Greta, the Mad Butcher (1979)

Too much of everything

Lack of good storyline.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Greta, Wanda or Ilsa the Wicked Warden, different names, same movie. This is a Jess Franco movie so within the first 2 minutes we have a bunch of naked women in a shower room, their substantial pubic hair almost hitting you in the face! This, an unofficial addition to the notorious Ilsa series, focuses more on sex & nudity (well, it is a Franco movie) than the violence of the other films. Having said that there's a very bloody fate in store for our Dyanne at the end. One other bonus is that we get to see a lot more of her ample charms than in previous outings. Released as Ilsa the Wicked Warden in the UK it's cut by 2m 31s.

"Greta - Haus ohne Männer" is a co-production between Canada, Switzerland and West Germany that resulted in a German-language movie from 1977, so it has its 40th anniversary this year. The title already gives away that this is one of famous filmmaker Jesús Franco's collaborations with the infamous Erwin C. Dietrich and the outcome is a mix of violence, thriller, porn and horror I guess. The film runs for over 90 minutes and stars Franco's regular Dianne Thorne once again as an insanely sadistic warden of a woman's penitentiary, insane asylum actually, even if many of the inmates are only insane because of the way they are treated in there. Franco once again plays a supporting character, in the first third of the movie he actually has a lot of screen time as a doctor. Lina Romay is on board again as well, even if she is not half as stunning and memorable with her very short hair in here. And Tania Busselier has also worked with Franco on several occasions, she plays the good girl here.This is the story of a young woman who tries to infiltrate the penitentiary to find out what they did to her sister. And she finds out a lot more than she bargained for. This is basically it in terms of the plot. There are major developments and character transformations and in terms of the story I would say this is better than the usual Franco movie, and certainly also better than the average Dietrich movie, but there are still moments when it feels really absurd the entire thing. And apart from some pretty hot sexual moments, there is also massive violence in here. The suffocation scene is kinda hard to stomach and I am really one who can take a lot usually, maybe because of the state the sister was in previously already. Anyway, this is not a film to watch when you are looking for great acting or a great story, but there is a whole lot of guilty pleasure material to it, also the final scene with the tearing-apart references, even depicting tigers adds some solid significance to the overall thing. I would not recommend the watch, but if you plan on getting deeper into Franco's filmography, then this one here may not be the worst pick to start with.

Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977) was the last of the Ilsa "franchise"s. I don't even think it's was a true "Ilsa" film. However it's been labeled here in the 'States as a legit Ilsa picture so I will refer to it as such. The ever reliable Jesus Franco makes a real sleaze fest with this film. I always wondered why this movie and Barbed Wire Dolls seem so similar (The ever frugal Mr. Franco shot it back to back along with The Wicked Warden).A not so bright woman wants to know what happened to her sister. She decides to "break into prison" and search for some clues. Unfortunately she finds out some hard facts about her sister first hand. Jesus Franco co-stars along with his protégé Lina Romay (who was at the peak of her hotness) as a female inmate. Dyanne Thorne stars as "Ilsa" a.k.a. Wanda. Your average sleazy women in prison flick that has one wicked ending.If you enjoy Ilsa the Wicked Warden then by all means watch Barbed Wire Dolls. An even sleazier Women in Prison flick with all of Franco's trademark weirdness and raunchiness straight from his bizarro mind scape. Great stuff and a must for all Ilsa fans.Highly recommended.Lina Romay was one hot woman.

Three things are certain in life: Taxes, death and the fact that Jess Franco makes horrible films. This was absolutely an abomination. Thats saying something for a making that has made his money by making soft core porn cannibal flicks and Ilsa is no different.Man where I do start? Horrible acting, almost no script. Dyanne Thorne is back as Ilsa wearing an incredibly fake wig and she herself doesn't look like shes into it like in the other films.She runs a prison camp and tortures other girls although in this case she now has a lesbian fun toy , a change from the other Ilsa flicks when shes interested in men.The movie doesn't have almost no shock value, and the movie is basically a set of soft porn scenes, mostly taking place in the shower, and in Ilsa's "study".The acting is horrendous, during one scene a prisoner gets shock treatment yet her reaction is absolutely pathetic, all she does is roll her eyes in disgust. LMAO.The movie then ends with Franco pathetic trademark a stupid cannibal scenes that is fake and not gory.Franco, is the one the worst wannabee horror directors I've seen. I've seen the comment on him calling him absolute pathetic but after seeing this movie and the one called "White Cannibal Queen", I can now confirm what those people have said about him.