Daily Cheese Bit : Nazisploitation
In a previous Cheese Bit, I've shared with you my fondness for 70's Exploitation cinema, mainly softcore porn such as Black Emanuelle. Well, today we'll venture into much rougher territories, as we explore the nasty world of Nazisploitation (Nazi Exploitation Cinema). I must say that I am definitely not very fond of these movies, as they more than often disturbed me to the core and I quickly realized that these were just badly made cheapies with few redeeming values, and maybe because of that, I kept watching until I had seen enough, that is, I actually saw a whole lot of them...Let's call it thrill-seeking or the morbid curiosity of a suburban pre-teen. Please note that these films were all easily available in any mom-n-pop video rental store around the province of Quebec, Canada during the late-eighties - early-nineties.
A bit of History:
Nazisploitation, a justifiably maligned film sub-genre yet fascinating due to the incredible fact that it actually exists, was born in 1969 with the pioneer of the genre, LOVE CAMP 7, an American film made with a mostly Jewish crew. I cannot guarantee you will love Love Camp 7, but I can guarantee that you will love in Love Camp 7 announced the tag line on the video box. This film introduced elements to the genre that would become the standard and very soon a stereotype for those that followed. The usual suspects: voice over narration that claims everything is true, prison camp setting, sadistic/perverted commandant, female prisoners used as prostitutes and unwilling sex performers, one sympathetic Nazi who is appalled by the cruelties, laughably phony German and French accents etc.
A fairly boring film overall, LOVE CAMP 7 still disturbs a little if only because of its sleazy subject matter.
Any queasiness one has about the exploitation of the holocaust tragedy isn't helped by the fact that most of the Germans in the film are played by Jewish men. The tortures on display are disturbing but fairly mild considering what would come later. (Roll drums...)
Then 1974 brought us:
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
The original film, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, is the only film in the series which belongs in the Nazi exploitation genre. It is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Despite this stated attempt at cultural sensitivity, the film is banned in Germany. It starred Dyanne Thorne the mother of all MILFs as "Ilsa," commandante of a Nazi Stalag. (Prisoner-Of-War camp) Ilsa conducts sadistic scientific experiments designed to demonstrate that women are more capable of enduring pain than men are, and therefore should be allowed to fight in the army. Every night she chooses one of her male prisoners and rapes him. However, due to her insatiable hunger, she gets disappointed when her victim eventually ejaculates, and promptly castrates him. Only an American prisoner, who can withhold ejaculating, manages to use her weakness to his favor. Believe it or not, the film was made on the set of the TV series Hogan's Heroes! Interestingly, Ilsa was a Canadian creation produced by André Link and John Dunning of Montreal distributor Cinepix who quickly wrote a script for a similar movie called Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and contacted Friedman who agreed to produce the movie, hoping to capitalize on the huge success LOVE CAMP 7 had had in Canada. Its over-the-top subject matter has turned the film into a cult movie. Perhaps the best way to explain its initial appeal is that it is a cinematic version of the "men's adventure" sub-genre of pulp magazine. Nazis tormenting damsels in distress were favorite subjects for the lurid covers for "true adventure" magazines such as Argosy in the 1950s and 1960s; the film seeks to be a more explicit reversal of the same sort of sexual fantasy. It should be noted this genre mainly focused on female SS officers at first. It presented them as lusty buxom women who also sexually abused their male prisoners (mainly in non statutory female on male rape fashion). As the setting was a Stalag, the male prisoners were not Jewish prisoners but war prisoners - mainly American and British ones.But all this would vanish as the Eurotrash entries would bring the genre into infamy and sheer misogyny.
The sadism was slightly toned down for the sequels, Ilsa, Harem Keeper Of The Oil Sheiks(1976) and the Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters!) produced llsa, Tigress of Siberia(1977). These latter films are standard Women-In- Prison (a different yet similar sub-genre) films which use exotic settings to render the exaggerated sadism of the plots more plausible.
