Women in prison: the essentials

The Big Doll House

Jack Hill and Pam Grier invent the modern formula in the Philippines.

The Big Bird Cage

Funnier and better than the first. Sid Haig is having an excellent time.

Women in Cages

Pam Grier as the sadist for once. Bleaker than its stablemates.

Caged Heat

Jonathan Demme's debut, and it is visibly a Jonathan Demme film.

99 Women

Franco doing the formula early, with Mercedes McCambridge as the warden.

Bamboo House of Dolls

Shaw Brothers takes on the WIP film. As strange a combination as it sounds.

Chained Heat

Linda Blair goes to prison. A sleazy 80s update of the formula, with a corrupt warden and a hot tub.

Reform School Girls

The women-in-prison film as its own punchline, fronted by the lead singer of the Plasmatics.

Women's Prison Massacre

Late Italian entry. Laura Gemser, and a body count instead of a plot.

Barbed Wire Dolls

Jess Franco's contribution to the cycle. Cheap, delirious and utterly shameless, even for him.