Love Camp (1977) Frauen im Liebeslager (original title)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Erwin C. Dietrich (screenplay)
Erwin C. Dietrich (story)

Release Date:

13 October 1977 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

An inferno of warped women!

Plot:

A group of women are kidnapped by guerrillas and forced to serve as prostitutes for them in a jungle brothel. The sadistic female warden decapitates uncooperative girls. |

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Brothel | Female Warden | Erotica | Sex Slave

Cast

Muriel Montossé	...	Female Warden (as Nanda Van Bergen)
Ada Tauler	...	Angela Delame
Monica Swinn	...	Maria (as Monika Swin)
Esther Studer	...	Lupita Pavone (as Ester Studer)
Brigitte Meyer
Val Davis	...	Gino da Guerra (as Wal Davis)
Ingrid Kehr
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Monika Kälin	...	Tona

Directed by
Jesus Franco		(as Jess Franco)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erwin C. Dietrich		screenplay (as Manfred Gregor)
Erwin C. Dietrich		story (as Manfred Gregor)

Produced by
Erwin C. Dietrich	....	producer

Original Music by
Walter Baumgartner

Cinematography by
Ruedi Küttel		(as Ruedi Kuettel)

Costume Design by
Lisa Enderli

Production Management
Werner Zeindler	....	production manager (as Werner Zweindler)

Art Department
Walter Kaelin	....	construction coordinator
Arthur Peter	....	property master

Sound Department
Karlheinz Reiber	....	noises (as Karl-Heinz Reiber)
Hubertus Schmandtke	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Marcel Just	....	assistant camera
Ernst Spycher	....	still photographer
Hans Zweifel	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Elite Film

Distributors

• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2003) (Switzerland) (DVD) (as VIP Entertainment)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK) (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Cineteca S.A.
• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1979) (Canada) (dubbed)
• Filmways Home Video (Australia) (video)

Also Known As:

"Frauen im Liebeslager" - Switzerland (original title)

Runtime:

Germany:71 min | Spain:101 min | UK:69 min (cut version) | UK:74 min

Country:

Switzerland

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 | UK:18 | Australia:R (censored) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Cyprus

Company:

Elite Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010) (V)

Franco's Salo? Not among his best work. Silly but watchable.

Jess Franco has made some odd exploitation movies in his long and prolific career, and 'Love Camp' is one of his nuttiest. Never one to shy from jumping on a bandwagon, the title of this seems to deliberately evoke the legendary nazisploitation sleazefest 'Love Camp 7', and the plot in some ways is reminiscent of 'Salo', but with a twist. The twist being, that we aren't talking nazis here but revolutionaries. A group of young and beautiful women are kidnapped, taken into the jungle (what country? who knows) , and forced to be sex slaves for "the revolution". The female warden (who I assume is Nanda Van Bergen) is a sadistic lesbian and generally acts throughout like a poor man's Ilsa, another series of movies this tries to pattern itself on. 'Love Camp' isn't as explicitly violent as most of the aforementioned movies, and Franco seems more interested in showing lots of flesh rather than torture and gore. The girls spend most of their on screen time naked, and there are a few shower scenes and the like, so Franco sleaze buffs will not be disappointed on that score. However this is by no means near his best work, and you feel his heart wasn't really in it. Watchable but ultimately unsatisfying, I can only recommend it to complete Francophiles. Others less familiar with his work best steer clear of this one. He can do so much better than this mediocre effort!