ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Wizard-8 I have to make a confession: though I am a big fan of B movies, I have never found the "women in prison" B movie genre all that appealing. Despite what the genre promises, I have only found to date one such film to be worth my time ("Fugitive Girls", if you must know.) As you've probably guessed, I didn't care much for "Savage Island". For the most part, it's a really dull and dreary movie, with long sections where little to no plot is being executed. It's also a cheap exercise, with minimum production values, sometimes even less than that. The movie does boast a decent amount of nudity, often being the full frontal kind, but other attempts at exploitation - action, sex, etc. - pretty much fall completely flat. Oh, and if you are a Linda Blair fan, be warned that her appearance consists of just a few minutes of the total running time, so she doesn't get to do much. How anyone thought this deserved a DVD release, I cannot say.

Michael_Elliott Savage Island (1985) ** (out of 4)An escaped convict (Linda Blair) who was tortured manages to find the man (Leon Askin) who ran the operation. She then holds him at gunpoint while she explains the ordeal that she had to go through. This butcher job from Charles Band and Empire Pictures is actually two EuroTrash films, ESCAPE FROM HELL and HOTEL PARADISE, which were originally shot back-to-back with the same cast. Those two films are edited down in one 79-minute movie, which features newly shot stuff with Blair at the start and end. Why Band decided to shoot the new scenes is anyone's guess but he must have thought Blair on the poster would get more ticket sales. Overall this film is hard to fully judge because on one hand you're basically watching a chopped down version of ESCAPE FROM HELL and why do that when the full thing is available? You might as well watch that and if you must see the new scenes with Blair you can just fast forward through everything else here. As far as the new footage goes, it's all done pretty cheaply and doesn't feature anything that you must see. As for the two films that are edited into this, they both seem a lot better as there's all sorts of nudity, sex and of course silly violence. Ajita Wilson plays the lead prisoner who starts up a fight as the women are being killed and beaten in order to dig up diamonds for their evil owner. As for SAVAGE ISLAND, it's an ultra cheap film but with all the naughtiness going on, it's worth watching for exploitation fans.

Woodyanders A group of women are incarcerated at a brutal prison farm located on a remote island where they are forced to work as slave labor for a South American mining operation. Assisted by a band of jewel thieves, the much mistreated ladies decide to fight back against their cruel captors. This decidedly grim and unpleasant entry in the ever-popular chicks-in-chains exploitation sub-genre certainly covers all the essential seedy bases: Plentiful gratuitous female nudity, a group shower sequence (of course), ferocious catfights, scummy rapist guards, and the unavoidable climactic exciting revolt and subsequent break out. The harsh downbeat tone, an unremittingly sordid atmosphere, the complete dearth of campy humor, and a marked emphasis on sadism all give this perfectly putrid pip an extra foul and unnerving edge. This flick further benefits from a solid cast of familiar European exploitation cinema faces, with especially sturdy contributions from Anthony Steffen as the gallant leader of the jewel thieves, Cristina Lay and Ajita Wilson as a couple of tough and determined inmates, Luciano Rossi as a vicious slimeball, and Luciano Pigozzi as the supremely evil and callous warden. Moreover, it's always a hoot to see Linda Blair act tough while brandishing an Uzi and spitting out a few vile expletives. Leon Askin positively oozes as slimy crime kingpin Luker. Penn Jillette pops up in a fleeting bit role as an ill-fated security guard. The grubby cinematography provides an appropriately washed-out look. The droning redundant synthesizer score by Mark Ryder and Phil Davies likewise possesses a certain cheesy charm. Good scroungy fun.

Artemis-9 If you are into women-in-prison films, "Escape from Hell" in any good copy near the 89 minute Italian/Spanish original, would entitle you to watch the most erotic, and violent, nude lesbian fight - for possession of the third girl in a cell, between black Ajita Wilson and queen-bee Cintia Lodetti; and a gun duel between the same black fugitive and a Nazi female warden (Christina Lay?) to a mutual gory death. Both fights are at close quarters, and filmed in crude detail, which explains so many "director's cuts" of this film, for different markets.