Hellhole

HELLHOLE begins with the murder of a woman by a madman named Silk (Ray Sharkey), who is dressed in Rob Halford's pajamas and sports an electrocuted Elvis hairdo. The victim's daughter, Susan, witnesses the crime, and survives an attack herself, while Silk slips away like a studded, leather-clad shadow.

The ordeal puts Susan in the Ashland Sanitarium for Women, where she meets the odious Dr. Fletcher (Cult goddess, Mary Woronov!). Susan soon sees Fletcher's sadistically eeevil side! By some astonishing coincidence, Silk works at the hospital too! Luckily, a wondrous shower scene breaks out, culminating in a miraculous Greco-Roman style, kickboxing catfight!

Uh oh!

There's trouble in the cafeteria! Here comes Fletcher and her goon squad, including the halfhearted Dr. Dane (Schlock god, Marjoe Gortner!) and iron-jawed Brad (Cult, Schlock idol, Robert Z'Dar!)! Soon enough, a patient is whisked away, and we are shown Dr. Fletcher's maniacal view of modern medicine! Meanwhile, pointless nudity erupts, and Brad leers a lot. How will Susan ever survive this loony limbo of the lost?

THIS MOVIE CONTAINS: #1- Mad science! #2- Mind-twisting torture! #3- Drug-induced mutations of madness! #4- Heavenly mud therapy! #5- Unnecessary, uncalled-for, unholy nakedness every few seconds! #6- Nurses in big, paper hats! #7- An actual rubber room! #8- The most epic finale since REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS!

Exploitation film fanatics need look no further! You have reached the promised land! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!...

Pierre De Moro's "Hellhole" is everything that we can expect in a 1980s horror flick: psycho killer and a plethora of naked women. In fact, the movie seems to be an excuse to show off the babes' bodies (and I mean full frontal). The plot - so to speak - is that a young woman (Judy Landers) gets sent to a mental institution after she develops amnesia resulting from seeing her mother murdered. This particular institution is run by a sadistic doctor (Mary Woronov of "Eating Raoul") who has some nasty punishment for the inmates who get sent to the title location.

If you watch this movie expecting nothing except pure brainless fun, then you won't be disappointed. Otherwise, avoid it. Also starring Ray Sharkey, Edy Williams and Marjoe Gortner.

Shower scene. It's a jungle out there. This is a pretty decent lesbian prison flick. Lots of T&A and better than expected acting. Very similar to Reform School Girls but better. (and no dreadful acting from Wendy O. Williams). It's always nice to see Judy Landers too. A young Robert Z'dar looks almost normal in this movie making me wonder if he had work done to make himself look more like an interesting movie character. Can't write a review without mentioning Mary Woronov. Definitely not her best outing but nothing to be ashamed of either. Movies like this make you miss the 80's but there are better offerings in the genre.

This somewhat entertaining garbage stars Judy Landers as Susan, a young girl who witnesses her mother's vicious strangling. Following this, she comes down with amnesia(of course)and is sent to a mental sanitarium for women(of course) headed by the mad Dr. Fletcher(played with loads of much-needed camp by cult icon Mary Woronov),who likes to perform unorthodox drug -induced lobotomies on some of the more out-of-control inmates. There is plenty of stuff in this flick to please any die-hard camp or exploitation fan: pointless lesbian scenes, gratuitous shower scenes & nudity, camp dialogue , horrid performances(with the notable exception of Woronov), & a cast that also includes Marjoe Gortner, Dyanne Thorne(of "Ilsa" fame), Ray Sharkey, & Terry Moore. All in all, a classic midnight movie.

Objectively speaking, this B flick is a mess, with a sometimes incoherent screenplay by Aaron Butler. Judy Landers stars as Susan, a young woman who's forced to witness her mother being killed by gleeful thug "Silk" (a scenery chewing Ray Sharkey). While fleeing him, she has a bad fall, gets amnesia, and ends up confined to a mental institution for young women. And it just so happens that the mad doctor in charge, Fletcher (Mary Woronov), is up to no good, performing insidious lobotomy type experiments.

"Hellhole" is not without the charms common to such exercises in pure sleaze. This exploitation-melodrama-horror film comes complete with all of the girl ogling / female nudity that a trash lover could want. There's even a pointless mud bath sequence that one must assume was in there because the producers demanded it. There is some decent atmosphere, but there is practically no gore to speak of. Some viewers will have to prepare themselves for the fact that some story elements are introduced and then pretty much dropped: the "papers" that the bad guys controlling Silk want so badly come off as a MacGuffin.

Making it all worth watching is a B movie cast to die for. Woronov gives easily the best performance in this thing, camping it up in her turn as the female villain. Sharkey is blatantly comical and offbeat as the psycho goon. She may be very sexy, but the less said about Landers' acting, the better. Also turning up are Marjoe Gortner, Richard Cox, Edy Williams, Robert Z'Dar (in his first film), Cliff Emmich, Lynn Borden, Dyanne Thorne, and Carole White. Cox is the nominal hero, a nice guy orderly who sympathizes with Susans' plight. Z'dar is amusing as a sadistic guard. Thornes' cameo as an inmate who thinks she's an actress is a highlight.

Executive produced by A.I.P. legend Samuel Z. Arkoff, and co-produced by his son Lou.

Six out of 10.