Frauen für Zellenblock 9

With the opening narration, the movie sets up Howard Vernon's socially inept, out-of-work sadist as an extraordinarily interesting character right from the start. I was looking forward to learning more about him, and what makes him tick. Unfortunately, the movie quickly abandons his character development in favor of naked women in various states of humiliation/torture. The ending is disappointing as well. After pulling off a daring escape, the women die in the most inglorious manner imaginable. Don't get me wrong: the torture/humiliation in this movie is just great. My only beef is that Dr. Milton's sadism would've been much more interesting if the film had given him greater psychological depth. I found myself wondering about how he spent his years of unemployment in Europe before this South American assignment, with nothing more than his suitcase of torture devices to keep him busy.

Good WIP Franco not his best and by far not his worst as one would expect from Jess Franco there are some real inventive and pretty scenes but the film in itself is not that much different from other women in prison films also is worth mentioning that it has one of the most depressing endings in any of the Franco films i've seen so far.

WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 is Director Jesus Franco's soft core tribute to female nudity and sadism. Women are captured, accused of being "terrorists", stripped of their clothing and dignity, and tortured. The only way of escape is to run naked through the surrounding jungles and swamps. Actually, for all of the ballyhoo about this movie, it's all pretty mundane. That is, unless blood oozing from various orifices is a big draw. Yes, there are some beautiful women in this movie. No, that doesn't make up for the rest of its tedium. BRIGHT SPOT: Howard Vernon does an admirable job as the disgustingly creepy Dr. Costa!...