Even though CAGED WOMEN, Mattei's other prison flick, had better music and better lesbian soft-core scenes, this one takes the cake in the trashiest atmosphere yet. Right off the bat you feel immersed in the pure sleaze of this movie, complete with clantily clad women mouthing some of the dumbest dialog I've heard. The film essentially picks up, however, when Gabriele Tinti and 3 other male inmates escape from a prison escort and take a guard (Carlo De Mejo from CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and TERROR EXPRESS) and the warden (Lorraine De Selle from CANNIBAL FEROX) hostage. The following half-hour or so, in which the male con's brutalize and rape the female prisoners is completely hallinatingly dirty. Luigi Ceccerelli's piano music and some weird attempts by Mattei to get some Dario Argento-ish lighting help the atmosphere out a little, and there's plenty of action and gore to keep most fans of the genre awake. The best part hands down has a girl blowing her brains out after a game of Russian roullete -right all over Gabriele Tinti's face while he laughs gleefully!
Genre fans should also watch for Jacques Stany and Laura Gemser, who used to be a big porno sensation worldwide. One of the pseudonyms for this film was EMANUELLE ESCAPES FROM HELL and Gemser's character is named "Emanuelle", but other than that there is little or no relation to any of the other Emanuelle films I've seen. Mattei's subsequent efforts were by far less polished and original, though some of them so laughable (like ROBOWAR, ZOMBIE 3, and COP GAME, that they remain outrageously entertaining.
I urge most fans of sleaze and depravity to check this one out.