Escape from Hell (1980)

recommended

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

One of the sleazier entries in the women-in-prison sub-genre of exploitation flicks, this obscurity is a Spanish-Italian co-production that boasts realistic-looking sweaty jungle locales – indeed the realism of the surroundings is the film's high point. The low budget nature of the production and the grim, dirty look of the actors (none of the Hollywood white teeth nonsense here!) make it seem also like a documentary, so it taps into the could-be-real buzz of similar jungle flicks like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. The emphasis in this film is very much on sex, with many near-hardcore moments inserted periodically into the proceedings to pad out the slim plot and offer titillation to the male viewer.Sadly, watching ugly men committing sexual acts on unwilling women is not my idea of fun, so I fast-forwarded these moments. There's not much to say about them really, other than the women are unsurprisingly attractive and the guys all have those sleazy '70s porno moustaches. The exception is Anthony Steffen, a one-time successful spaghetti western actor who must wonder what the hell he's doing here. Playing a washed-up alcoholic doctor, when I saw Steffen performing apparently unsimulated oral sex on one of the actresses, I wondered how close the 'alcoholic' label was to the truth. Steffen's good value for money, even here, but it's sad to see how the once mighty have fallen (reminds me of Cameron Mitchell's turns in schlocky '80s horror flicks).Anyone who's seen any prison flicks will know what to expect from this one. There are gun-toting guards, happy to shoot anyone who steps out of line; tortures for those committing forbidden acts; a corrupt governor (this one played with customary gleeful relish by Italy's Peter Lorre, Luciano Pigozzi); lesbian acts (ever-present is transsexual star Ajita Wilson, who has a weird nude dance seemingly inserted into the jungle footage near the climax) and finally a mass escape. There really any violence or gore in the film until the last twenty minutes, where things finally pick up and the film turns into a halfway decent action flick. Somebody gets covered in leeches, innocent people are shot and Steffen has a shoot-out with the bad guy guards, blowing holes through their bodies with his shotgun in some surprisingly realistic special effects shots. Things culminate in an ending which is unusually poignant, considering what's come before. Director Edoardo Mulargia is another one who saw better days with his '60s-made spaghetti westerns, and he finished his career with the double bill of this and ORINOCO: PRISON OF SEX; a similar flick which shared locations and actors. Trashy days!

I must not have done my research or just forgot that I was about to watch a 1980 Italian "women in prison" flick because my jaw dropped upon seeing some of the sex scenes in this. I am wondering if there is an X-rated version floating around out there because it was obvious that there was some real oral sex going on in this movie.Another reviewer mentioned they thought this was Troma's worst film in their library. You must not have seen all of the Troma films because Troma has some real stinkers. But I wouldn't call this a Troma library film, but a Troma sponsored re-release. There are Troma films and then there are films that Lloyd Kaufman buys the rights to so he can make more cash on them by packaging them and releasing them. This is one of those. I guess if Troma was going to re-release a "women in prison' flick this is fits the Troma standard- trashy.

A film so good they made it twice (they shot the equally lurid `Hotel Paradise' at the same time), and even released a scratch mix version called `Savage Island' with Linda Blair which wasn't so good. We all know by now that the plot involves a couple of dozen half naked women being terrorised by the brutal guards in a jungle prison camp. It also has a host of titillating titles which translate as `The Torture Camp of the Dear Witches', `The Dear Witches of the Rio Cannibale' `Escapees from the Love Camp' and `Infernal Women', although that was the original. In Britain it was called `Hell Prison' and back in 1980 when I saw it the cover was enough to get me interested, probably a bit too interested. I've seen it twice since and might even buy the DVD one day.On the cast, everyone seems to know about the late Ajita Wilson, but have you noticed that Christina Lai (Vivien) appears in Moonraker for all of two seconds (credited there as Christina Hui)? So 1979 was a big year for her. All of which set me to thinking who she really was, and what was her real name. Well, she was Miss Italy 1978 (then known as Loren Cristina Mai). Further `research' reveals that Zaira Zoccheddu, who plays `Lucy' was a Miss World contestant in 1974, but she finished nowhere. Don't you just love the internet?Also Anna Maria Panaro (aka Annamaria Pace) appeared in a couple of `Sword and Sandal' epics in the 60s and then seems to have disappeared until she turned up in an episode of Sex and the City. Here she plays `Marie Antoinette' who pretends to be mad and has an affair with a dog to keep the guards off her case, smart move.Handsome Serafino Profumo (`Martinez') has a scary list of film credits, though I think the IMDB has missed at least one of those icky Italian Nazi-sex epics of the 70s. And Brazilian born Anthony Steffen did a lot of spaghetti westerns before landing his greatest role here as the alcoholic doctor.Wow, there's certainly more to this skin-fest than meets the eye. I'm going to write a thesis on this movie. Or maybe start a fan club which is long overdue. Help me out and I guarantee a million hits.Whoever has the rights should be informed that some of us are crying out for the director's cut. Or maybe we could arrange a 25th anniversary reunion somewhere in Italy.

This is about your typical "women in prison" type scenario. The women are incarcerated, try to escape, get raped in the process etc.etc. There is a lesbian scene towards the end but, the rest of the movie was quite boring. I found myself pressing the fast-foward button most of the time. I would say forget about it but, the love scene in the cell was eye catching and is probably the only reason I would recommend this film.