Thus the genre was born and tons of mainly European-made cheap Nazisploitation flicks flooded movie theaters worldwide and many believe that the advent of the European Nazi exploitation film came as an attempt to leech off the success of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. Whereas this is partly true, the Nazi exploitation sub-genre presented an opportunity for Italian studios to make very low cost horror pictures whilst tapping a previously ignored market - the exploitation war film. The Italian films are different to "Ilsa" in many ways - they focus on far more extreme aspects of human abuse (the most extreme example is probably in SS Hell Camp). Most of the Nazi exploitation films have stalag settings with young female inmates like Women's Camp 119. Their tormentors are female or male Nazi officers in SS uniforms, usually speaking with a fake German accent and irrelevant or mispronounced German words, who often use "experiments" as excuses to implement sadistic physical violence. There are scenes of sexual conduct or, more routinely, exposed nude bodies of the victimised inmates. The level of violence depicted in these films often reaches the gore level. There are also many films that do not follow the conventions of Nazi exploitation, such as Salon Kitty (1976) by Tinto Brass. This film is not usually considered as a "prototypical" Nazi exploitation film and qualifies more for the "art house" sub-genre. However, because of the vague term, even the film The Night Porter a fairly classy film by Liliana Cavani that obviously lacks the exploitation motive may be deemed one. It seems that the genre only lasted a few years before dying slowly and although it enjoyed a second life gathering dust on video store shelves, it will (hopefully!) likely never be popular again.
Some of these titles are now available on DVD, but hey, if you really wanna see one of those, don't spend more than 1$ for it, or just download them. crap such as this(though there are exceptions) doesn't deserve your hard earned money.
Some notable titles(Yep, I've seen most of them!)
LAST ORGY OF THE THIRD REICH
Possibly the most graphic and disturbing film of its ilk, this one fairly well made but ultimately is an endurance test. In a pretty unnerving scene, a cut-rate Goebbels expounds on his philosophy for eliminating the Jews; eat them! ...And eating them they do, taking a poor young girl, sprinkling her with cooking oil and cooking her up right on the spot. Thankfully there are a few welcome hits of unintentional comedy. One such instance finds a group of very tame gerbils standing in for an army of hungry rats.
NAZI LOVE CAMP 27
One of the more gruesome Italian productions. Its about a captured Jewish girl whose defiance against whoring for the SS leads to her appointment as a stern Madame in a lush Nazi brothel.
The main actress is quite good and the film has occasional moments of power -particularly towards the end, but these sequences are at odds with the trashier elements: gratuitous sex footage, severe beatings, and in one vile hardcore scene a woman is raped full throttle with a bull horn.
THE NIGHT PORTER
Made in 1974 by a female director(Liliana Cavani) and starring renowned actors Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde, despite a certain level of tastelessness in its subject matter, this movie remains fairly good art-house fare, and is probably the most watchable film of this genre, if one wants to include it as part of the genre.
SALON KITTY
Made in 1975 by Tinto Brass, this one was a blockhuster in Europe, made by the director who would later direct and disowned CALIGULA,
and directly inspired most of the European entries that followed in the next two years.
The main actress, Theresa Ann Savoy is very beautiful and the movie is better and more tasteful than most.
SS EXTERMINATION CAMP
(Kind of) Directed by Bruno Mattei.
What a piece of shit!!!
This movie is about some demented officer and his right hand man, Crazy Kurt, a monobrow psycho rapist, as they do their usual schtick, that is torture inmates and the viewer.
By the way, stay away from Bruno Mattei, what a piss poor director!
WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 7
Nothing much to say about this one, except for the scene in which a vaginal cork and razor blade contraption shreds a rapist's penis.
Lovely.
TRAIN SPECIAL POUR HITLER.*don't know English title
Nothing worth mentioning besides this:
The Director was also responsible, believe it or not, for the world's first midget porn flick, entitled LILY PUTE.
(Hahahaha!)
SS HELL CAMP AKA THE BEAST IN HEAT
An Ilsa-like Nazi officer who has innocent girls abducted from a nearby town for use in her sadistic lab experiments involving a drooling Neanderthal man Boris!!! who the Nazi officer keeps locked in a cage. If the women aren't lucky enough to be dissected, they're tossed into the cage with caveman Boris! who, in one scene, rapes a woman before ripping the pubic hair and flesh from beneath her legs and devouring it.
SS HELL CAMP further demonstrates its willingness to repulse with scenes of finger nail plucking; intense floggings; a drowning; human rat food, and both breast and vagina electrocution complete with blood letting.
