Given the immeasurable amount of “women in prison” movies it is difficult to imagine that anything new or shocking could be brought to the screen. However the Spanish/Italian production of “Escape From Hell” is certain proof that Jack Hill and Roger Corman weren’t the only ones with a panache for delivering scenes of half naked prison ladies being tortured and abused. In fact “Escape” is merely one rape scene – tied to a lesbian scene – tied to a cat fight scene – tied to a hardhearted sadistic beating. In true Euro-sleaze fashion, the film ends on a downer as the bulk of the girls are murdered in their attempt to escape. Interestingly, the film featured a starring role for real-life transsexual Ajita Wilson; she bares the fake goods alongside the more natural “talents” of the other actresses. This gritty display of steamy sex and misogynistic atrocities is incredibly graphic and successfully steam rolls over the viewer for its 93 minute turn. The film was immediately banned in
Finland. As Troma so aptly puts it, “Escape From Hell is the mother of all ‘women in prison’ movies.”
