Scott LeBrun
Not really an official "Ilsa" film - in this entry, the character is actually named Greta - "The Wicked Warden" stars the inimitable Dyanne Thorne as the title character. She presides over a jungle prison that houses women guilty of some sort of "perversion": lesbianism, nymphomania, prostitution, etc. A young woman named Abbie Phillips (Tania Busselier) deliberately gets herself committed to this place, hoping to learn of the fate of her sister Rosa (Angela Ritschard)."The Wicked Warden" is a solid exploitation shocker. It's not as graphically bloody as "Ilsa She Wolf of the SS", but it still has its fair share of depravity. Have no fear: Greta / Ilsa is very much the sadist that she's always been. Director Jess Franco doesn't mess around here, as he gets to a shower scene less than two minutes into the movie. Voyeurs will be very satisfied with the level of flesh displayed; many of our female cast members parade around not revealing very much. The story by Franco and Erwin C. Dietrich is appropriately trashy, with just a touch of political subtext and a grim nature.The well endowed Ms. Thorne is quite watchable as always. Supporting her is Francos' longtime muse Lina Romay as Juana, a domineering patient with lots of demands for her new associate. Thornes' real-life husband Howard Maurer also co-stars, and gets to do a sex scene with her. What's neat to see is that Mr. Franco himself has not just a cameo, but another supporting role, as well meaning doctor Milton Arcos.Franco is able to deliver a finale / comeuppance that is pretty damn amusing, especially with the intercutting. It's a perfect resolution for this 95 minute exercise in sleaze.Seven out of 10.
slayrrr666
"Ilsa, The Wicked Warden" is one of the very best of the Women-in-Prison genre.**SPOILERS**After several mysterious events, Abbie Phillips, (Tania Busselier) decides to go undercover in the Los Palomas Medical Clinic to investigate the strange reports that have been coming out of the facility. Immediately upon entering, the boss Greta, (Dyanne Thorne) tells her the rules of surviving, and issuing her a number for the others, throws her in with the other there. Attempting to cure her of her sexual deviance that she was sent there for, she finds that other inmate Juana, (Lina Romay) is actually a stooge for her and her different sadistic tendencies. After spending several weeks in the facility, she finds that the whole place is merely a prison for her to keep around other women for her own sexual desires, then turning them into illegal stars in secret snuff films when they've outlived their usefulness. Realizing that had happened to her own sister, who was in the facility, she goes out to help them others still trapped overthrow the prison and get out alive.The News: Though there isn't much new ground to this, it's still one of the better entries possible. Just like with most Women-in-Prison films, the main focus here is on the sleaze and nudity, which this one carries out with abundance. The film starts off with a full-on shower scene, inter-cut by another showing the warden in a bathtub taking a bubble-bath and washing herself down, and this is done for several minutes to open up the film, which is about the best possible way to do so. There's a later shower scene that is by far one of the single sleaziest parts of the film, where the new girl is forced to soap down another, including all of the body parts, and upon refusing to do so further, degenerates into a nude cat-fight in the middle of the shower. The fact that the uniforms are merely just a shirt barely covering the privates is another fantastic device for allowing nudity, as it results in it being flung open all the time or riding up to allow more. The strip-down and hose-off upon arrival generates more nudity, though the nature of the scenes and what's accomplished lead more into the sleaze category, and is simply a part of the film as well. The torture and S&M content is ferocious and brutal, with prisoners strung up on large chains or other devices and then furiously whipped with a large whip, or injected with a red-hot brand to the nether-regions, among other particularly disturbing scenes. There's also the wonderful scene where Greta sticks needles into the breasts of her lesbian lover, then lays on top of her to drive them in, which is mostly done through the use of close-up but carries out for so long that it's just and incredibly suspenseful and uncomfortable scene that really sticks out, more so since the participants are both nude for the duration. Aside from that, the film also works due to the pretty passable job Franco did on this one. There is some plot and some character development, an actual beginning-middle-end structure, and, most surprising, some unexpectedly solid camera-work, with very little of his characteristic zoom lens obsession. It's surprisingly restrained for the most part, non-characteristically reliant upon lighting and production design to create the mood. The trademark style still comes through in the odd scene, the best being the red filtered, out-of-focus tryst between the two lovers in a darkened room, with a glass purposefully placed to obscure the fumbling and groping. This is fantastic and really makes a case for the best directed scene in his career. The only flaws in here are the really confusing ending. We get this weirdness where the warden gets eaten alive by the inmates, and as the bunch of naked lesbians chow down on the camp commandant, the whole scene inter-cut with stock-footage of lions, tigers and so forth eating dead animal flesh. The purpose of what's going in is implied, but it's merely so outrageous that beginning to understand it becomes a lost cause, thrown in merely for more gore. The last, and most obvious flaw, is that, despite all the nudity and sadism on display, this now appears restrained in it's depiction of sex and violence. The film is decidedly tame and avoids showing anything particularly nasty, as even the scene in which the warden pierces her breasts with needles is restrained, with the camera cutting away from the actual violence to show the reaction on the face, showing relatively little in that scene aside from the moment when they press their breasts together. This is a little confusing, as why it decided to hold back on the one area it really could've worked wonders in to make it a classic, but as it is, these few problems are what hold this one down at all.The Final Verdict: About as sleazy as any other entry in the genre with a lot more going for it, this is a really nice upper-tier Women-in-Prison entry that really works. Seek it out immediately if you're a fan of any of the main creative cast, an avid follower of the genre or exploitation in general, otherwise steer clear of this.Rated UR/NC-17: Full Nudity, several strong sex scenes, Graphic Violence and Graphic Language
EVOL666
WICKED WARDEN is my least favorite of the "infamous" ILSA series. Granted there are some pretty sleazy moments (after all, Jess Franco DID direct the film...) but I just couldn't get into this one. This one finds the torpedo-tittied Ilsa as a warden at a prison for disturbed young ladies...Plenty of soft core tits-and-ass, and a few "torture" scenes, but nothing really to write home about. A few classic scenes (the post-doody-forced-ass-licking comes to mind...) but all-in-all, more of an Italian softcore sleazy sex film. If you really dig Franco's other stuff, or that genre of films in general, you'll probably really feel this one. Personally, I prefer more "extreme" sex and violence in my exploit films, and this one didn't really deliver. Check out SHE WOLF or TIGRESS for a better experience in the Ilsa series, HAREM KEEPER isn't too bad either. 5/10 for WICKED WARDEN
MovieCriticMarvelfan
Three things are certain in life: Taxes, death and the fact that Jess Franco makes horrible films. This was absolutely an abomination. Thats saying something for a making that has made his money by making soft core porn cannibal flicks and Ilsa is no different.Man where I do start? Horrible acting, almost no script. Dyanne Thorne is back as Ilsa wearing an incredibly fake wig and she herself doesn't look like shes into it like in the other films.She runs a prison camp and tortures other girls although in this case she now has a lesbian fun toy , a change from the other Ilsa flicks when shes interested in men.The movie doesn't have almost no shock value, and the movie is basically a set of soft porn scenes, mostly taking place in the shower, and in Ilsa's "study".The acting is horrendous, during one scene a prisoner gets shock treatment yet her reaction is absolutely pathetic, all she does is roll her eyes in disgust. LMAO.The movie then ends with Franco pathetic trademark a stupid cannibal scenes that is fake and not gory.Franco, is the one the worst wannabee horror directors I've seen. I've seen the comment on him calling him absolute pathetic but after seeing this movie and the one called "White Cannibal Queen", I can now confirm what those people have said about him.
