SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

morrison-dylan-fan Having found director Pete Walker's first "House" film House of Mortal Sin to be a marvellous,daring Giallo,I began to get interested in seeing Walker take on a sub-genre that I had never seen before:Women In Prison (WIP)The plot:Attending the premiere of a naked photo that she secretly took with a photography,French model Anne-Marie Di Verney catches the attention of fellow party guest Mark E. Desade,who invites Marie to go to his "pad" so that they can continue the party alone.Driving to their destination,Di Verney's hope quickly grind to a halt,when she finds out that Mark's "pad" is actually a disused prison,which has been transformed into a "secret court" by a group of "moral guardians",who have decided to deal with indecent people in modern society,by sentencing them to death.View on the film:Despite director Pete Walker giving the disused prison a stylish low light appearance that gives the movie a good,grubby atmosphere,the first hour of David McGillivray's screenplay disappointingly drains the film of any nail biting tension,by making the ordeal that Di Verney has to face be ones that feel plodding and also lacking any sense of suspense.Along with the screenplay,the film is also not helped by the performance of Page 3 model and Sitcom star (who had also been an extra in Walker's earlier Tiffany Jones) Penny Irving as Anne Marie- Di Verney,who makes the many scenes featuring Verney ones that are extra painful to watch,due to her giving the character a chalkboard-like fake French accent.Thankfully for the last 40 minutes of the film,McGillivray and Walker break out of the prison confines to deliver a tense,wonderfully bleak,grim and gritty Thriller,as Walker (perhaps one of 70's cinema most under rated British directors?) builds upon the themes that he had started in House of Mortal Sin,by splattering all of the dreams that the "establishment" of secret courts and moral guardians have across the screen,by giving the film a strong dose of Black Comedy to show how justice is "blind",and cheekily naming one of the nastiest wardens after himself, (played by Walker's amazing collaborator Sheila Keith) as Walker shows lengths that the wardens are willing to go to,in order to create their "moral" society.

Red-Barracuda A not-too-bright French girl called Anne-Marie is taken unwittingly by an odd man called Mark E. Dessart to a secret prison in the middle of the countryside. This place is a correctional institute for amoral women, and it's conditions are extremely harsh. Anne-Marie soon discovers to her horror that no inmate actually ever leaves this prison.This Pete Walker film is not your typical women in prison movie. While it certainly ticks a few boxes associated with WIP fare, it's an altogether more heavy and serious film than others of it's type. It does have nudity and S&M but neither are particularly explicit or detailed. House of Whipcord is much too downbeat in tone to operate as a straight sexploitation flick. On the contrary, it has some strong performances, good writing and capable direction. The setting for the prison itself is agreeably gloomy and is used to good effect. While the film is not afraid to end fairly nihilistically.Penny Irving isn't especially good in the central role of Anne-Marie, she is just a little too vacuous too much of the time. While Robert Tayman as Mark E. Dessart is at the very least incredibly creepy, although quite how someone who looks like this is a chick-magnet is best left unanswered. Much better are the personnel in the prison, with Sheila Keith a particular stand out. She was terrific in Walker's other 1974 film Frightmare, and here she is extremely impressive again as a scary and sadistic prison guard.There's no doubt that this is a very solid bit of Brit exploitation. It's very well made all things considered. It's just not quite what some might think it might be with a name like House of Whipcord. There's not much erotica here at all, so be aware of that. But if you appreciate your WIP films with a bit more downbeat grimness then this one could be the answer.

minamurray Written by David McGillivray, clearly talentless porn and horror vet, whose career outside sexploitation was total flop, this trash is very much like the screenwriter himself: grimy, nasty and oozing with sleazy, slimy hypocrisy. Those bad mad old people - the film is even dedicated to the advocates of "better old days" - keep private prison for kidnapped young women and then torture and murder them. Lot of whipping of nude young women - apparently some bored critic called this "feeble flogging fantasy" - and lot of melodramatic acting from Penny Irving. Production values are suitably trashy to suit such boring garbage. Highly recommended to the horror fans... or flogging fans. No wonder the British cinema - as well as McGillivray's career - died in 1970's.

christopher-underwood Grim, knowing, literate, uncompromising little dig at the British establishment and even sections of the population and it's tabloids' fascination with moral standards and the nasty little deviant punishments thought appropriate - in particular a good thrashing and if really necessary a good hanging. Hang 'em and flog 'em indeed, especially if they are pretty naked girls. WIP, I suppose this could be described as, but how misleading. No pretty shots of a dozen naked girls being hosed down or lesbian sisters kissing or indulging in cat fights. This is English boarding school style bullying and worse dressed up as 'correction'. A very powerful and dark tale of old and not so old England. Some say this is slow in parts. I didn't notice it let up for a minute. Excellent