SS Experiment Love Camp

"SS Experiment Camp", as it's known in Britain, first found fame with its promotional poster - in the early days of video in the UK, when only cheap titles were being released, video store owners brightened up their shops with its lurid artwork of a tortured semi-naked girl hanging upside down in a prison yard, with the spooky face of an evil Nazi officer hovering behind. The result was outrage, and the beginning of the Video Nasties panic, resulting in the banning of this and almost 80 other films.

I don't think "SS Experiment Camp" is currently available uncut anywhere in the world, which is hardly surprising - even Anchor Bay would turn their noses up at this one. Obviously it's in UNBELIEVABLY poor taste, and yes it does take ludicrous liberties with its portrayal of Nazi death camps, but what really stands out about this movie is how appallingly bad it is. All these things come together most startlingly in the memorable scene where a lady prisoner, who has been repeatedly raped to orgasm by a sadistic female doctor, piles marmalade onto her bread and sighs "I haven't had marmalade for ages...if these guys keep treating us like this, they've got my vote!" Jaw-dropping.

The torture scenes aren't very realistic, but they're INCREDIBLY mean-spirited (the even-worse sequel to this movie, the charmingly titled "SS Camp 5: Women's Hell" has more torture, which the filmmakers absolutely revel in). "SS Experiment Camp" is a very, very badly made film - those of us with a taste for extremely sick kitsch watch it for its ludicrous, campy sleaziness - for which we should be thankful. If it was a well-made film, it would be pretty impossible to watch without puking your guts up.

Okay, I honestly don't know why I watch movies like this. They handle about an unpleasant substance, the production values are extremely poor and the videostore lady always looks at you like you're some kind of dangerous psychopath when you rent them. Yet, these Nazi-exploitation movies have an enormous cult-value and they bring intriguing controversy. Well, usually that is, since this "SS Experiment Love Camp" is an utterly boring mess! The story is set in a vicious medical camp-base, where the best German soldiers are brought to copulate with resistant enemy women. Supposedly, this serves a higher purpose but they're never actually telling us what that might be. When a stud-soldier unexpectedly falls in love with his mating partner, his body is used for another – much more vile - medical experiment, namely the world's very first testicle transplant! "SS Experiment Love Camp" is an infamous video-nasty and, although it really sounds like one, it's hardly worth calling a shocker. The repulsiveness is limited to a few sequences (a girl gets both boiled an iced in a water tank, another one is hung bleeding by her feet) while the rest is of the film talkative dullness about the superiority of the Third Reich etc etc... The cast of characters features your usual lesbian warden, a perverted elderly guard and a fugitive doctor. The camera-work is weak and the torture devices are pathetic. If you do feel the uncontrollable desire to watch a Nazi exploitation movie, you can never go wrong with "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" or Tinto Brass' "Salon Kitty". Please, do avoid this garbage at all costs.

When I decided to see every film on the DPP 'Video Nasty' list, I knew I'd be letting myself in for some rubbish; but I really didn't expect anything this depressingly awful. This movie transcends the bounds of 'so bad it's good' and just becomes bad. There are some other bad films on the list, but most of those at least have some redeeming values; this one really does have nothing. The centrepiece of the film has to do with the 'first ever' testicle transplant, and that's the only narrative that runs throughout. The rest of the film is padded out by lots of pointless 'experiments' and other tedious happenings, and it's clear that director Sergio Garrone wanted to make this as sleazy as possible in order to sell tickets - but I like sleaze, and this isn't it. This film was, like The Driller Killer, banned in the UK because of the cover art; and that's hardly surprising, as aside from the aforementioned transplant and a few sex scenes; there really isn't anything here to warrant banning, or seeking the film out for. I've been thankful to the DPP and their shopping list in the past, as it's allowed me to discover some great hidden gems such as The House on Straw Hill and The Witch Who Came From the Sea; films that I otherwise might not have seen, but I'm annoyed that I bothered to see this. On the whole, there's nothing to see this movie for; and I certainly don't recommend it.

This is one of the many sleazy World War 2 Nazi camp movies. The poor female POW's get raped and groped by all and sundry at the camp, but in an amusing comic twist the commandant decides he wants a new pair of testicles and so removes them from one of the hunky guards, who doesn't seem to realise until he goes to bonk one of the French prisoners. This provides one of the most amusing scenes when he confronts the commandant and says "What have you been doing with my balls?". This is another title responsible for the "Video Nasties" furore by the media. Although by today's standards it could be passed with BBFC cuts.

Maybe one of the saddest things a human being can do is to watch a movie like "SS Experiment Love Camp" and criticize it. It's like what did you expect? I understand it when people analyze and discuss compelling works of film like "Apocalypse, Now", but the fact that you with your own will sit through a nazisploitation piece of litter such as this, and have the balls to talk crap on top of it? Oh man, that's ridiculous. And the fact that I'm making an effort to write about this 1976 video nasty, proves that I'm one of these freaks.

As one might suspect, the title gives away everything you possibly need to know. It's exactly what it says. Some people might confuse this to an actual porn feature in whatever weird store that holds this thing in their shelves, but it's a lot lower than that. There are many many naked chicks and almost every scene introduces a pair of genuine POW tits, but the sex/orgy scenes deliver nothing more than the usual sleazy scrubbing that goes on just so they can reach a full feature length.

There's basically four sections to this film: soft-core eroticism, surgical scenes to show some gory guts, female torture scenes, and pointless dialogue about the cunning plans of the Nazis. It's like these ingredients were put in a blender to produce an extra sloppy script. And yes, there is a romance between one of the Nazis and a prisoner. Who would have thought?

Many people find "SS Experiment Love Camp" boring, and that's because it is boring. Even the most deviant scenes aren't much anything to behold. Everything relies merely on naked breasts and screaming. Fans of gore will be disappointed and bored to death, while woman haters get what they want. God forbid if a feminist ever gets near this thing. That's also the beauty of exploitation cinema; most of the stuff that was produced in the 70s alone would never get into a theater these days.

This movie is bad. Watch it if you're a weird exploitation buff like me who just can't keep away from this crap. Also mandatory for video nasty perfectionists, all sorts of psychos, and SSadists. If some mistake this to a cheesy "so-bad-it's-good" flick, they have made a mistake that will probably just leave a bad taste in their mouths.