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Customer Reviews of Ilsa - The Wicked Warden

Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977) d: Franco, Jess
Prior to this installment other Ilsa chapters under consideration were Ilsa vs. Idi Amen, and Ilsa Meets Bruce Lee in the Devil's Triangle (an ad campaign was even circulated for this film). For various reasons the ideas fell apart and Dyanne Thorne (the star of the previous Ilsa films) went to Portugal to star in the Jess Franco film entitled No Man's Land. The film was later retitled Greta the Torturess of Las Polamas, then Greta the Mad Butcher, and Wanda the Wicked. Today it is best known as Ilsa the Wicked Warden, cashing in on the success of the Don Edmonds nazi nasty classic, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974). Supposedly based on an actual case history, Wicked Warden is not Franco at his best. Thorne looks pretty spectacular in a full-bodied red wig, but overall the film fails to deliver. "Ilsa" is now in an unspecified Latin American dictatorship, running the Clinic of Las Palomas, which treats sexual deviation in panty-less women, and tortures political prisoners in the basement. Stomach churning scenes include a women used as a human pincushion, while another poor sole is forced to lick an inmates ass clean after she has just used the toilet. Pretty sick stuff. Ilsa, the Wicked Warden concludes with one of the most nauseating sequences in all exploitation filmdom when Ilsa is eaten alive by the woman that she has been abusing. Upon completion of the film even Thorne herself expressed distaste and refused Jess Franco an appearance in a sequel. The commentary track by Dyanne Thorne, and Co-star Howard Maurer is mostly talk about working with a non-English speaking cast, and how this film was incorrectly added to the Ilsa series. "...I think the production company (Canada's Cinepix) did us all a grave injustice by turning The Wicked Warden into an Ilsa film," states Dyanne Thorne in an interview she had conducted with Darkside Magazine shortly after the release of this DVD

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Sleazier than sleaze.
When you are in the mood for sleaze why settle for anything less than Ilsa, The Wicked Warden? Tons of full frontal nudity, abuse, beautiful women, and Jess Franco make this unofficial entry in the Ilsa series the cream of the scum-fest crop. Anchor Bay's presentation is excellent (No, I do not work for them). The picture is sharp (as sharp as a Franco picture can be), colorful, and well framed. The audio commentary by Dyanne Thorne, Howard Maurer, and host Martin Lewis is not only very informative but hilarious. Thorne's memory of the production is quite clear and she had a lot to say concerning certain nude shots of her which she was unaware of prior to seeing the completed film. Franco really is the man and apparently he knows how to live life. The uncut disc comes with a nudity filled trailer and is enhanced for 16x9 TVs. Well worth your money if your a fan of severe exploitaion done right.

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Fast forward review
What's the point of writing about the plot and the acting? Who cares? The only real question is the number and quality of the sleaze scenes. And, you want to know if there's any additional "uncut version" sleaze on the DVD. Nope.

So, what we got here is two stars. One is for the pin cushion scene, which is an absolute classic. We got a nubile teeny babyfat bod for the cushion and the big ones of Ilsa to drive the pins in, a must have scene, the only negative being that the cushion girl looks like the short-haired Liza Minnelli type chick being abused by the motorcycle gang in that "Billy Jack" movie, not my type, though she is much more zaftig, so I'll forgive this lapse. I normally don't play the audio track, but actually Ilsa has a good final line. There's pre-pinning massage nudity here too, lots of plump flesh, so that the whole scene is just about perfect.

The other star? Just for a lot of nudity, particularly big Ilsa bosoms. Lot's of shower scene stuff, but the rest of the sleaze is not very good, particularly the bad whipping scene with usual rotten Franco effects (the man could never film a proper whipping scene, just awful). And it's not near as nasty and explicit as it could have been, as usual with these terrible things. That's it.