Nightmare in Badham County (1976) (TV)

Director:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Writer:

Jo Heims (writer)

Release Date:

5 November 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Where Innocence Is A Punishable Crime

Plot:

Two UCLA coeds have engine trouble in small Southern town. When they spurn the local sheriff's advances...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Judge | Women's Prison | Prison Guard | Nipples

Cast

Deborah Raffin	...	Cathy Phillips
Lynne Moody	...	Diane Emery
Chuck Connors	...	Sheriff Danen
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Dulcie (as Fionnuala Flanagan)
Tina Louise	...	Greer
Robert Reed	...	Supt. Dancer
Della Reese	...	Sarah
Lana Wood	...	Smitty
Ralph Bellamy	...	Judge
Leslie Albers	...	Waitress
Denise Dillaway	...	Inmate
Simpson Hemphill	...	Governor's aide
Annette Henley	...	White inmate #1
Tom Keith	...	Gas station attendant
Mary Ann Kohler	...	Inmate

Also Known As:

Nightmare

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) (video rating) | Iceland:16 | USA:R | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia)

Filming Locations:

Carrolton, Mississippi, USA

Company:

ABC Circle Films

Trivia:

This made-for-TV movie was released outside the USA in a more explicit version, proving to be an especially huge hit in China. The film's success in China was so substantial that star Deborah Raffin became the unofficial ambassador from Hollywood to China; she arranged meetings between Hollywood luminaries and Chinese leaders and filmmakers to get Chinese films distributed in America and American films released in China. Moreover, Raffin was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the picture.

A great little exploitation shocker

Combining horror and women-in-chains elements, this little gem is quite scary indeed. The star-studded cast is in great form, with many effectively cast against type--Della Reese as a prisoner with an almost-broken spirit, Robert Reed as a perverted rapist, and especially Tina Louise as a sadistic trustee. Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody--two highly underrated actresses--are very sympathetic, and the film has a cheap, seedy atmosphere reminscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Last House on the Left.

Nightmare in Badham County was shown theatrically, in a much more explicit version, outside of the U.S. This version is available on videotape and is the one I've seen. It's memorably depraved, with brutality and full-frontal nudity abounding. One skin-crawling scene in this version has a naked, repulsive lesbian guard (Lana Wood, I think) exchanging food for sex with a terrified inmate. Another has Louise pawing and whipping a naked girl. Still another has a large group of women wrestling in a field until a hose is turned on them; clothes are ripped, and one woman's panties fall down as she stands up. This version could've been a big drive-in hit in the States, but alas, it was shown here only as an ABC movie of the week.

Whichever version you get, this oppressively grim torture epic is worth watching if you're an exploitation fan. An obscure cult classic with a very powerful ending.