Nazisploitation has been on my radar for many years. The day I discovered it and watched a few trailers, I bought ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974). I'd watched the trailer off the DVD a gazillion times, showing it to unsuspecting friends and those who dared to see something potentially revolting and certainly in bad taste. Oddly, it was years later that I finally watched the damn thing. That was a year or so ago. Cut to a few weeks ago when I decided that I was going to dive into the uber-sleazy Women in Prison sub-genre of Nazisploitation. I gathered 27 films and spent the entire month of March watching them in chronological order. Do not attempt this without consulting your physician.
There were a lot of surprises along the way.
- The film that started it all wasn't too shabby.
- The film that ended it was.
- All of them featured full frontal, and many included men.
- All of them had several women who were not true blondes. See the previous statement for how I know.
- A surprising few were daring enough to make the prisoners Jewish.
- With one exception, LIEBES LAGER (1976), none were intentionally funny.
- I learned nothing at all about National Socialism.
- Not a single film had Hitler in it. Missed opportunity there.
- Elsa is WAY hotter than Ilsa.
- France can't make a decent Nazisploitation flick.
- The poster art, by and large, makes you want to take a bath.
- Too much of a bad thing is...bad.
- Nazisploitation trailers are the best!
Here's the rundown for each picture in chronological order:
Title (Year) (Country) My Rating (out of 10)
Love Camp 7 (1969) (USA) 5
Torture Me, Kiss Me (1970) (USA) 2.5
Hitler's Harlot (1973) (USA) 4
Frauleins in Uniform (1973) (Switzerland) 6
Nazi Sex Experiments (1973) (USA) 5
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974) (USA) 7
The Night Porter (1974) (Italy) 8
SS Experiment Love Camp (1976) (Italy) 4
Deported Women of the SS Special Section (1976) (Italy) 5.5
Salon Kitty (1976) (Italy) 5.5
Liebes Lager (1976) (Italy) 5.5
SS Girls (1977) (Italy) 5.5
Elsa Fraulein SS (1977) (France) 3.5
Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1977) (Italy) 4
Women's Camp 119 (1977) (Italy) 3.5
SS Hell Camp (1977) (Italy) 6
Nazi Love Camp 27 (1977) (Italy) 4
The Red Nights of the Gestapo (1977) (Italy) 7
Hitler's Last Train (1977) (France) 3
SS Camp 5: Women's Hell (1977) (Italy) 4.5
The Gestapo's Last Orgy (1977) (Italy) 7.5
SS Nazi Convoy (1978) (France) 3
Bordel SS (1978) (France) 2
Nathalie: Escape from Hell (1978) (France) 5
Nazi Love Island (1980) (USA) 5.5
Stalag 69 (1982) (USA) 2
Blitzkrieg: Escape from Stalag 69 (2008) (USA) 5
And here's a great Israeli documentary on the pulp novels that gave inspiration to these films...
Stalags (2008) (Israel) 7.5
I'm glad it's over and after 27 films, I'm Nazisploited out. For the record, there were two I watched that I was misled that they belonged on this list - CIALI IBO AVRUPA'DA (1970) & HOLOCAUST II (1980). And it's also worth mentioning that there was no way I was going to be able to watch nothing but Nazisploitation all month long so, to bring me out of the sewer, I took in lots of Spaghetti Westerns, Bond, 70s crime and the first season of BOARDWALK EMPIRE. There's no way I could have made it without them.
If you know of a film that belongs on this list and where I can get a copy of it (I've gone this far so I might as well see every damn one of them, right?), drop me a line.
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