This entry is not an official entry in the Ilsa cannon, for as loosely connected as that cannon is. It is in actuality an unrelated women in prison flick that was filmed concurrent to The Tigress of Siberia in 1977, and actually released before it. Upon initial release, there was little here to ally it with the Ilsa franchise. For originally Ilsa: The Wicked Warden was known as Greta The Mad Butcher. (It has also over time been known as Greta the Torturer, Greta the Sadist, and Wanda the Wicked Warden.) This movie would only earn its shaky connection to Ilsa upon rerelease onto home video some time in the late 1980s. Only then was it first called Ilsa: The Wicked Warden. Apparently there was still enough cachet (and iffy copyright) associated with the Ilsa name to warrant this move. Hell, the movie does star Dyanne Thorne in the fairly Ilsa-ish role of Greta. All you have to do is edit out all utterances of “Greta” on the soundtrack, miss one or two so people can comment upon your incompetency twenty years after the fact, and you’ve got a video hit! It’s certainly a better proposition than releasing a forgotten Euro-smut film to an indifferent public.
Normally I would not think to consider a movie that is as tangentially related to a series as this one is. If I allowed a place for every unlicensed coattailling, the scope of my Sisyphean project would increase tenfold. I’d have to watch about a hundred Django movies. So what makes this movie so special that I’m willing to break so many of my franchise rules, and so early? For one, it truly seems to be accepted by Ilsa fans as one of the family. Apparently dissatisfied by the tameness of The Tigress of Siberia, exploitation enthusiasts were happy to receive a new movie that is far more grotesque and wrong. Besides, if I didn’t count this movie as Part 4, then I wouldn’t have had to watch any of the Ilsa films, and we wouldn’t want that, now, would we?
The man I have to thank for the position I’m now in is one Jesus Franco. His name can send the heartiest of bad movie lovers cowering, for this Spaniard is one of the most prolific and idiosyncratic directors of horrible European smut extravaganzas from the past half century! I am actually kind of sad that I couldn’t find a copy of this movie, since this would be the one chance in my 1,000 film project to justify watching a Jesus Franco joint.
Let me say a little more about Franco’s illustrious career, just to get the point across. Throughout the 70s, this man averaged about 9 movies a year. He dabbled in each and every horrific erotic subgenre, from lesbian vampires to cannibal films and nunspoitation (yes, you can “sploitate” anything). He was a frequent adapter of the Marquis de Sade. And his trademark – for every notable director needs a trademark – is as follows: “His movies often contain long, uninterrupted shots of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed.” Stay classy, San Diego!
Unlike any true Ilsa film, The Wicked Warden is an unabashed, honest-to-goodness women in prison flick. Astoundingly, the others were all brave departures from that standard formula, and amongst Z-grade cinema that puts them in the upper echelon. Now, women in prison films...This has to be the most formula-driven, set in stone genre of them all, with the possible exception of slashers. So without bothering to look over any plot synopsis for The Wicked Warden, we can very likely expect most of the following:
1. An innocent girl is wrongfully sent to a corrupt penal institution.
2. The corrupt head of the institution is running a secret prostitution ring, or some such.
3. Amongst the inmates, a tough female “queen bee” rules over all.
4. An initial degrading strip search (gotta get your assets on screen early).
5. The group shower scene.
6. The lesbian scene.
7. Sexual assaults by the guards (and various similar events I don’t feel like categorizing).
8. The climactic revolution and escape, with the murder of, well, nearly everyone.
So with these as our guidelines, in place of the standard Ilsa formula, let’s see how The Wicked Warden fits into the scheme of things...
Number 5 jumpstarts our checklist – that being the group shower. One girl manages to escape these confines, fleeing soaking wet and naked into the South American jungle. (Franco achieves another genre cliche not noted on our list by setting this in the jungle.) And in order to reward himself for so efficiently getting the entire cast naked in the first scene, Franco plays the physician who takes the girl in once she has eluded her pursuers. Soon enough checklist No. 2 arrives in the form of the warden, presumably wicked, named either Greta, Wanda or Ilsa depending upon your version. She is played by Dyanne Thorne, so for our purposes let’s say she is Ilsa. She takes the girl back to the institution, where she (the unnamed girl) shall promptly die.
By the way, the place “Ilsa” runs is actually a mental institution, not a prison. But the principle is the same, really. And the justification for the inevitable tortures and assaults (No. 7) is a means to cure the inmates’ lesbianism and nymphomania.