Only worth watching for man-whore Boris!!!
Keep in mind, most of these were made in the 70s, had horrible production values and as gruesome as they sound, blood looked like ketchup, sets like movie sets and most of the actors sucked as hard as Electrolux vacuum cleaners!
At your own risk, witness Boris!! the beast in heat itself in the trailer for SS Hell Camp!! :
A bit of History:
Nazisploitation, a justifiably maligned film sub-genre yet fascinating due to the incredible fact that it actually exists, was born in 1969 with the pioneer of the genre, LOVE CAMP 7, an American film made with a mostly Jewish crew. I cannot guarantee you will love Love Camp 7, but I can guarantee that you will love in Love Camp 7 announced the tag line on the video box. This film introduced elements to the genre that would become the standard and very soon a stereotype for those that followed. The usual suspects: voice over narration that claims everything is true, prison camp setting, sadistic/perverted commandant, female prisoners used as prostitutes and unwilling sex performers, one sympathetic Nazi who is appalled by the cruelties, laughably phony German and French accents etc.
A fairly boring film overall, LOVE CAMP 7 still disturbs a little if only because of its sleazy subject matter.
Any queasiness one has about the exploitation of the holocaust tragedy isn't helped by the fact that most of the Germans in the film are played by Jewish men. The tortures on display are disturbing but fairly mild considering what would come later. (Roll drums...)
Then 1974 brought us:
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
The original film, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, is the only film in the series which belongs in the Nazi exploitation genre. It is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Despite this stated attempt at cultural sensitivity, the film is banned in Germany. It starred Dyanne Thorne the mother of all MILFs as "Ilsa," commandante of a Nazi Stalag. (Prisoner-Of-War camp) Ilsa conducts sadistic scientific experiments designed to demonstrate that women are more capable of enduring pain than men are, and therefore should be allowed to fight in the army. Every night she chooses one of her male prisoners and rapes him. However, due to her insatiable hunger, she gets disappointed when her victim eventually ejaculates, and promptly castrates him. Only an American prisoner, who can withhold ejaculating, manages to use her weakness to his favor. Believe it or not, the film was made on the set of the TV series Hogan's Heroes! Interestingly, Ilsa was a Canadian creation produced by André Link and John Dunning of Montreal distributor Cinepix who quickly wrote a script for a similar movie called Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and contacted Friedman who agreed to produce the movie, hoping to capitalize on the huge success LOVE CAMP 7 had had in Canada. Its over-the-top subject matter has turned the film into a cult movie. Perhaps the best way to explain its initial appeal is that it is a cinematic version of the "men's adventure" sub-genre of pulp magazine. Nazis tormenting damsels in distress were favorite subjects for the lurid covers for "true adventure" magazines such as Argosy in the 1950s and 1960s; the film seeks to be a more explicit reversal of the same sort of sexual fantasy. It should be noted this genre mainly focused on female SS officers at first. It presented them as lusty buxom women who also sexually abused their male prisoners (mainly in non statutory female on male rape fashion). As the setting was a Stalag, the male prisoners were not Jewish prisoners but war prisoners - mainly American and British ones.But all this would vanish as the Eurotrash entries would bring the genre into infamy and sheer misogyny.
The sadism was slightly toned down for the sequels, Ilsa, Harem Keeper Of The Oil Sheiks(1976) and the Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters!) produced llsa, Tigress of Siberia(1977). These latter films are standard Women-In- Prison (a different yet similar sub-genre) films which use exotic settings to render the exaggerated sadism of the plots more plausible.
