Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks

Rated highly by fans of the grubby 'Ilsa' series but for me it's way the weakest of the four movies. Also as Ilsa (herself), has been transported into different countries, even continents, the character or persona seems to be out of sorts with the subject matter. Still Dyanne Thorne (cult actress No 1), is always larger than life and this Italian style exploiter (extremely nasty in parts), is actually a Canadian, US co production. See it if you must.

Yeah, this first installment of the notorious Ilsa-series is a real goody! It is not as disturbing as "She Wolf" or "The Wicked Warden", but also not as campy as "Tigress" was! Fans of traditional adventure flicks might love it, too. The only difference is, that "Harem Keeper" features much more sex´n violence than you may find in popcorn movies à la "Indiana Jones" and friends..! If you´re a fan of the series you know what´s awaiting you! If not, prepare for a bundled load of sleazy erotic, some bizarre torture and lots of comic-like brutality! Once more Dyanne Thorne is over the top (A pity that she doesn´t take off her clothes more often..!), but also her two African helpers named "Satin" and "Velvet" are put on a show very well! And a film where Swedish supermodel Uschi Digard is casted can´t be that worse..! Exploitation cinema at its best!!!

Dyanne Thorne returns as buxom bitch Ilsa, in 'Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks—the second in the infamous exploitation series that began with the sleazy and repugnant She Wolf of the SS. Where the first film made viewers feel decidedly uneasy due to the controversial 'Nazi concentration camp' setting, Harem Keeper manages a lighter tone due to its comic book premise and tongue-in-cheek execution, yet it still contains enough violence and nudity to keep fans of the first film happy.

This time round the busty blonde sadist is to be found running a harem for evil oil sheik El Sharif, ably assisted by her two topless ball-breakers, Satin and Velvet. The buxom bitch has resorted to kidnapping beautiful women to ensure a steady supply of hot babes for the sheik; it seems that he has a nasty habit of getting carried away during sex and 'damaging' his ladies. Ilsa must train the newest additions to his harem, teaching them how to be subservient and willing to please; any resistance is punished with torture.

Meanwhile, two guests have arrived at the sheiks home; Commander Adam Scott and his associate Kaiser are hoping to convince El Sharif to give up some of his oil which lies untapped beneath the desert. As a last resort, they intend to use incriminating recordings of the sheik, secretly gathered by their undercover spy, to blackmail him into cooperating. Little do they know that the sheik has already rumbled their plan and isn't going to make life easy for them.

Ilsa, however, takes a shine to hunky Commander Adam and indulges in much rumpy-pumpy with him; when the sheik orders her to have Adam killed, she disobeys and leads a revolt against the despicable tyrant.

There is a real sense of fun to this installment of the Ilsa franchise; director Don Edmonds injects huge doses of camp into the proceedings making this film less of a 'guilty' pleasure than the first. Of course, a strong stomach and hardened sensibilities are still beneficial for those who choose to watch—there is still plenty of cheesy gore and inventive torture in evidence to qualify the film as a genuine shocker: a man has his testicles pulled off by Satin and Velvet, a thief has his hand cut off, two women have explosive vaginal implants inserted into them (which are triggered during sex), flesh eating ants eat a woman's foot, and an enemy of the sheik is doused in oil and set on fire.

It may be a different style of movie to the first one, but Ilsa Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheils is a more than worthy sequel and well worth checking out.

Dyanne Thorne is at her campy (and sultry) finest in this second installment of the Ilsa series, delivering juicy dialogue with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Kudos also go to Victor Alexander, who plays the degenerate Sheik El Sharif to the hilt, as well as C.D. Lafleur for his hilarious Henry Kissinger impersonation. Lest anyone should think this is a comedy, well, it is, sorta... It's also one of the most over the top sleaze fests you'll ever witness. As the old saying goes, they don't make 'em like this anymore. As Harem Keeper begins, we find Ilsa at the head of a white slave ring where her primary duty is to train innocent young girls for service in the lecherous El Sharif's harem. When she's not instructing recruits on proper "tongue" technique, Ilsa also busies herself adding to her stable of eunuchs with the help of her lesbian henchwomen, Satin and Velvet. Yes, Ilsa is your classic man-hater, but the frigid ice goddess soon melts in the arms of the studly American diplomat, who's actually a spy intent on overthrowing the sheik's corrupt government. But let's not let trivial details such as story get in the way of a great performance by Ms. Thorne, who shifts between wicked witch and giggly schoolgirl with ease. Marvel as Ilsa succumbs to her own lustful desires and falls under the spell of some good ol' fashioned "manpower!" Think of it as an adult comic book come to life, full of hardcore gore (at least by 70s standards) and softcore sex, and enjoy it for what is is - trashy exploitation at its best.

I would definitely recommend this movie to any fans of 70's 'B' movie sleaze. Director Don Edmonds manages to pack copious amounts depravity, sex & violence into this flick, with Dyanne Thorne camping it up as the evil Ilsa. Actually, she isn't as evil as she was in the other Ilsa films. but she still manages to hand out several doses of deranged torture on her unfortunate prisoners. The film also features perhaps one of the most brutal film fights ever, when a disobedient male guard is forced to fight Ilsa's thong wearing female personal bodyguards !. I really enjoyed watching this trash - YES it is TRASH, but it KNOWS it's trash & didn't cost millions like Charlies Angels!. Now everyone has come across DVD commentary tracks which are along the lines of 'Yeah I remember that, yeah that was fun etc', but this one actually makes the film even more enjoyable. Thorne & Edmonds give a highly entertaining account of the movie, explaining why many of the performances were so wooden and how low the budget for the movie was. It makes one realise that many of our 'respected' actors would look just as bad as the cast of this movie if they were only allowed one take because the film makers only had a limited amount of film stock!. Not for the squeamish or lovers of 'quality' cinema, but great fun for sleaze addicts!.