It’s not very often that I find myself in a state of bafflement after watching a film, but that all changed after sitting through Jailhouse Wardress (1981), which was directed by Alain Deruelle and Jess Franco. I saw the name Jess Franco and felt rather excited. I’ve been really enjoying the fact his films are finally being given classy treatments from various boutique labels, and hoped this would be another. I wasn’t particularly familiar with this title but decided to take a chance on it. If it’s Franco, then I’m interested.
The description of the film sounded promising and featured some performers I enjoy watching, like Lina Romay and Monica Swinn. Jailhouse Wardress is actually pretty enjoyable, my problem was that it was all too familiar.
The story follows an SS Officer who skips out of the country at the end of World War II. Now, in South America, there’s a prison/lab where the women are created/forced to fulfill all the officers’ sexual desires. Run by a sadistic female warden, the prisoners hatch a plan to escape and finally embrace their freedom.
I’ve always enjoyed these types of exploitation films for various reasons. They’re outrageous, action-packed, and almost always feature a stunningly beautiful cast. Jailhouse Wardress is all that, but at the same time, it’s all very similar. So similar, in fact, that I recognized a vast majority of the film as Barbed Wire Dolls, a Jess Franco film from 1976.
RELATED: ‘Shredder Orpheus’ (1990) Blu-ray Review: Timely and Poignant
The producers used footage from that film, Elsa Fraulein SS (1977), and Hitler’s Last Train (1977), along with some new footage to piece together this one. It’s difficult for me to say this movie is garbage because Barbed Wire Dolls is a Franco favorite of mine, so seeing some of that footage in a different film was welcome in a weird way.
The dubbed dialogue is different in order to service the new story and I’m not ashamed to say I was entertained by it. I’m sure someone was out to make a quick buck after a failed project and just copied and pasted some stuff together and hoped it would work. It doesn’t, but there are quite a few laughs to be had, and that has to count for something.
MVD Classics went the extra mile to deliver a really nice-looking restoration, better than the one Full Moon has out for Barbed Wire Dolls, making it a worthy addition to the collection. Barbed Wire Dolls is basically the ultimate ‘women in prison’ film and deserves a massive release on Blu-ray with all the bells and whistles. Until then, we have a couple of releases, including Jailhouse Wardress, to wet the palate.
We’re hardworking geeks who love to geek out, but we can’t do it without you! If you enjoyed this article and want to see more like it, please consider tipping our writers. Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
, which was directed by Alain Deruelle and Jess Franco.){kind=link}