Chained Heat (1983)

I've been looking for this much praised WIP classic for years and finally found it on a Mr. Skin 2DVD set with "Red Heat" and "Jungle Warriors". I had my reservations going into it after seeing the abysmal sequel, but a lot of people consider "Chained Heat" to be the greatest women-in-prison movie of all time. It's also the movie Linda Blair blames for ending her film career. The details on the DVD box claim "Chained Heat" is completely uncut, but Amazon reviewers say a rape scene was cut along with a scene of someone shooting drugs.

Blair stars as the Carol, the level-headed first-timer, and Sybil Danning as Ericka, the woman-not-to-be-fucked-with. All of the clichés are here; sadistic prison guards, corrupt warden, lesbians, prostitution, rape, drugs, riots, soapy shower scenes and enough wool to knit a sweater. "Chained Heat" adds bit of racism to the formula, but only to take advantage of it later for a predictable "if we want to get out of here, we have to work together" device during the film's climax.

It's a fun way to spend 90 minutes, I guess, and the sort of thing I would have worn out on VHS in the 80s, but without the benefit of nostalgia it's just another genre cash-in with better than average tits. John Vernon is great, as usual, as is the synth score by Joseph Conlan, but everything else was just okay. There just isn't enough skin to make up for the plot holes and lousy acting. Compared to some of the WIP films of the 70s, this is pretty tame. There are numerous violent scenes, including a couple of deaths, but with the exception of the rape scenes, none of it is particularly brutal. I'm not sure why this is so coveted by WIP fans. Maybe people were just aching to see Linda Blair topless? This is heaps better than the sequel, but didn't live up to the hype for me.

3/5