El reformatorio de las perdidas

Barbed Wire Dolls (1975)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

A young woman (Lina Romay) is sent to prison after accidentally killing her father (Franco himself) who was trying to rape her. Inside the prison she must deal with an evil warden (Monica Swinn), a mixed up doctor (Paul Muller) and all sorts of sexually hungry lesbians. As far as WIP (Women in Prison) films go then this is without question the best one I've seen as it has no limits to the amount of trash it will go to whether it be violence, torture, nudity or sexual abuse. The film never takes itself overly serious and instead is just a good time if you can stand this type of thing. Romay has the perfect look for the good girl and really delivers on that level. Her sexuality certainly shine through as does the rest of the girls. I've said quite often that no one knows how to film women better than Franco and his camera is constantly looking over all the beautiful women and picking up everything he can. Swinn is also in good form as the lesbian warden who love to torture and rape. Franco keeps the action moving through the rather short 80-minute running time, which is a great thing as the film never slows down or gets boring. All of the women makes for good characters to root for and all he bad guys are great villains including the Governor who gets his kick watching his assistant do the women. The highlight of the film however belongs to a flashback sequence where we see Romay kill her father being played by Franco. This scene, shot in slow motion, is just so incredibly silly that you can't help but laugh out loud.

Now some people are complaining about the lack of plot, however there is a plot; a weak one, but yes it is there. Most characters are pulled from Ilsa - The Wicked Warden (another Franco movie) and yet all I wanted was for Dyanne Thorne to play a cameo. As a fan of exploitation movies such as Ilsa, I was hoping this was going to be something familiar. And by 'something familiar' I don't mean the same characters and same set. I'm looking for new torture, new sleaze and the like. Other then super fake electrical shocks there is none of that. Just badly dubbed naked girls who pretend to masturbate. If that's what I was looking for then I suppose I would have to have rated this movie more then a 4/10 but it was a little to soft-core for me. And for that I apologize.

Lurid does not begin to describe this Jesús Franco women-in-prison film. Lina Romay is sent to prison for murdering her father. The prison is run by a jackboot-wearing female warden and a serial killer prison doctor who killed the real prison doctor and is now posting as said doctor. There was a whole cycle of women in prison films in the 70s and 80s, and this one probably had more nudity and torture than any I've seen before, though I have to admit I have not yet seen SS HELL CAMP, which is supported to be the most extreme of this cycle. I watched a beautifully restored Blu-ray of this film from Full Moon Features, but this film is utter crap. However, it is definitely a film that's so bad it's good, the most hilarious moment being a flashback to when Romay kills her father. To save money, instead of shooting the scene in slow motion, director Franco has the actors fighting with one another as if they were moving in slow motion. The scene is so badly done I could not believe what I was seeing! Making matters even more bizarre, Franco was dating Romay at the time and played the abusive father. It's a scene that has to be seen to be believed. There are so many other bizarre scenes, such as one of the prisoners masturbating while holding a lit cigarette, with ashes falling on her genitalia or the reoccurring electric shock treatment scenes. There's really just no describing this film, but I feel like I should give this terrible movie an extra half a star for the entertainment value I got out of the terrible bit of filmmaking.

"Barbed Wire Dolls" has to be one of the sleaziest Women in Prison epics ever created.This is Franco's first film for Swiss producer Erwin C.Dietrich and it offers tons of nudity and sleaze.A beautiful Maria(Lina Romay)is imprisoned in a penitentiary run by a cruel lesbian warden(Monica Swinn).She is accused of murdering her father(played by Jesus Franco himself)but the wardress actually did the deed.Once in prison,Maria is tortured by being tied nude to metal bed-frame which is hooked up to electrical current."Barbed Wire Dolls" is as sleazy as they get.The film features incredible amount of sleaze including whippings,masturbation with a cigarette,lesbian sex scenes,rape and a close up of one of the inmate's private parts being penetrated by a guard's fingers.The acting is actually not bad and the film is never boring.So if you're a fan of European exploitation give this dirty classic a look.9 out of 10.

Well, I didn't go into this film expecting anything over and above the usual sleaze from prolific director Jess Franco, and while I've certainly seen worse films from the director; this isn't exactly a highlight for him either. Barbed Wire Dolls is another one of those sleazy 'women in prison' in films, and aside from the obvious implications of this sort of film; Franco has seen fit to make things even sleazier by way of things such as a lesbian warden and a whole host of sadistic torture sequences. There's basically no plot in this film, although there is a little slither involving a young woman and her father, whom she is believed to have murdered. This plot never takes centre focus, however, and Franco seems keener to continually show filth, which is no bad thing if you ask me. However, there's only really so far a film like this can go with no plot to speak of, and the fact that Franco didn't care at all about telling a story is shown best at the end, when it just 'ends' without any resolution. Still, sleaze fans are likely to get a lot out of this film as there's naked chicks, violence, lesbians, sadism etc, and while I don't rate this too highly; I can at least say I enjoyed watching it. What?