Off the coast of Panama, there is an island with a female penal colony, run by a sadistic superintendent. When several prisoners mysteriously die, leading to a breakout and mutiny, an extensive investigation of the horrific events begins.
New inmate Marie arrives at an island prison in the women's sector and receives the number 99. The inmates are controlled by the sadistic lesbian warden Thelma Diaz and Governor Santos and submitted to torture, rape, sexual harassment and abuse. When the Justice minister replaces Diaz, Marie believes that her life will improve and her case will be reopened. Marie's disappointed with the new warden and plans to escape. But their scheme fails and the abuse they've undergone had been but a paltry hint of the torture in store.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Italian censorship visa # 53649 delivered on 10-4-1969. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Marie:
Where are they taking us?
Helga:
To the island, over there.
Helga:
[to redhead]
What's eating you? Looking forward to your holidays? Three years the judge said, didn't he? I know the medicine you need, and they don't stock it over there. Home sweet home for all three of us. The Spaniards built it and christened it, Castillo de la Muerte.
Natalie Mendoza:
"Castle of Death".
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Alternate Versions
There are two French versions with English subtitles: the director's cut, and the hardcore version, with about 20 minute total of genitalia and sex inserts shot by Bruno Mattei, showing no faces and obviously different actors. See more »
New inmate Marie (Maria Rohm) arrives at an island prison in the women's sector and receives the number 99. The inmates are controlled by the sadistic lesbian warden Thelma Diaz and Governor Santos (Herbert Lom) and submitted to torture, rape and lesbianism.
Apparently, this film "kicked off the genre in a new direction" and "was a big box office success in the U.S. in 1969." I find this somewhat hard to believe... because as much as I love exploitation and Jess Franco, this just is not all that great. Even with veteran actor Herbert Lom, it more or less has just a group of women wandering around doing a whole lot of nothing.
Not surprisingly, Franco continued to make more films in this genre, probably turning a quick profit: Women in Cell Block 9 (1978), Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977), Barbed Wire Dolls (1975), Women Behind Bars (1975), and Sadomania (1980).
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New inmate Marie (Maria Rohm) arrives at an island prison in the women's sector and receives the number 99. The inmates are controlled by the sadistic lesbian warden Thelma Diaz and Governor Santos (Herbert Lom) and submitted to torture, rape and lesbianism.
Apparently, this film "kicked off the genre in a new direction" and "was a big box office success in the U.S. in 1969." I find this somewhat hard to believe... because as much as I love exploitation and Jess Franco, this just is not all that great. Even with veteran actor Herbert Lom, it more or less has just a group of women wandering around doing a whole lot of nothing.
Not surprisingly, Franco continued to make more films in this genre, probably turning a quick profit: Women in Cell Block 9 (1978), Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977), Barbed Wire Dolls (1975), Women Behind Bars (1975), and Sadomania (1980).