Violenza in un carcere femminile (1982)

Director:

Bruno Mattei

Writers:

Olivier Lefait (screenplay)
Ambrogio Molteni (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

The strong ones take the weak ones give.

Plot:

Emanuelle goes undercover into a prison to expose the corrupted officials who are brutalizing the inmates...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Lesbian Sex | W.i.p | Psychotronic | Fifth Part

Cast

Laura Gemser	...	Emanuelle / Laura Kendall
Gabriele Tinti	...	Doctor Moran
Maria Romano	...	Kitty
Ursula Flores	...	Consuelo
Antonella Giacomini	...	Malone
Franco Caracciolo	...	Leander
Françoise Perrot	...	Hertha
Lorraine De Selle	...	Head Warden
Jacques Stany	...	Chief Inspector
Leila Durante	...	Pilar (as Leila Ducci)
Franca Stoppi	...	Rescaut
Raul Cabrera	...	Miguel

Also Known As:

Caged Women (Italy)
Chicks in Chains
Emanuelle Reports from a Women's Prison
Emanuelle reportage da un carcere femminile (Italy)
Emmanuelle in Hell
Pénitencier de femmes (France)
Violence in a Women's Prison (Canada: English title) (video title)
Women's Penitentiary 4

Runtime:

UK:94 min (DVD version) | Canada:99 min (unrated version) | USA:90 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (uncut) (2008) | France:-16 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Beatrice Film

Movie Connections:

Featured in Malevolence (2004/II)

TEPID TALE OF TITILlATION & INCARCERATION

After the sordid delights of 'SS Camp 5 - Womans' Hell' and the bleakly disturbing 'Womans' Camp 119', Bruno Mattei says farewell Nazis and, plumps instead, for a bunch of jailbirds for his next 'women incarcerated' chunk of sleaze.

It is unfortunate I didn't have a copy of 'Blade Violent' to compare this with, this film used the same cast,same sets and virtually same plot. A plus point is that I can review this purely on single merit. On a whole this is a fairly average entry in the Women In Prison genre, featuring three scream queens Gemser, Stoppi and De Selle taking the main roles. Unfortunately these stalwarts of sin cannot save this movie from being a little mundane. The movie tells the tale of our intrepid reporter Emanuelle (Gemser)undercover in a female penitentiary as an inmate. Her task is to report on the corruptive and inhumane practices within the prison/penal system. Eventually we are thrust into the unsavoury W.I.P world where beatings are regularly brandished out by deadpan officers with bad hair, sapphic shennanigans are occurring regularly by the suitably looking 'rough' females and there is of course the obligatory humiliation, mental and physical.

I am unsure whether it is because this is Matteis' first stab at the W.I.P genre (though SS films can't be all that dissimilar surely ?) but I feel the whole movie is rather a tame effort. There a few nasty surprises that borderline on the humourous such as the 'poo punch-up' and a very novel way of bell ringing. The rape sequence, although voyeuristically unsettling to begin with, you gradually find yourself amused as two inmates play pass the parcel with a scantily clad virgin most of this sequence and you wonder in disbelief whether this will end or not.

The direction is well achieved as Mattei uses commendable editing, although the sets are basic, there is still an oppressive decay to the whole affair. Most of Matteis genre films 'Zombie Creeping Flesh','Rats;Night Of Terror','Womens Camp 119' seem to have this vein of industrial atrophy, clinical but chemical and it is this polluted environment that always is the backdrop to some of Matteis' movies making them seem 'nasty'.

Despite sniggering at the dialogue, cringing at the effects and laughing at the dire continuity you always sense a stagnancy that sets the tone from the first frame and lingers throughout until the very last credit. I appreciate Mattei as a director for his grim 'simplicity' and his matter of fact 'I-made-the-films-because-thats-where-the-money-was' attitude. I often think Mattei could've moved onto bigger things but on occasions has been incorrectly underrated.

Buy this to add to the Emanuelle collection, The Mattei collection or WIP Collection that may grace the living room shelf.

VIEWED; UNCUT UNRATED R1 DISC - 99 MINUTES