directed by Paul Nicolas

Cast: Linda Blair, Sybil Danning, John Vernon, Stella Stevens, Tamara Dobson, Susan Meschner

Due to a manslaughter charge,a chubby looking Carol Henderson (Linda Blair) gets tossed into the slammer. So begins the first frames of this classic genre film. Caged Heat skillfully meshes together the conventions of several WIP films. All the clichés are here in abundance, and played to the hilt. John (Animal House) Vernon is a delight to watch as the depraved Warden Bacman.Not only is Bacman a warden he's an amateur porno filmmaker with a jacuzzi equipped office that contains enough hidden cameras to make Alan Funt jealous. Vernon looks like he's having a blast in this roll, rubbing up against several sudsy and nude young women. Stella Stevens turns in a good performance as Captain Taylor the head guard cutting into all the wardens drug business and running a prostitution ring on the side with popular character actor Henry Silva. Then we have Sybil Danning doing an incredible bitch up job as Queen Bee Ericka. When she's not rapping a new inmate or dealing drugs, Ericka is killing every fish that pisses her off. Linda Blair turns in a mediocre performance that is really dwarfed by the rest of the fine cast.

Even exploitation stars Edy Williams & Monique Gabrielle show up as inmates. Chained Heat delivers quite a bit of nudity, but Blair looking very overweight only allows a few strategic breast shots that don't expose her stomach. Chained Heat delivers the goods on so many exploitation levels at such a rapid pace that your not going to find many WIP films much better than this. At every possible lull the real star of Chained Heat exposes himself.

Even with it's stellar cast giving over the top delicious performances, the real star of Chained Heat is boom operator Jack Nietzsche, Jr. Mr. Nietzche manages to get his boom mike into at least 30% of the frames of this film. Their are sequences where the top 15% of the frame is even blacked out to avoid the curious boom, and Jack still manages to get it into the shot. There are more boom shots and boom shadows than in Ed Wood's entire filmography! Yet it doesn't distract from the movie. Jack Nietzche, Jr. just makes Chained Heat more lovable. I guess he was thinking of the fantastic drinking games you would be able to play with his boom. Director Paul Nichol's would return to the WIP genre in 86 with The Naked Cage.