Sorry, this movie sucks

Sadly Over-hyped

recommended

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The much mistreated inmates at a seedy correctional facility plot to break out after suffering considerable abuse from the earnest, yet ineffectual warden Miss Madison (a gloriously godawful portrayal by Marita, who sports a thick foreign accent) and the sadistic staff members that include junkie stud Dr. DeMarco (handsome Dan Barclay), snippy bitch Nurse Stevens (a supremely wicked turn by Rebecca Rothbaum), and the token vicious rapist guard. Writer/director Tim Kincaid scrupulously covers all the essential sleazy trash cinema bases: sex-starved felons who regularly seduce the hunky guards, drug dealing, priceless poor dialogue ("One more word out of you, I'm gonna break your eyeballs"), cheesy gore, fierce catfights, grim flashbacks explaining how certain characters wound up incarcerated, tacky 80's clothes and hairstyles, mostly crummy acting from a lame no-name cast, a thrashy rock soundtrack, a violent climactic riot, and, of course, a copious amount of yummy gratuitous female nudity (yep, we get the obligatory leering group shower sequence). The cast are decidedly hit or miss: the pretty Carey Curtis does passable work as framed innocent new fish Lori, Jennifer Delora has a lip-smacking hammy ball as nasty top con Lisa, Donna Eskra likewise overacts gleefully as sassy'n'horny slut Rebel, and Rick Gianasi is hopelessly wooden as nice guy guard Don Beach. Crudely shot on grainy film stock by Arthur D. Marks and boasting some truly scuzzy New York City locations, this movie has an authentically grubby look. The neatly bumpin' synthesizer score by Man Parrish hits the get-down funky spot. Enjoyable low-rent schlock.

First of all, I have no idea why this film came on the same video as Scum back in the 90s, you couldn't get two more different films together if you tried.Bad Girls' Dormitory is just so weird, I mean it's good but what is it all about? It's doesn't even look like it's in a prison, it's so obviously just filmed in a workplace or something! And what kind of prison can visitors just wander in and out of all the time and not even get searched for guns?Not only that, but being in that prison looks like the most fun thing ever, just hanging out getting stoned and having a dance, plus your boyfriend gets to visit, why do they bother escaping at the end?

Various young women find themselves at an NYC juvenile facility which proves that teen WIP don't have to take a backseat to their adult compatriots. Various cliques vie for superiority, the warden has an odd Eurotrash accent, and inmate Jennifer Delora conducts regular private catfights with one of the guards. Other inmates sex it up with male guards, but the only lesbian content is by implication (and what about those fights, Jen?)Film has a large cast, which seemingly includes every NY actress of its day with teenish looks and willingness to strip for the camera. Tech credits are crude and the film looks lowbudget. What saves it for me is an early sequence where the prison's brand new doctor, a drug addict with the demeanor of a male porn actor, happens upon the side door to the shower room. Naturally, a gang bath is taking place at the time. We study the soapy inmates from his P.O.V. for what seems like about 5 minutes, until finally the camera settles on sad-faced Carey Zuris, who stares at the lens and asks, "Seen enough?"Plotwise, of course, she's talking to the doctor guy, but she might as well be speaking to the voyeur audience itself. To a more sensitive crowd than that which relishes WIP films, this moment might even be somewhat of an epiphany, but I suspect the automatic response from genre fans was, "No, baby, why don't you turn around now so we can check out the other side?" (Okay, that's what *I* said, watching this film on tape in my living room. But I'll bet $2 I'm not the only one who did.)Cast was and remains virtually unknown. Frances Rains, Jennifer Delora, and Natalie O'Connell had other mid-80s credits in NY-produced exploiter films. The only other place I've seen Zuris was as a nude extra in Chuck Vincent's NEW YORK'S FINEST. All the girls look fairly natural as JDs and most give fairly convincing performances, with Zuris perhaps the standout (she does suffer a lioness' share of the indignities usually visited upon actresses in a production such as this but retains considerable poise throughout and probably deserved bigger roles and better breaks than she ever got during her acting career). Delora is given an homage to the *other* scene you remember from WHITE HEAT. It doesn't really work. One redhead prisoner looks genuinely underage, though she's probably just an underdeveloped 20 yr old with no makeup; her molestation by a slimy guard who catches her smoking a J in the basement mostly consists of removing her shirt at command and displaying the AAAs. The actress playing the warden gives a somewhat eccentric performance but does not sound as if English is her native language, which might explain it. Admirers of big hooters will definitely admire redheaded Natalie O'Connell (most of the other cast members are A-cuppers, but what's wrong with that, I'd like to know? they're all real).Picture is determinedly sleazy, but strictly on the basis of the "Seen enough?" exchange I'll give it a 4. If the very thought of women behind bars, unable to control their passionate impulses, forced to pay their debt to society, but what about their obligations to themselves? barbed wire could not hold them back, savage dogs could not control them, if you only see one picture this year, you MUST see ... does not set your blood racing, rent THE MATRIX or NOTTING HILL or something. This one is for WIP fans only.

This was one of the most ridiculous movies that I have ever seen. The plot was non-existent and the end left me completely mystified. I believe that the movie was created solely for gratuitous sex and violence, but it did not even succeed at that. I would never even consider recommending this movie, not even to my worst enemy.