The Heat Is On, And It's Caged: Women In Prison Movies

A recurring theme you will find in my posts as time goes on is the impact that late night cable TV had on my youth. In the days before the internet, it was the one place pre-teen boys could go to see naked women that moved. Sure, the nudie magazines had pictures, but cable had movement. It was almost like they were in the room. The reason I mention this is that it was on late night cable that I saw my first Women in Prison movie (hereby referred to as W.I.P.'s throughout the remainder of this post), Chained Heat. Starring a now grown up, voluptuous and unposessed Linda Blair, Chained Heat had everything you would expect from a W.I.P., which had quite an impact on a 12 year old boy. What I didn't know, and would be happy to find out, is that Chained Heat was just a continuation in a long line of W.I.P.'s, which is one of the most enduring and popular exploitation sub-genres.

W.I.P.'s have been around pretty much since the beginning of motion pictures, but first came to prominence in the 50's, the most well known of which was 1950's Caged. The 50's movies were usually dramatic morality tales, showing the negative side of hardened prison life. The late 60's, with it's loosened code standards, brought about the new wave of W.I.P's, kicked off by Jess Franco's (who would go on to direct many more W.I.P.'s in his long career) 99 Women. Then the 70's deluge, led by stalwarts like Jack Hill's The Big Doll House and it's sequel the Big Bird Cage. Both starring Pam Grier (as did Black Mama/White Mama, making Grier one of the first stars of the sub-genre), these films introduced what would become the prevalent themes for most of the films that continues to this day, that is, young attractive inmates being abused by male guards and/or lesbian wardens, strip searches, sex, showers, sex, fights, sex, escape, the end.

That theme continued throughout the 70's with features such as the still popular Caged Heat, directed by Jonathan Demme, the controversial Ilsa movies,  Terminal Island, and Barbed-Wire Dolls, to name a few. While some contained different plot elements and varying degrees of explicit sex and violence, the ideas were pretty much the same, only the locations changed. The 80's brought more of the same: the afforementioned Chained Heat was a highlight, along with Reform School Girls most notable for starring Plasmatics front woman, the late Wendy O. Williams.

The 90's ushered in more sequels and more silicone with titles like Chained Heat 2, Caged Heat 2: Stripped of Freedom, Chained Heat 3: Hell Mountain, and Caged Heat 3000. The same basic elements are all there, except for taking place sometime in the future, one in which apparently having breast implants is a crime. Latter day installments of W.I.P.'s are done primarily as either homages or parodies, the (abundant) exceptions being fetish porn. If you're looking for riveting performances and razor sharp, deep dialogue, W.I.P.'s are probably not a well advised choice. If you're looking for sadistic wardens, women in group showers, gratuitous sex, nudity, and violence; (and if you're reading this blog, the odds of that are high) W.I.P.'s may be a good route.

They Saved Hitler's Brain

They Saved Hitler's Brain is one of the worst movies ever made. This of course, within the walls of Grindstone Grindhouse, makes it one of the greatest movies ever made. The premise itself, regarding the head of Hitler being kept alive in a jar in a plot to take over the world, is enough to give it full grindhouse credibility. The fact that extra, essentially non-related, footage was shot and added several years after it was filmed, makes it a grindhouse classic.

Originally called Madmen of Mandoras, the plot itself, while offbeat, is fairly simple. Post WWII Nazis take Hitler's head to South America, keep it alive, to try and have the Third Reich rise again. Feds from all over the world are privy to the scheme and hire people to stop it. The end. The film takes place (and was clearly originally shot) in the early 60's. In the late 60's, however, the distributor recruited some film students to shoot an extra 20+ minutes for TV. What resulted were hilarious continuity errors and nonsense segues. The best part, however, is that the actors in the bonus footage, sport long hair and mutton chops, and drive around in late 60's muscle cars (the lead actor from the added footage closely resembles Steve Perry, Journey lead singer). these scenes are intertwined with the original, older footage, where the actors are heavily Brylcreemed and wear suits and ties.

It should be known (and is probably fairly obvious) that the movie was no masterpiece before the extra footage was added. The scenes of Hitler's head in the jar making odd faces, grinning, and furrowing his brow are ridiculously (and unintentionally) funny. It would probably have been long forgotten, maybe occasionally turning up on local late night TV or maybe in a bargain bin. Thanks to the distributor and a few film students, They Saved Hitler's Brain has become required viewing for fans of bad movies.