Escape

Seeing Hill’s classics onscreen opened up the possibilities of the revolutionary feminist aspects baked into the women-in-prison concept, with the blatant male oppression ending in cathartic overthrow by the sisterhood. With everyone pulling out their boobies every minute, of course. It was a vicious exploitation Yin Yang and, for many, a tricky choice for date night. However, thanks to the collapse of commercial nudity, Escape can get down to the raw drive of the survival story instead of stopping to shower every 10 minutes. This is not only more appropriate, but it also increases the gravity and impact of the proceedings.

“Imagine a Douglas Sirk melodrama with machetes…”

So, against all odds, Escape is an excellent choice for a date night or even a girls’ night in. In fact, this movie is the best argument I can think of as to why Lifetime should start running non-stop blocks of cage-girl pictures. It starts revenging right away, which is exactly how a picture like this should start. A woman in a bikini goes to escape, gets bloodied up badly, and does some bloodying herself. The bikini image takes on a whole different context once you add the flesh wounds.

Also, there is the draw of the real-life menaces that are portrayed. These days, it is completely possible and even probable that young people on vacation can be grabbed and trafficked. Ford provides the perfect cathartic fantasy to movie-vanquish a real-world horror. The characters always play it smart and are as relentless as the villains are ruthless. It also looks very slick, though I question whether we needed so many Tony Scott-style swoops by the camera. It’s a dynamic visual move, but too much of it makes it feel like the camera is on a tire swing.

Once again, Escape may be miles away from what you imagine a chick flick to be, but this is slumber-party gold. Imagine a Douglas Sirk melodrama with machetes, and you are almost there.