Women in Cages
Women in Cages is a 1971 film from the USA, directed by Gerardo de León, running 78 minutes. reelscum files it under women in prison.

- Year
- 1971 · 1970s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 78 min
- Director
- Gerardo de León
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (54/100)
- Also known as
- Bamboo Doll House · Women's Penitentiary III
Defined in the glossary: Women in prison
Pam Grier as the sadist for once. Bleaker than its stablemates.
One of the grimmer entries in the Filipino WIP cycle, notable for casting Pam Grier against type as the sadistic prison enforcer rather than the heroine. An innocent woman is framed and thrown into a brutal jungle prison, and the film is nastier and less fun than its stablemates.
Grier's turn as the villain is the main draw, and the film has a bleakness that The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage leaven with humour. It is exploitation at its most punishing.
For genre completists and Grier obsessives; a hard watch otherwise.
The numbers
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Where to watch
Legal options in USA
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On these lists
- Women in prison: the essentials
Roger Corman worked out you could film the whole genre in the Philippines for nothing, and everyone spent the next decade reshooting his shower scene.
Filed alongside
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House of Whipcord
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Bare Behind Bars
Brazil's Boca do Lixo does women-in-prison with everything the drive-in cut left out.
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The women-in-prison film as its own punchline, fronted by the lead singer of the Plasmatics.
The Big Doll House
Jack Hill and Pam Grier invent the modern formula in the Philippines.
Chained Heat
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Barbed Wire Dolls
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