Escape From Women's Prison (Severin Films Blu-Ray Review)

Is Escape From Women’s Prison Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Severin / April 30, 2019

From legendary exploitation producer Dick Randall – whose credits include classics like THE WILD, WILD WORLD OF JAYNE MANSFIELD, THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE and PIECES – comes one of the most strangely depraved EuroSleaze sagas of the ‘70s: When four hardened female convicts escape and take a women’s tennis team hostage, they’ll force the girls into a nightmare of lesbianism, Marxism and murder. Supermodel-turned-porn-queen Lilli Carati (Joe D’Amato’s THE ALCOVE) and Zora Kerova (ANTHROPOPHAGUS, CANNIBAL FEROX) star in this politically charged filth-fest – also known as JAILBIRDS and WOMEN AGAINST WOMEN: A STORY OF SEX AND VIOLENCE – from writer/director ‘Conrad Brueghel’ (aka Italian actor Giovanni Brusadori of EMANUELLE, QUEEN OF THE DESERT), now featuring a new 4k scan of a dupe negative seized from notorious NYC distributor 21st Century Film Corp.

Jamie’s Take (2 / 5)

Don’t let the cover art on the blu ray fool you (which was also the cover art for the movie poster as well). This is not your typical 70’s women-in-prison film with abundant gratuitous violence and sex, although there is plenty of female flesh on display to satisfy you horndogs.

Italian actor Giovanni Brusadori’s only directorial film is rather strange as the film opens with four women breaking out of a prison (the prison almost looks like a castle but then again, this was shot in Europe) while our main heroine Monica (Lilli Carati) leads the women to her brother who is the getaway driver only to be shot by police before they escape.

The escaped prisoners come upon a bus full of female tennis players who they hold hostage, forcing them to the home of the judge who sentenced the women. While Monica nurtures her dying brother, the rest of the prisoners end up either beating up some of the other female tennis players or have sex with them. For those sensitive to rape scenes, there are quite a few here with women raping men, women raping women and men raping women. Everyone gets raped! Thankfully the rapes are not violent and pretty mild. I had to laugh at the one man being raped as it is obvious the actor was not turned on as his sleepy sausage lays twisted on his stomach as his attacker gyrates on him as if she’s having the time of her life.

When the police catch wind of the female prisoners and where they are hiding at, the police surround this mansion of a house while the women make demands, trying desperately to escape. It’s ironic that these prisoners escape one prison only to be caught up in another prison that they created. In the end, as you can guess, everyone gets their just dues and with the film ending on an abrupt downer.

Escape From Women’s Prison, while it tries to be different, goes through the same exact motions as most of the other women-in-prison films and ultimately becomes tedious and dull. There are a few humerus moments of dialog that could just be bad dubbing but still had me giggling like a child, some not so PC that may shock some viewers. I have seen worse women-in-prison films but I have also seen better. The movie has more in common with a home invasion movie than a prison movie. Escape could have benefitted with a little more action and violence. It’s an exploitation film, why not up the action?

Severin’s blu ray transfer is rather interesting as before the movie starts, there is a title card that reads: “The element used for the scan of ESCAPE FROM WOMEN’S PRISON is a dupe negative and the best known element of the US release version.” That is a warning that the movie is going to look or sound like shit. No fault of Severin’s but yeah, it’s not a great transfer but they try their best. Severin includes two versions of the film for viewers to watch: the short American cut or the longer Italian version called Le Evase which is 10 minutes longer. The longer version is the better version as the American cut has some awful editing with scenes ending abruptly and characters suddenly coming in and out of scenes for no reason. Le Evase, which is subtitled, even has a slightly better looking picture and doesn’t appear as murky. If you don’t mind subtitles, see this version as it is the better film.

Rounding out the special features is a 30 minute interview with director Brusadori, who discusses everything about the making of the film and how the movie got made. This is actually very interesting, much more so than the actual film. Severin really does a nice job with their special features, despite if the movie is any good or not.

While I didn’t hate Escape From Women’s Prison, it’s not a film I would ever re-watch. Hell, seeing two versions of the film back to back is enough for me. I think fans of the genre may enjoy it or find something worthwhile to enjoy. It does have some nice nudity that’s for sure. That’s why I give it two “cans”.