DVD Review: Women in Prison Triple Feature

Women in Prison: Triple Feature
Escape from Hell; Women in Cell Block 7; The Hot Box

DVD Released: June 30th, 2009
Approximate Running Time: 92mins; 100mins; 88mins
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles: None
DVD Release: Retro Shock-o-Rama
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $24.95 Click to Buy at HK-Flix

Escape from Hell

"The explosive tale of nubile women forced to work as slave labor in the jungles of Brazil. Beaten and tortured by their heartless captors, they endure every humiliation imaginable. Only the snake-infested jungle offers a glimmer of hope for survival. A super hardedge WIP by the legendary Edward Müller and starring transsexual bombshell Ajita Wilson."

This was a Spanish-Italian co-production and it has all the necessary traits for a WIP movie, sweaty nubile women, evil sadistic prison guards and of course a transsexual (Ajita Wilson) biting the head off a snake! Director Edoardo Mulargia is at the helm here, able supported by Anthony Steffens and Luciano Pignozzi. This is an extremely rare piece of exploitation cinema with no MPAA rating to it's name and play dates for the film has proved impossible to nail down!

Women in Cell Block 7

"A Mafioso’s daughter goes undercover in a women’s prison to clear her father’s name. Stripped of all human dignity, the inmates submit to terrible tortures and sell their souls for a few hours of lesbian lust. A legendary Italian WIP featuring the super-sexy Anita Strindberg (The Eroticist) and the lovely Jenny Tamburi."

This flick actually has a great plot with the Italian mafia double crossing the New York mob and as a result a huge score of drugs has gone missing and in order to find out where it is, the suspects girlfriend is put in prison to jog his memory so to speak. But, there is more as the Interpol agent who is investigating the case becomes even more involved when his daughter is put in the same prison to get close to the girlfriend and hopefully find the truth!

Released in 1973 in Italy and directed by Rino di Silvestri and with good turns from Anita Strindberg and Jenny Tamburi, it was an exploitation favourite during the 70's with it being released in many countries under many different titles!

Like most Italian exploitation flicks, this delivers the goods!

The Hot Box

"Four hot American nurses are kidnapped by guerrillas and forced to join the cause. As the junta strikes back, the ladies are caught in a deadly crossfire. A classic American WIP produced by Jonathan Demme (Caged Heat) and drive-in legend Roger Corman and starring the seductive Laurie Rose. The revolution never looked so sexy!"

With Roger Corman producing with Jonathan Demme ("Silence of the Lambs") and Joe Viola directing this very loose Women in Prison movie is the most accessible of the 3 included in this package and the most fun! Four US nurses volunteering in South America are captured by rebels and forced to look after their fallen colleagues and fellow mercenaries! However nakedness still ensues and we get an eyeful of their charms as well as copious amount of guns, explosions and car chases!

Although more a "sexy nurses" movie, this is a solid production that belies its low budget roots, with Charles Dierkop being perhaps the most well known actor involved and will be recognised from playing Santa Claus in "Silent Night, Deadly Night"

A really enjoyable flick even if not a proper WIP title!


Transfer and Audio

Unfortunately full frame transfers are the name of game here with equally uninspiring mono tracks that prove difficult to listen to. Add to this the lack of subtitles and it can prove a little difficult at times to understand what is transpiring! However given their rarity, this can be forgiven and it's great to have these movies on DVD at all!

Extras

This is a 2-disc release with Disc 1 housing "Escape from Hell" and "Women in Cell Block 7" while Disc 2 has "The Hot Box" and a "Retro Shock Trailer Vault". The collection also comes with a very well researched 8 page booklet with loads of info on all 3 movies!

Trailer