Number 1, the wrongly imprisoned innocent with whom we shall identify and leer, is accomplished in an abnormal manner. Abbie Phillips (Tania Busselier) is the dead girl’s older sister. Like the investigative reporters that sometimes replace the innocent girl in this formula, Abbie commits herself to “Ilsa”’s asylum in order to learn the truth. This quickly leads her to meet No. 6 (Juana), and of course to receive generous helpings of No.7. Lord knows if No. 4 ever makes an appearance in here, so I can only guess that it does. Number 6 (the lesbian scene) is provided by “Ilsa” herself, and surely this is a sign this is not a true Ilsa film – amazingly, the Ilsa character in those movies is a staunch heterosexual, despite her Sapphic associates and the general inclinations of this genre.
So we’ve already checked off pretty much everything on the list except for No. 8, which by definition must wait until the climax. So how is this particular film going to spin its wheels until that point, apart of course from more and more of No. 7 ad nauseam? That’s right! The same way the later Ilsa entries did. With lots and lots of vague political intrigue. For it seems Abbie’s sister was part of a revolutionary group and – Oh hey! She’s still alive! I should have read ahead in that plot synopsis. It seems the result of this is it gives “Ilsa” someone to torture for actual plot reasons, demanding to learn the location of the secret Rebel base on Bespin – er, the identity of the revolutionary leader (it’s Franco’s character, by the way). Thus Franco gets killed.
It’s really hard to review a movie this way, working from others’ vague plot synopses. It’s a stupid idea, and it’s doing you no favors. The specifics of the plot sort of dry up at this point. What I can offer you, if you so wish, is a catalogue of at least some of the atrocities (No. 7 again) that can be unearthed in this film like so many nuggets of gold. Here you go, because you demanded it...
The Atrocities (Abridged):
– Prisoners’ numbers branded directly onto their breasts
– Deadly breast acupuncture
– Plastic bag asphyxiation
– More electroshock therapy, but you already guessed that one
– On screen lobotomies
– Douching with acid!
– Coprophagia (you know, poop eating)
Hmm, South America...Per this list, it must be Brazil. And all this sound grosser, if not more morally repulsive, than anything in the original She Wolf. As an added skuzzy benefit, every bit of depravity that takes place at this asylum is secretly videotaped by “Ilsa,” to add to her collection of snuff films she sells on the black market – this indirectly satisfies the prostitution angle necessitated by No. 2.
Of course even lacking better synopses, we all know No. 8 would come to pass in the end. This is the one part of this movie I could find a clip of – the prisoners’ revenge on warden “Ilsa.”
It all starts as your typical, everyday all-girl gang bang, with “Ilsa” as the victim. This quickly descends into straight up cannibalism, with roughly eight or so semi-nude women lustily chewing into “Ilsa”’s flesh! Director Franco highlights the animalistic qualities of this by splicing in footage of lions and other big cats devouring their prey. This is a Spanish movie, so it all plays like a degraded version of an Italian film, which are themselves degraded versions of normal films. Oh, and this scene lasts for a full 4 minutes. If the content alone isn’t enough, then surely dwelling upon it must thrill you. Or bore you out of your mind. Take your pick. By the way, reviews indicate this is the most extreme scene in the film. So if you ever choose to watch this thing, keep in mind it’s NSFW.
Even from this brief clip, it’s clear the film is European, while the real Ilsa series was resolutely North American. Mass naked lesbian cannibalism might be grosser than anything Franco’s Canadian counterparts could conjure, but there is a mighty operatic surrealism to European trash that alleviates the horror. Those of you conversant in Italian horror cinema, or even their spaghetti westerns, can attest to this. It’s extreme, but it’s playful, without aiming for campiness. These movies must have really clouded my judgment and taste, but what little I saw of The Wicked Warden didn’t repulse me excessively.
So what does the future hold for the Ilsa franchise? Are you kidding?! This series is dead, effectively cannibalized worse than “Ilsa” herself. A brief three year run was all the Ilsa concept could sustain, probably because there’s little room for franchising in the realm of sexploitation. And while the grindhouse phenomena which gave birth to the mere possibility of such movies is long gone, a vast unexplored realm of sicko direct-to-video releases continues the good work of Ilsa and her torturous brethren. And if you’re the kind of person who feels the need to seek out more of this, you’re welcome to it. I for one welcome the peaceful and quiet franchises due up next – after a quick detour in Germany.
Related posts:
• No. 1 Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975)
• No. 2 Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976)
• No. 3 Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (1977)
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