Thus the genre was born and tons of mainly European-made cheap Nazisploitation flicks flooded movie theaters worldwide and many believe that the advent of the European Nazi exploitation film came as an attempt to leech off the success of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. Whereas this is partly true, the Nazi exploitation sub-genre presented an opportunity for Italian studios to make very low cost horror pictures whilst tapping a previously ignored market - the exploitation war film. The Italian films are different to "Ilsa" in many ways - they focus on far more extreme aspects of human abuse (the most extreme example is probably in SS Hell Camp). Most of the Nazi exploitation films have stalag settings with young female inmates like Women's Camp 119. Their tormentors are female or male Nazi officers in SS uniforms, usually speaking with a fake German accent and irrelevant or mispronounced German words, who often use "experiments" as excuses to implement sadistic physical violence. There are scenes of sexual conduct or, more routinely, exposed nude bodies of the victimised inmates. The level of violence depicted in these films often reaches the gore level. There are also many films that do not follow the conventions of Nazi exploitation, such as Salon Kitty (1976) by Tinto Brass. This film is not usually considered as a "prototypical" Nazi exploitation film and qualifies more for the "art house" sub-genre. However, because of the vague term, even the film The Night Porter a fairly classy film by Liliana Cavani that obviously lacks the exploitation motive may be deemed one. It seems that the genre only lasted a few years before dying slowly and although it enjoyed a second life gathering dust on video store shelves, it will (hopefully!) likely never be popular again.
Some of these titles are now available on DVD, but hey, if you really wanna see one of those, don't spend more than 1$ for it, or just download them. crap such as this(though there are exceptions) doesn't deserve your hard earned money.
Some notable titles(Yep, I've seen most of them!)
LAST ORGY OF THE THIRD REICH
Possibly the most graphic and disturbing film of its ilk, this one fairly well made but ultimately is an endurance test. In a pretty unnerving scene, a cut-rate Goebbels expounds on his philosophy for eliminating the Jews; eat them! ...And eating them they do, taking a poor young girl, sprinkling her with cooking oil and cooking her up right on the spot. Thankfully there are a few welcome hits of unintentional comedy. One such instance finds a group of very tame gerbils standing in for an army of hungry rats.
NAZI LOVE CAMP 27
One of the more gruesome Italian productions. Its about a captured Jewish girl whose defiance against whoring for the SS leads to her appointment as a stern Madame in a lush Nazi brothel.
The main actress is quite good and the film has occasional moments of power -particularly towards the end, but these sequences are at odds with the trashier elements: gratuitous sex footage, severe beatings, and in one vile hardcore scene a woman is raped full throttle with a bull horn.
THE NIGHT PORTER
Made in 1974 by a female director(Liliana Cavani) and starring renowned actors Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde, despite a certain level of tastelessness in its subject matter, this movie remains fairly good art-house fare, and is probably the most watchable film of this genre, if one wants to include it as part of the genre.
SALON KITTY
Made in 1975 by Tinto Brass, this one was a blockhuster in Europe, made by the director who would later direct and disowned CALIGULA,
and directly inspired most of the European entries that followed in the next two years.
The main actress, Theresa Ann Savoy is very beautiful and the movie is better and more tasteful than most.
SS EXTERMINATION CAMP
(Kind of) Directed by Bruno Mattei.
What a piece of shit!!!
This movie is about some demented officer and his right hand man, Crazy Kurt, a monobrow psycho rapist, as they do their usual schtick, that is torture inmates and the viewer.
By the way, stay away from Bruno Mattei, what a piss poor director!
WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 7
Nothing much to say about this one, except for the scene in which a vaginal cork and razor blade contraption shreds a rapist's penis.
Lovely.
TRAIN SPECIAL POUR HITLER.*don't know English title
Nothing worth mentioning besides this:
The Director was also responsible, believe it or not, for the world's first midget porn flick, entitled LILY PUTE.
(Hahahaha!)
SS HELL CAMP AKA THE BEAST IN HEAT
An Ilsa-like Nazi officer who has innocent girls abducted from a nearby town for use in her sadistic lab experiments involving a drooling Neanderthal man Boris!!! who the Nazi officer keeps locked in a cage. If the women aren't lucky enough to be dissected, they're tossed into the cage with caveman Boris! who, in one scene, rapes a woman before ripping the pubic hair and flesh from beneath her legs and devouring it.
SS HELL CAMP further demonstrates its willingness to repulse with scenes of finger nail plucking; intense floggings; a drowning; human rat food, and both breast and vagina electrocution complete with blood letting.
Only worth watching for man-whore Boris!!!
Keep in mind, most of these were made in the 70s, had horrible production values and as gruesome as they sound, blood looked like ketchup, sets like movie sets and most of the actors sucked as hard as Electrolux vacuum cleaners!
At your own risk, witness Boris!! the beast in heat itself in the trailer for SS Hell Camp!! :
Click to view