a.k.a. Women's Penitentiary 5

Jailbreakin' Women

directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini
cast: Suzanne Carvalho, Gloria Cristal, Henry Pagnoncelli, Zeni Pereira

If you like them sleazy and violent, Women In Fury is the film for you. This Bad Taste extravaganza centers around Angela Duvall (Suzanne Carvalho) who takes the rap for her junkie brother after he kills the local Scarface. She is sentenced to 18 years in an urban dyke den called San Antonio Prison that borders some South American Jungle in the fictional country of Labare. Once inside the bighouse, inmate #107231 draws the attention of the kind hearted doctor (Henry Pagnoncelli) who is deep in a reformation struggle with the sadistic prison staff. The doc is determined to prove Angela's innocence, and goes on a quest for the truth. It takes about 10 seconds for the Doc to get a confession from Angela's strung out brother named Sergio.

It's hard to believe he could pass the police questioning because Sergio is jumpier than a Nam veteran on a meth binge. By the time Angela is redeemed, a full scale prison riot is going on, and she is stuck in the middle of the seige helping the homicidal inmates escape. When you hear the "True and Shocking" disclaimer at the beginning of this film, you will know that you are in for something special. Women In Fury has it all. Violent lesbian rape sequences, decapitations, explicit lesbo lickings, tons of bush, car explosions, shoot em outs, 2 snake attacks, and lots of gore. The grainy stock and post synchronous dubbing really add to this production, giving the modest budget a seedy Lucio Fulci feel.

The acting and dialogue is over the top even by Italian standards. My favorite was an inmate who exclaimed, " She don't want you, I'm built better, and I gots hot blood in me." Like Fulci's films, don't go looking for logic in this one. It's strictly trying to push the exploitation envelope. It doesn't make much sense how a group of the murdered drug dealers henchmen can walk right into the prison and try to hang Angela, but it sure is fun to watch.

My favorite sequence involving bizarre exploitation logic was the leading lady, having survived an attack by her horny masturbating lesbian inmates, being seduced by the carpet licking head guard. The first attempt at muff dive seduction is fought off with disgust as blaxploitation / 70's porn music wah wah's in the background. Seconds later an acoustic guitar plays a Spanish lullaby on the soundtrack. This appears to be just what Angela needed because within moments she is suckling nipples like an oriental lick master from the far east. I never knew that Spanish music would turn women into dykes, but I'll be sure to file that knowledge away for my next South American/Italian threesome.

Women In Fury doesn't reach the disturbing levels of the Italian cannibal genre, but it does pack in more than Jess Franco could ever muster. The riot scene alone is worth the cost of admission as heads are cracked, bullets rip the air, and water cannons hose down girls. The violence is so intense, I started to wonder if these were actual inmates racing to crack cocaine buffet! This film doesn't disappoint. Plenty of women and lots of fury