I don't know if it's because of my intense interest in independent, exploitation, and '70s and '80s genre films or because of some hidden darkness in my soul, but, against my better judgment, I tend to enjoy women-in-prison movies and movies where a vigilante or a rogue cop administers illegal street justice to flamboyant criminals despite finding many of the elements of these films politically or ethically at odds with my value system. I'll set aside the vigilante movies for now to focus on this week's film, a "classic" example of the women's prison genre.
Violence in a Women's Prison has most of the genre's requirements in place. An island prison in a geographically ambiguous location full of beautiful women, evil lesbians, sadistic guards and wardens with severely pulled-back hair who appear to be on the clock 24/7, a wise old inmate who has seen it all, a new prisoner with a mysterious background who becomes a target of the warden, ample nudity, cruel and unusual punishment, riots, fights, gross-out scenes (in this case involving a bucket of shit and a solitary cell infested by huge rats), attempted escapes, and methodically planned revenge schemes. Veteran schlock director Bruno Mattei presents it all with style, a pretty decent pace, and much tastelessness.
An Italian-French co-production filmed in a studio in Rome, set in Brazil, and dubbed in English, Violence in a Women's Prison is also an installment of the Black Emanuelle series, a spinoff of the softcore Emanuelle franchise (if these films came out in our stupid present, they'd probably be called the Emanuelleverse because everything's a fuckin' universe to today's nerds; they're just sequels, people, not a damn universe, please grow up). The Black Emanuelle spinoffs star Laura Gemser (who is Indonesian, not Black, but the first film was called Black Emanuelle anyway) as another Emanuelle, whose work as an embedded journalist advocating for human rights constantly puts her in both dangerous and erotic situations.
In this film, Emanuelle is given a phony background as a sex worker who killed her pimp and the phony name Laura Kendall so she can be sent to the weirdo island prison and expose the abuses going on there. Once inside, she is ordered to strip naked for the prison doctor to examine her. We think the doctor is going to be some drooling pervert, but he turns out to be a decent guy who is also a prisoner at the men's lockdown next door.
Dr. Moran (played by Gemser's real-life husband Gabriele Tinti) is in jail for the mercy killing of his dying wife. He's been appointed prison doctor, with attendant light security privileges, because the head warden (Lorraine De Selle) has the hots for him. The warden is also sleeping with the prison's chief inspector and head of the men's prison (Jacques Stany), a guy who cosplays in fascist military regalia and looks remarkably like indie-film irritant Henry Jaglom, in her stained-glass windowed bedroom chambers, which also provide her with a vantage point to watch women prisoners who violate the rules be attacked by male prisoners in a hidden room.
The other major villains include the head guard, Rescaut (Franca Stoppi, star of weirdo Italian horror film Beyond the Darkness, which I reviewed a few months ago). While the head warden handles the heterosexual manipulations and tortures, Rescaut works the lesbian angles, using a prisoner named Hertha (Francoise Perrot) as her spy and muscle. Besides the sexual mind games and abuse, the prison staff also require hard labor that had been outlawed for years, are quick to brandish their clubs, and have all kinds of other freaky methods and tortures to keep the prisoners in line. The women also never seem to be allowed to use the prison yard, a privilege only the male prisoners get.
As Dr. Moran and Emanuelle grow closer and several of the prisoners concoct a plan to get their comeuppance on the abusive prison staff, the warden and the chief inspector discover Emanuelle's real identity. A scheme is hatched, a letter is smuggled out thanks to seemingly the only guy on the island who is neither a prisoner nor a prison employee (a sombrero-wearing farmer named Miguel), and a race against time begins. Of course Dr. Moran and Emanuelle take a break from this race against the clock to have some poorly timed hot sex, putting their entire plan in jeopardy, but the heart wants what it wants, to paraphrase a famous creep.
I mostly enjoy this film, but I do not respect my enjoyment. Aw jeez, I'm being too hard on myself. This is peak Eurotrash cinema, and Mattei knows how to make a nice, fat slice of exploitation cheese. Gemser is extremely beautiful and charismatic, the cast of genre vets know how to ride the line between camp and seriousness, the rat scene is truly creepy, and the action moves along at a brisk clip. The country is controlled by monstrous pigs wrecking our lives for power and profit. I think I can enjoy a women's prison movie without beating myself up.
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