House of Whipcord

Sheila Keith was primarily a comedy actress, but Pete Walker chose to cast her against type as the sadistic warden Walker (named after himself). This is because he feels that comedy actors make the best villains. Penny Irving likewise played against type - as she mostly appeared in sex comedies such as Carry on Dick and Are You Being Served.

When Karen is hanged, it appears she has been executed by the "long drop" method in which the victim is allowed to fall several feet in order to break her neck. This is apparent in the way Karen's body disappears entirely from the frame when the trap door is sprung. Having matron Walker weigh Karen beforehand is consistent with the procedure for long drop hangings so that the executioner can calculate the slack needed to ensure a quick death without decapitating the victim. However, the rope we see attached to the gallows is far too short for a long drop hanging. It has hardly any slack at all and would have resulted in a "short drop hanging" in which the victim would have fallen less than a foot and remained completely in view at almost the same level as her executioners while she slowly strangled. The absence of slack in the rope had already been confirmed when Mrs. Wakehurst inspected the gallows the day before and tugged on the rope. If there had been more rope above the frame than we could see on screen, Wakehurst would have released it when she pulled. The rope was clearly only as long as it appeared to be with the knot at about the level of Wakehurst's chin. In short, it is physically impossible for the gallows rig shown to produce the effect displayed in the film where the rope grew several feet in between edits.

Opening credits prologue: "This film is dedicated to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment . . . ."

There have been many discrepancies about the 1999 DVD release of this title by Image Entertainment:

Featured in 42nd Street Forever! Volume 1: Horror on 42nd Street (2004)