Blade Violent (1985)

Truly Dreadful Film

One of my all time favorites.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Women's Prison Massacre transcends the exploitation genre to become a genuinely good film in its own right. Although not for all tastes, those who appreciate this film would be well advised to seek it out.The film follows reporter Emanuelle (no, not that Emmanuelle)as she is imprisoned on trumped up charges. She finds herself trapped in a hell of violent inmates and corrupt guards and soon has to fight for survival. Things only get worse when a group of male death row inmates shows up.What separates Women's Prison Massacre from other WIP films is the extremely good filmmaking behind it. Bruno Mattei skillfully constructs a truly grim atmosphere, making excellent use of lighting and shadow, along with a superb soundtrack. Particularly noteworthy is the opening scene, which brings an artsy touch to this genre production. Run out and see it now!

Emanuelle Escapes from Hell is a classic Italian WIP flick with lashings of the old ultra-violence and loads of nudity & sleaze. This is one of trash auteur Bruno Mattei's many collaborations with Eurosleaze superstar Laura Gemser and a sequel to his previous Emanuelle film Violence in a Women's Prison (aka Emanuelle Reports from a Women's Prison).The film opens with a strange, almost avant garde play being performed by Emanuelle and her two friends to the rest of the prisoners, they have face-paint on and their faces are lit with a luminous green light as they describe themselves (their characters?) in bizarre prose to the audience. Suddenly it breaks into a frenzied riot when Warden suck-up, Albina starts insulting the play and bombarding the actors with rotten tomatoes. Eventually we come to learn that Emanuelle is incarcerated because she was in the process of uncovering a corrupt government official's involvement in a drug smuggling ring and was framed for possession of drugs then sentenced to 5 years in prison.She is intensely disliked by sadistic warden Colleen (Lorraine De Selle - Cannibal Ferox, Violence in a Women's Prison, The House on the Edge of the Park) and her equally cruel guards, as well as by the warden's pet prisoner - the aptly named (due to her Albino-ish looks) Albina. Subsequently we see Emanuelle on the receiving end of plenty of beatings, an attempted drowning, and threatened with a switchblade by these corrupt prison officials. Meanwhile, four convicts being transported to death row arrive at the prison to be housed temporarily. The convicts, lead by Italian exploitation regular and Gemser's real-life husband Gabriele Tinti, manage to escape and overrun the prison then take the warden hostage. Here the fun escalates - the men run wild, raping the female prisoners and shooting anyone in their way. In one scene the most psychotic of the bunch, the razor-wielding Blade, forces two lesbian lovers to dance with their male blow-up doll Bobby(?!) before violating them. Later on after her lover is killed by him, the other lesbian hides his dropped razor in her snatch and seduces him, resulting in one mutilated penis! Overall, this is one fun little flick and a stellar effort from Bruno Mattei. There's plenty of the mandatory WIP sleaze - lesbianism, rapes, beatings, some vicious cat fights, the odd bit of gore, and a classic game of Russian roulette where the losers brains end up splattered all over Gabriele Tinti's face! Strangely enough, Gemser manages not to lose her clothes for the entire duration of the film, but there's plenty of other naked bodies on display for all you perverts. The first half of the film is straight-up WIP goodness, while the second half is more of a escaped-convicts-on-the-rampage type scenario but still excellent nonetheless. 8/10

"Women's Prison Massacre" is the last of the "Black Emmanuelle" series of films and this time director Joe D'Amato abandons his trademark sleaze for an attempt at an exploitation flick with a plot.Emmanuelle (Laura Gemser)has gotten a bit too close to exposing a corrupt government official during the course of her investigative journalism, and he has her sent to a vicious women's prison on trumped up charges. 4 dangerous male convicts (including Gemser's real life husband Gabriele Tinti) are transferred there to be held until their trials and manage to create jailbreak mayhem a nasty hostage showdown with police.I really wanted to like this film, but I just couldn't do it. The plot is a fractured mess, the acting awful and this film is so evasively shot (not enough film or budget for much visual explanation or gore, I guess) that I didn't even know what was supposed to be happening in most of the sleazy scenes (the razor blade castration, horny female convicts ripping one of the guys apart) until I read the DVD liner notes. Also gorgeous Gemser keeps her clothes on the entire time, and the actresses who do disrobe are less than stunning.3 stars, one for Laura Gemser having a genuine beauty and screen presence that deserves something better than this drivel, one was a whole lot of accidental comedy ("I'll bite your nipples off!" and the blow up doll are the first examples that come to mind), one for Lorraine De Salle sticking it out in a film where she looks extremely uncomfortable in every scene (as if she's ashamed of being in this throwaway, whimpering end to an otherwise fun series).

Every once in a while there are films that come along and enlighten us. For some it was ET for others it was Gone With the Wind and for me it was Women's Prison Massacre! I Felt moved just by picking up the box at the video store. This movie has everything sleaze, torture, sex, rape, throat ripping, violence, forced suicide, more sleaze, more sex, more torture, and more bullet hits then Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs put together. When the credits rolled tears fell from my eyes. Bravo! Bravo! I love this movie!!