ILSA THE MAD BUTCHER

(A.k.a. ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN; GRETA THE MAD BUTCHER; WANDA THE WICKED WARDEN; ILSA: ABSOLUTE POWER; GRETA - HAUSE OHNE MANNER)

Is it Ilsa, Greta or Wanda? Depends what territory you're watching the film in, I suppose. For the purpose of this write-up, I'm going to tally with the cover title and refer to the main character as Ilsa...

So, Ilsa (Dyanne Thorne) now runs a mental hospital in what appears to be some jungle-surrounded retreat, where wayward women are taught the error of their ways by being subjected to constant nakedness and systematic abuse.

One inmate manages to escape and, following a half-hearted chase through the close-by greenery, makes it to the home of Dr Arcos (director Jess Franco, looking like a shrunken David Hemmings). He's sufficiently upset by this turn of events, that he summons a meeting with his important scientific friends - sort of a United Nations summit, but on a much smaller scale - and tells them they must investigate this girl's claims of abuse.

This doesn't get him very far, so instead he enlists the help of young Abbie (Tania Busselier), who's perfectly willing to go undercover in Ilsa's madhouse and suffer whatever may come in the hope that the truth will eventually out.

Abbie is immediately stripped, showered by cackling lesbian wardens and thrown into a communal cell where she meets the precarious Juana (Lina Romay). The latter takes an instant shine to Abbie, but has to suffer sexual torture at the hands of her illicit lover; the institute's head Ilsa, before being allowed to keep her as a cellmate.

In the meantime, Abbie gets to know her surroundings a little better. She's introduced to the hospital's resident transsexual - "I wasn't always a girl, I had a very big cock" - and gets to meet Ilsa, where her startling 'back-story' comes to light: she's posing as a school teacher who's been accused of molesting her pupils!

Needless to say, she sinks deeper into the abyss as she discovers the true nature of Ilsa's cruel regime: racism, sexual torture, brutal whippings and more.

Erwin C Dietrich produced a spate of Jesus Franco's films during the mid-70s, a most fertile period for the prolific director, and they are all considered as being notorious now. They were, after all, custom-made to meet the criteria of unapologetic European exploitation cinema of the time.

ILSA follows suit, with copious scenes of full-frontal female nudity, some unbelievably ripe dialogue and, naturally, a few scenes of sadistic sexual violence during its latter half. It's not the most explicit entry in the ILSA series - in fact, it's not an official ILSA film at all, it was merely designed as a rip-off that happened to entice Thorne into a starring role and was therefore later redubbed and put through a title change to capitalise on her involvement - but there is a mean-spirited sleaziness to events that is hard not to be moved by.

There are bum notes, obviously. The film is slow to get going, and a mid-film segue into a nearby diner introduces a prostitution sub-plot which is all well and good, but it does break the pace of ritualistic abuse we've up until then been enjoying.

Franco's direction is more considered than usual: the story is carefully paced (a little too much so), and his trademark zoom-ins of the era are thankfully put on hold.

Romay is a fiery character here, exhibiting an agreeable sexual energy that I've not really experienced from her in other Franco films. Thorne is on familiar ground and plays her role with predictable stability. She still seems to be enjoying this character, which is good news for the viewer. Elsewhere, the performances are difficult to assess due to poor dubbing and the fact that this is a Jesus Franco film - as evidenced here, he can't even direct his own acting.

Do such things matter in a film called ILSA THE MAD BUTCHER though? Nope, it's all about the sleaze. And there's plenty of that - even though the film isn't overly gory, you get enough naked sadism to satisfy most exploitation hounds. And what's not to like in a scene where one character bares her arsehole to another, and demands "lick my colon"? Yes, this film feels grimy enough to make you want to take a shower immediately after having viewed it.

And that takes some doing.

The uncut print used for this newly remastered release from Ascot Elite is exceptionally clean, and whatever restoration has taken place for this MPEG4-AVC file really has done a great job of presenting the film like never before. Colours, blacks, detail, depth ... they're all incredibly strong yet natural. Look at the early seduction scene with Thorne and Romay, for example: you can clearly see the cellulite and wrinkles on the latter's arse. I doubt this film has ever looked better than here, not even on the big screen. A warm hue blesses the film with a style we've never been privy to previously.

Close-up scenes are remarkably sharp. Some of the wider, exterior shots are soft in focus - but this is Jess Franco, so that's not unusual. Hats off to Ascot Elite, I was mightily impressed with this transfer.

As for the audio ... we get the choice of German, Italian and English 5.1 DTS-HD mixes, plus a French 2.0 option. I focused on the English track (in which, Thorne's character is referred to as Greta), and it was unexpectedly excellent. A little echoey at times, admittedly, but clearer and cleaner than ever before by far.

Optional subtitles are also available on the main feature in English and Japanese.

The disc opens to an attractive animated main menu page. Pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 23 chapters.

Extras begin with trailers for the main feature plus SEXY SISTERS, BLUE RITA, WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 (these three are with German audio and burned-in French subtitles), CALL OF THE BLONDE GODDESS and JACK THE RIPPER (both with German audio).

A gallery of 22 lobby card images is suitably salacious and attractively mounted to boot.

Finally, an 11-minute featurette contains interview with both Dietrich and Franco, discussing the commercial motives of the film, working with Thorne and more. The great thing about this is that, although Uncle Jess actually speaks in English, English subtitles are optional.

I should also mention that the cover is reversible. So if you take objection to the almighty '18' rating on the front cover, you can flip the cover over and enjoy identical artwork but without any unsightly censorial notifications.

ILSA THE MAD BUTCHER (or WICKED WARDEN, whatever you prefer to call it) looks and sounds great on blu-ray. That it's been remastered in 1080p HD in the first place is amazing. That it's fully uncut and has been delivered with such obvious care ... well, I'm bowled over.

The blu-ray is reportedly region-free too. Buy, buy!

Review by Stuart Willis