Caged Fury

Pure 80s cheese for fans of women's prison flicks.

Kat (Roxanna Michaels), fresh off the farm, goes to L.A. to make it as an actress and gets thrown in a fake prison where the inmates are sold as sex slaves. Her sister Tracy (Elena Sahagun) comes to her rescue, along with Erik Estrada and Richard Barathy as a mullet-ed beefcake that karate chops his way though everyone. Of course, the two guys ride off into the sunset on their Harleys with the two women behind.

Typical lesbian, leather-clad warden (Mindi Miller), huge sadistic matrons, shower scenes, simulated sexual scenes, and lots of fighting. Lots of recognizable porn stars for the fans.

For serious fans of this genre only.

When I popped "Caged Fury" into my VCR, I had no idea what to expect because I didn't have the VHS sleeve, so I thought I might be in for a kind of kick boxing movie... and I wasn't so far off. Let me explain. The film revolves around two sisters who get sent to this women's prison unjustifiably. Granted, lots of eye candy, but most of the scenes with any kind of nudity we're due to sexual harrasement and such... not much fun. Our hero is the top of the cake though. It's not explained how he is so talented at fighting, but he looked like a professional kickboxer! It was hilarious! There is no motive either for him to put his life on the line to save these two girls. Very bad though, but fun for a late night romp.

Not a good film, objectively, but a sort of archetype of the women's prison movie genre. Roxanna Michaels was extremely gorgeous, and is worth the price of admission. Some of the other actresses are porn stars, sort of slumming in an R-rated picture. If you are someone who likes women's prison movies, (and you know who you are) you CANNOT miss this one. Anyone else should probably take a pass. Grade: C-

There are some films in this world that are just so bad that they're hilarious, and Caged Fury is one of these. The hero of the story is Dirk Ramsey, a be-mulleted kung-fu superman who attempts to rescue the inmates of a women's prison. He kicks through brick walls and tackles entire gangs with only his wits and his ridiculous wig to protect him. Dirk's one liners are cornier than extremely corny corn, and the actor playing Dirk is obviously overweight and out of shape. However, this means that the fights within the film are some of the funniest martial arts scenes ever committed to film as poor old Dirk struggles to lift his leg above his waist. Most of the actresses in the film are porn stars, and spend the movie swoonig over Dirk and his burly chum Victor. I thoroughly recommend this film for anyone who enjoys a good laugh. Make a night of it; invite some friends over, stick on some Europe or Iron Maiden and watch this movie in the context that it belongs in, a celebration of pure 1980's cheese.

My review was written in March 1990 after watching the movie on RCA/Columbia video cassettes.

The first of Menahem Golan's 21st Century pics to go direct-to-video, "Caged Fury" is a haphazardly slapped together but entertaining throwback to the women in prison genre of the early 1970s. It's unrelated to a 1984 Filipino-made release of the same name.

Pic is set in the underbelly of L. A., where unscrupulous Jack Carter and Beano prey upon young girls like Utah-born Roxanna Michaels who heat to lotus land to become actresses. She goes to an audition, the videotape of which is used by Carter & Beano to frame her for a jail sentence.

It turns out to be a fke prison, run by entertainingly exortic domiatrix "warden" Ty Randolph (in the film's most impressive role). This is a front for white slavery and it takes Michaels' older sister Elena Sahagun and pals Erik Estrada and Richie Barathy to save the heroine and expose the scam.

Fast-paced pic is virtually a catalog of genre cliches, but suffers from poor editing. Several brief scenes seem placed out of order and the finale is loaded with contradictions.

Cast does a good job, particularly Michaels as the heroine and karate expert Barathy kicking every heavy in sight. Porn star Ron Jeremy, previously featured in Golan's "52 Pick-Up", pops up as a prison guard and the film opens memorably with statuesque porn star Kascha (billed here as Alison LePriol) crawling around in her lace undies trying to escape from stir.