10. Caged Heat (1974)
We had to have the obligatory Women in Prison film in a list about American Exploitation films. To leave the sub genre out would be like shouting at Lassie for barking. Jacqueline Wilson (the incredible Erica Gavin - last seen in Russ Meyer's Vixen!) is sentenced to jail for drug charges. Along with her fellow convicts, they take on the prison governor (played by Scream Queen Barbara Steele) and her harsh, repressive policies. With all of the requisite prison stereotypes, Caged Heat is great fun to watch and is a prime piece of exploitation cinema featuring lots of nudity and perverted goings on. However, that being said, you will not find some of the more extreme sexual shenanigans and depravity that is a feature and drawing power of many other Women in Prison films (such as Violence in a Women's Prison and Sadomania!). The director Jonathan Demme went on to bigger and better things but arguably, none of them were as entertaining as Caged Heat.
Clare Simpson
Contributor
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
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Clare