taken from “a 2k scan from an uncensored inter-positive” and while it shows some mild print damage throughout, it is a marked improvement over past DVD editions. Detail is never mind-blowing but it is more than decent. Colors look okay and skin tones are quite natural look. Dark scenes are occasionally pretty grainy but the image retains a film-like quality that purists should appreciate. There's no evidence of any noise reduction or edge enhancement here and the disc is free of obvious compression artifacts.

    The English language DTS-HD Mono track has occasional pops on it that sound almost like a record needle dropping, but otherwise, the audio is okay. Dialogue is clean and clear and easy to follow, even if it does tend to be a little flat in the way that some older dubbed tracks are. Optional English subtitles are included.

    The main extra on the disc is an exclusive half hour featurette entitled Brawl In Women's Block which is an interview with co-director/co-writers Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi. They talk about how they got into moviemaking, with Drudi explaining how she learned to use a Movieola and what she learned from Claudio. It's clear that they have a strong affection for one another -it's almost cute to watch them here (oh and watch for a cat tail that makes an appearance here and there at the bottom of the frame and then the full cat later on!) - and they also talk about working with Bruno Mattei and their experiences on set with him. They then go on to talk about the shooting of the feature and Women's Prison Massacre around the same time, explaining what they had in common and why. From there they go on to talk about some of the cast members they worked with, being tricked by production companies, dealing with rights issues and, of course, Gemser herself. It's an interesting and well put together interview.

    Severin has also included a three-minute archival interview (originally found on the old Media Blasters DVD release) with director Bruno Mattei wherein the late filmmaker shares some quick stories about making the film and working with a few of his collaborators on it. Rounding out the extras on the disc is a radio spot mislabeled on the menu screen as a trailer, menus and chapter selection. Severin has also supplied some nice reversible cover sleeve art for this release.

    The Final Word:

    Violence In A Women's Prison doesn't turn the genre on its head but it delivers everything you'd expect from a woman in prison movie in pretty healthy doses. Gemser is solid in the lead and her fans will appreciate how much screen time she gets, while the supporting players all hold their own in which is essentially an hour and a half long festival of sleaze. Severin's Blu-ray looks and sounds pretty decent, and the new interview with Fragasso and Drudi is worth taking the time to appreciate. All in all, a nice upgrade over the previous DVD edition for an enjoyably depraved film!

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!









































    • moviegeek86
      #1
      moviegeek86
      Senior Member
      moviegeek86 commented
      Editing a comment
      I enjoyed it but found it underwhelming compared to its sequel (Women's Prison Massacre)

    • bflocket
      #2
      bflocket
      Junior Member
      bflocket commented
      Editing a comment
      Originally posted by moviegeek86
      I enjoyed it but found it underwhelming compared to its sequel (Women's Prison Massacre)
      A lot of that is Ursula Flores...

      Consuela is whiny and annoying. Albina is a bitch from Hell but makes WPM infinitely more fun.
    Posting comments is disabled.

Latest Articles

Collapse

  • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: April 30th, 2024.
    Director: Lee Frost
    Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    Hot Spur – Movie Review:

    Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
  • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Mondo Macabro
    Released on: April 9th, 2024.
    Director: Max Pecas
    Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    Death Squad – Movie Review:

    Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
  • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Quality X
    Released on: February 28th, 2024.
    Director: Chuck Vincent
    Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    Roommates – Movie Review:

    Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
  • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Jess Franco
    Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
    Year: 1970
    Purchase From Amazon

    Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

    Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
  • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Saul Bass
    Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
    Year: 1974
    Purchase From Amazon

    Phase IV – Movie Review:

    Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
  • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Radiance Films
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
    Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
    Year: 1969-1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

    Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
    ...
    03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
Working...
X