PRISON-A-GO-GO (2005)

I’m just a little too young to have experienced first hand the wonderment of the women-in-prison sub-genre which came to fruition in the early to mid 70’s. Back then this type of exploitation cinema was a very popular medium focusing on twisted prison guards preying on vulnerable inmates, maniacal prison warden’s hell bent on extreme punishment and the inevitable struggle for power as female prisoners jockey for ever loftier positions on the cell block hierarchy. Despite missing out first time around, I have since made up time on a diet of Jack Hill flicks such as The Big Bird Cage (1972) or Big Doll House (1971) and I can defiantly see the appeal. Despite having next to no plots at all, they were still good fun with the odd shocking moment which I’m sure had a much greater impact back in the day with scenes of violence, torture and sexual predatory.

Shock-O-Rama cinema’s Prison-A-Go-Go attempts to capture a little of this bygone phenomena by spoofing the hell out of the genre with a series of slapstick gags, over-the-top characters and a story which makes school toilet paper look thick. It’s the Scary Movie of women-in-prison movies and despite its silly haphazard appearance, it’s actually very entertaining and a bloody good laugh.
The story focuses on pretty Janie (Laurie Walton), an innocent and wholesome type of gal who suddenly finds that her sister has been kidnapped and taken to a maximum security female prison in the Philippines. After committing a horrible yet amusing crime, she deliberately gets herself committed in an attempt to seek out and rescue her sister from the clutches of the prison’s mad scientist who is undertaking hideous experiments on the inmates. Once inside she has to contend with the outrageous antics of her cell mates who include Jackpot (Rhonda Shear) the prisons lusty queen bee, Crosseye ( Louisa Lawless ) and her beloved pet porcupine and Breezy ( Tina Parker) the anal smuggler whose cavity is terrifyingly vast.

This bizarre comedy throws a whole lot of genre ingredients into the mix including ninjas, zombies, scantily clad prisoners and a mad scientist, so it doesn't take a genius to realise that this movie is intended only for those with a tolerance for the inane. After all it does feature a cameo by Troma honcho Lloyd Kaufman and anything featuring him has to be completely off the wall. Amongst the real cast members we get a few familiar names including Rhonda Shear who plays the sex crazed Jackpot preying on the poor prison guards adding a nice role reversal to the usual male driven menace. Mary Woronov makes a brief appearance as the cruel prison warden appearing only for the first 10 minutes of the film and again at the very back end but doing an admirable job whilst on screen. The gorgeous Laurie Walton does a great job as the sister in search of her sibling and despite never seeing Laurie in anything previously, I hope to see much more of her in the future. Travis Willingham plays the prisons crazed scientist Dr Hurtrider and has one of the films best roles as far as delivering the humour. He reminded me a little of how Bruce Campbell might be if he were on acid, all crazy arms and eyebrows, laughing manically as he executes his twisted experiments. I laughed heartily when the good Doctor explained that one of his more extreme punishments involved inmates being tied to a chair and forced to watch Robin Williams films including....Bicentennial Man. The response from the warden said it all "you sick bastard!".
Surprisingly for a film with its roots firmly set in exploitation cinema, it has a very low skin count which, depending on your particular point of view, could be a bad thing. For me it was certainly no big deal bearing in mind that this is a spoof and not intended to mimic its source material. It does pay tribute to the amount of nudity the 70’s films contained though by offering the viewer a unique countdown clock in the bottom right corner of the screen which indicated when the next shower scene is about to appear. As can be expected this is turned into the films running joke, especially when the camera suddenly appears in the men’s shower block instead of the women’s, but it’s intention is to work on your funny bone rather than any other ‘bone’ you care to think of and it works well.

Prison-A-Go-Go director Barak Epstein and long time writing collaborator Mike Wiebe have created something a little special with their outrageous tribute to exploitation cinema. It’s a tripped out experience which will make you giggle at its absurd humour delivered with a wicked sense of timing. The script is sharp and punchy and the cast of characters, albeit a little random, are comically entertaining. Kick back with a few cans of your favorite alcoholic beverage and enjoy, art house types need not apply!