I wanted to but couldn't!

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Blistering performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Greta - Haus ohne Männer" is a co-production between Canada, Switzerland and West Germany that resulted in a German-language movie from 1977, so it has its 40th anniversary this year. The title already gives away that this is one of famous filmmaker Jesús Franco's collaborations with the infamous Erwin C. Dietrich and the outcome is a mix of violence, thriller, porn and horror I guess. The film runs for over 90 minutes and stars Franco's regular Dianne Thorne once again as an insanely sadistic warden of a woman's penitentiary, insane asylum actually, even if many of the inmates are only insane because of the way they are treated in there. Franco once again plays a supporting character, in the first third of the movie he actually has a lot of screen time as a doctor. Lina Romay is on board again as well, even if she is not half as stunning and memorable with her very short hair in here. And Tania Busselier has also worked with Franco on several occasions, she plays the good girl here.This is the story of a young woman who tries to infiltrate the penitentiary to find out what they did to her sister. And she finds out a lot more than she bargained for. This is basically it in terms of the plot. There are major developments and character transformations and in terms of the story I would say this is better than the usual Franco movie, and certainly also better than the average Dietrich movie, but there are still moments when it feels really absurd the entire thing. And apart from some pretty hot sexual moments, there is also massive violence in here. The suffocation scene is kinda hard to stomach and I am really one who can take a lot usually, maybe because of the state the sister was in previously already. Anyway, this is not a film to watch when you are looking for great acting or a great story, but there is a whole lot of guilty pleasure material to it, also the final scene with the tearing-apart references, even depicting tigers adds some solid significance to the overall thing. I would not recommend the watch, but if you plan on getting deeper into Franco's filmography, then this one here may not be the worst pick to start with.

There are tens of thousands of DVDs out there for the customer to purchase or rent, but viewers will have to look long and hard before finding a sleazier one than Jess Franco's contribution to the Ilsa saga, "Ilsa the Wicked Warden" (1977). Here, Dyanne Thorne, who thrice before portrayed everyone's favorite buxom blond sadist, plays a buxom redheaded (her natural color...who knew?) sadist who's in charge of a women's mental hospital in some unnamed tropical country. (Though filmed in Portugal, the picture seems to be set somewhere in Central or South America.) Franco, an incredibly prolific, oftentimes slapdash director in many film genres, with over 140 (!) titles to his credit, throws quite a bit into this Ilsa story to guarantee a good time (well, better make that "memorable experience"). Thus, we get to see electroshockings, a human pin cushion, cannibalism, feces eating, shower fights, vaginal cauterization (yikes!), transgendered lesbianism, gang rape, bloody whippings and so on. While the tortures on display are not as hard to take as the ones in Ilsa's first foray, "She Wolf of the SS" (1973), this picture somehow feels...well, "sleazier" is the only word that keeps coming to mind. Ilsa herself, monster that she is, looks absolutely outstanding here, and her just deserts at film's end will long linger sickeningly in the viewer's memory. The DVD that I just watched looks terrific--a first-rate transfer job from the fine folks at Anchor Bay--although the execrable dubbing throughout the film is a significant drawback. I suppose this picture is best recommended for Jess Franco or Ilsa completists only; needless to say, it is NOT the movie to watch with Aunt Petunia! It is as sick and, well, sleazy as can be, but for lots of folks out there...hey, that's entertainment!

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

Today, I watched another 2 Jess Franco titles from the Anchor Bay UK 8-Disc Set (which I rented from my local DVD outlet): ILSA, THE WICKED WARDEN (1977) and JACK THE RIPPER*** (1976).Though I wouldn't say that ILSA is exactly a good film, I was still quite surprised by how it managed to hold my interest throughout. Not that it made particularly inspired use of the various subtexts suggested in the script (the snuff movie angle, for instance, is not dealt with in any depth) – apart from its over-the-top, and undeniably horrific, conclusion – but it was certainly above-average for an Erwin C. Dietrich production with adequate scenery, an evocative if repetitive score and competent performances. The dialogue of the German-language version, however, was pretty hilarious (the various odes to Greta/Ilsa recited by the inmates, the sanitation officials who arrive for a surprise inspection complaining that the rumors of the supposedly corrupt management inside the prison are unfounded – for obvious reasons, they may not have been taken to see the dungeons where the female convicts are tortured, but did they even question themselves why these were forbidden the use of underwear while serving their sentence?!); still, the English dubbing (heard during the interview section of the supplements) makes it sound even worse!I haven't seen the 'original' Ilsa films but, while Dyanne Thorne seemed to be relatively at ease inhabiting the Jess Franco movieworld, I also feel that her character was pretty one-dimensional and not really the main focus of the film; Lina Romay, on the other hand, has a lot of fun with one of her better roles; even Tania Busselier (in her third and last film for Franco) seems to have matured somewhat and here makes for a creditable heroine (for whom Franco boldly reserves an unexpected tragic fate, though this was perhaps done so as not to involve her in the film's cannibalistic climax).Unfortunately, this edition was cut by more than 2 minutes by the BBFC: the death-by-asphyxiation of Rosa Philips was evidently trimmed as it now occurs in a split-second; I may be wrong but I reckon that the remainder of the censored footage involved the lobotomy performed on the Tania Busselier character (did they even show this?) as her sudden appearance as a 'vegetable' is most jarring…Anyway, I look forward now to renting and watching another of Franco's notorious 'Women-In-Prison' films for Dietrich, namely BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975).