Barbed Wire Dolls

Jess Franco's entry in the women-in-prison sweepstakes, set in a nightmarish tropical prison run by a sadistic warden and a mad governor, following the usual formula of abuse, madness and eventual revolt. Even by WIP standards it is cheap, incoherent and relentlessly sleazy, shot with Franco's characteristic zooms and indifference to continuity.

Lina Romay stars, and the film is more a delirium than a narrative. It represents the absolute bottom of the cycle's budget and taste, which for a certain kind of viewer is the entire appeal. Pure, unfiltered Franco exploitation.