Women in prison: the essentials

1cult

The Big Doll House

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

2cult

The Big Bird Cage

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

3cult

Women in Cages

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

4known

Caged Heat

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

5cult

99 Women

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

6unwatched

Bamboo House of Dolls

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

7cult

Chained Heat

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

8cult

Reform School Girls

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

9cult

Women's Prison Massacre

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

10cult

Barbed Wire Dolls

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