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.