Hellhole Women (1981) Sadomania - Hölle der Lust (original title)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Jesus Franco (screenplay) &
Günter Ebert (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 March 1981 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Female Pubic Hair | Bare Breasts | Woman Kills Woman | White Slavery | Female Removes Her Dress

Cast

Ajita Wilson	...	Magda Hurtado / Man Having Sex with Lucas
Andrea Guzon	...	Mercedes Llorens 'Coñito' (as Andrea Guzzon)
Ursula Buchfellner	...	Tara Lindberg (as Ursula Fellner)
Antonio Mayans	...	Governor Mendoza (as Robert Foster)
Uta Koepke	...	Olga Kowalski
Ángel Caballero	...	Michael Gordon
Gina Janssen	...	Loba Mendoza (as Gina Jansen)
Otto Retzer	...	Mario
Tania Sandoval	...	Miriam
Diana Capdevila	...	Head wardess
Jesus Franco	...	Lucas (as Jesús Franco)
Consuelo Tejera
María del Carmen González
Patricia Quow	...	Juna
María Encarna Tejera
Maria Luisa Sancho		(as María Luisa Sancho)
Antonio Ros
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Raymond Hardy	...	Prison guard (uncredited)
Marie Luise Lusewitz	...	Uschi (uncredited)
Nadine Pascal	...	Beba (uncredited)

Directed by
Jesus Franco		(as Jess Franco)

Writing credits
Jesus Franco		(screenplay) (as Jesús Franco) &
Günter Ebert		(screenplay) (as Gunter Ebert)

Produced by
Julio Parra	....	producer

Original Music by
Jesus Franco		(as Jesús Franco)

Cinematography by
Juan Soler		(director of photography) (as Hannes Furbringer)

Film Editing by
Jesus Franco		(as Jesús Franco)

Set Decoration by
Rolf Albrecht

Makeup Department
Marie Luise Lusewitz	....	assistant makeup artist (as Marie-Louise Lusewitz)
Elisenda Villanueva	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Julio Parra	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lina Romay	....	assistant director (as Rosa Almirall)

Camera and Electrical Department
Angel Ordiales	....	assistant camera
Juan Soler	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Lina Romay	....	assistant editor (as Rosa Almirall)

Other crew
Antonio Mayans	....	production assistant (as José Antonio Mayans)

Production Companies

• Plata Films S.A.
• Lisa-Film
• Gold Internacional Films

Distributors

• Golden Era Film Distributors (GEF) (1982) (UK) (theatrical) (cut)
• Blue Underground (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• CIC Video (Canada) (VHS)
• Threat Theatre (video)
• Video Search of Miami (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Arcofón  sound post-production

Also Known As:

"Sadomania - Hölle der Lust" - Spain (original title)

Runtime:

Netherlands:84 min | Spain:103 min | USA:67 min | Germany:84 min

Country:

Spain | West Germany

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | UK:18 (slightly cut) | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Denmark:16

Filming Locations:

Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company:

Plata Films S.A.

Trivia:

In the scene where Lucas is seen having sex with a young man, the role of the young man is actually played by lead actress Ajita Wilson, minus her wig and wearing a fake mustache.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scenes where Mario is rescuing the girls at the brothel and at the prison, he changes from pants to shorts, and then back to pants again.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Spoony Experiment: Spoony Snob: Revenge in the House of Usher (#4.6)" (2011)

Franco's 'hamage' to 1,000 Days of Sodom

I can't help thinking that this is Franco's 'hamage' to the Marquis de Sade's "One Thousand Days of Sodom". People (in this case women) abducted to serve as slaves to a privileged elite? Check. Kinky sex? Check. Torture including whipping? Check. Victims chosen at random to be killed? Check.

Thank goodness Franco didn't go the whole hog and introduce cinema audiences to the delights of coprology (and indeed coprophagy), another perversion that crops up repeatedly in de Sade's tediously long and disgusting saga.

I rather hoped that this film would fall into the 'so bad it's good' category. But even the acres of naked flesh and numerous sexual encounters didn't make up for the dismal dialogue, dreadful acting, elusive plot and - just to put the tin hat on it - dubbing AND English sub-titles (a belt and braces approach missing from the women's costumes). The Alsation gave a very professional performance though.

Of course I could be wrong about the de Sade angle. After all, I failed to realise that the actor playing the head warden at the 'prison' was a trans-sexual. I must pay more attention to the size of people's hands in future.

According to another reviewer, the film was banned in the UK. Well it clearly isn't any more, though I fancy that the nipple-needling scene was cut to satisfy the censors. On the DVD I watched, it was only clearly visible on the Spanish trailer (which, in case you're wondering, I watched to compare it with the English one).

The DVD also features an interview with Jess Franco, though you'll need better Spanish than mine to understand it. Unless I'm much mistaken it's neither dubbed nor sub-titled. And it points out that the person sodomising the character played by Franco is Ajita Wilson disguised using a moustache. Kind of ironic, given that (s)he had had the requisite appendage surgically removed.