Storia segreta di un lager femminile

During World War II a group of nurses are captured by the Japanese army and thrown into a brutal internment camp presided over by a cruel Japanese woman (kind of the Nipponese equivalent of Ilsa). There's a subplot involving Chinese spies in the camp and a hidden cache of gold that both the Chinese and the Japanese are after, and there's not one but TWO big "bust-out" scenes.

This seems to be a Hong Kong take-off (produced by the notorious Shaw brothers)of the WIP genre made popular in the early 70's by people like Roger Corman. But since the American WIP films were usually shot in the Philipines and used Asian actors in supporting roles, and this movie cast Caucasian actresses in the lead roles, it isn't on the surface that much different from its inspiration (aside from the historical setting). However,the "American" characters here are actually Danish softcore porn stars like Birte Tove, and the whole thing apparently had to be dubbed clumsily into English, so this film lacks a lot of the character development of American WIP films. But at the same time it also lacks a lot of the chop-socky action sequences that characterized Hong Kong films of that era.

The tone of this film is all over the place. At times it is more serious and brutal film complete with torture and rape scenes. It is somewhat stronger than the American WIP films if not nearly as strong the later Eurpean WIP films made by people like Jess Franco or the notorious Italian "Nazi sexploitation" films (or their American equivalent, the "Ilsa" series). Other times, however, it descends into slapstick comedy like a long, bizarre food fight scene. Sex, as always, is the real name of the game, but even this is curiously circumspect. There's plenty of nudity (shower scenes, etc.), but when the cruel female commander apparently rapes her favorite Caucasian stoolie with a strap-on dildo, the action is kept so much off-screen that it's hard to even figure out what's happening. And after Birte Tove's character first discovers that the Chinese camp cook is a spy who is going to help them escape, she decides to have passionate sex with him, even though they just barely met, and they proceed to do so after lighting about a hundred candles--which is strange to say the least considering this is a spontaneous and furtive encounter in an enemy prison camp.

That's not necessarily to say this is a bad or entirely un-entertaining WIP film, but it is definitely a very strange one.

Big budget exploitation effort from Shaw Brothers is a little too sloppy to be praised, but it's a decent time waster. It is bizarre to see softcore Scandinavian sex siren Birte Tove ("Bedroom Mazurka", "Bedside Dentist") in a key role as prisoner/Red Cross envoy Jennifer. Ms. Tove gets beaten around a lot in this violent WIP (Women In Prison) flick and reveals more than her fine legs.

In fact, director Chin Hung Kuei appears to be obsessed with women's legs and underthings. Hardly a moment goes by that we aren't looking up a fallen prisoner's dress or watching another poor soul have have clothing torn off by an evil Japanese officer.

There is a confusing plot concerning hidden gold and some anti-Japanese propaganda, but the main focus of this exploitation epic is rape, beatings, catfights, escape attempts and torture. It's all done with tongue in cheese at times and is usually too extreme to be taken seriously. Though the film does have a TF Mous vibe at times (reminding this viewer of "Lost Souls" in particular), Mous's shocking exploitation classic didn't hit cinemas until 1980, six years after this was produced.

The film's scope is quite wide and events in the third act move to rural and coastal locations outside the central prison set. The climax is rather ludicrous and totally illogical, but by then, exploitation fans will have gotten their money's worth, if not any food for the brain.

Bamboo House of Dolls (1973, 1974 or 1977, various years are given for this title) is a Hong Kong veteran Chin Hung Kuei's (Killer Snakes, Boxer's Omen, Payment in Blood etc.) women in prison flick produced by the legendary Shaw Brothers. Yes, even they got their hands into low exploitation sickies like this, and Bamboo is definitely among the worse attempts of the whole genre, even when compared to the Western attempts that usually pale in comparison with the Eastern films!

The story is about a Japanese war camp in which the Chinese women are brutalized, abused and raped by the bad Japanese (what else?) during the World War II. The girls also know a secret place in which a box full of gold is hidden and also learn that a Chinese military officer raised in Japan (Shaw veteran Lo Lieh) is actually now an undercover agent among the other Japanese and naturally helps the girls escape the hell. What follows is sequences full of gratuitous nudity, female kung fu, some nasty torture, gore, sleaze and extremely offensive anti Japan attitude that make this film pure and honest garbage that doesn't even try to be more than it is.

There are hardly any interesting elements in Bamboo House of Dolls. The occasional photography especially at the end looks nice with its sunbeams and beautiful nature but that's about it in the merits department. The fight scenes are plenty and always include half naked females hitting and kicking each other. The violence overall is quite nasty at times with several bullet wounds, misogynistic torture scenes (for example, one poor girl is brutalized on the floor filled with broken glass etc.) and extremely repulsive ending and moral behind it. Of course it is stupid to talk about "moral" when writing about this kind of film, but still there are elements I won't accept to be found from any film.

The film has also some enjoyable turkey elements for sure! For example, the gold box, filled with heavy gold, seems suspiciouly light as the weak and suffered girls don't seem to have any problems lifting and moving it, not to speak of throwing it! Also those numerous "skin fight scenes" make this quite smile inducing for fans of trash cinema. I have seen the same director's Killer Snakes (1973) which is ten times more noteworthy as a piece and even though it has many alive snakes killed for real, it is also visually more interesting and shows us some nasty sides of the other side of the big city and society. Also, it is a must for those who fear snakes.

Bamboo House of Dolls has suffered some censorship, too, which isn't a surprise considered the subject matter. The uncut version, (dubbed into a non-English language) released in Europe at least in France, Italy and Switzerland, runs 104 PAL minutes while the cut, English dubbed print released in Holland, Belgium and Greece runs only 84 minutes in PAL. From what I've heard, the cut scenes are not only violence or other graphic stuff but also dialogue and "plot development" and the like.

Bamboo House of Dolls is garbage cinema in its most trashy form and definitely something I wouldn't have liked to see from the Shaw Brothers or Hong Kong in general. Some of the Italian exploitation films of the same subject matter are much more interesting and noteworthy than this quite ridiculous, calculated and worthless piece of cinema exploitation. 2/10

I bought this film on DVD (from xploitedcinema.com) and expected an over-the-top, Women In Prison exploitation ride that would have me guffawing and slapping my knee as I had a good old time watching the girls get taken advantage of. It's a guy thing. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that BHOD kept me glued to the screen from beginning to end. It's an exploitation film no doubt, but it's done very well!

Even if a story is just loaded with plotholes, it's still a good movie if the characters are enjoyable. The female prisoners are very attractive, and the actors portraying the villains are really digging into their roles - you can tell they're having a good time. The sex scenes, when violent, are choreographed very well, and are done tastefully. Many of the erotic scenes have a comedic nature, and are welcome pauses in an otherwise non-stop action fest.

Though this film is now 30 years old, it looks like a recently-shot film. Hairstyles look fresh and modern, and there aren't really any props or items that mark this as an early 70's film. Very nice attentions to detail, even if it was unintentional.

What makes this film great is that its appeal is a lot broader than one might think. I love exploitation films and tend to watch them by myself, as my friends are into mainstream movies. But House OF Dolls is captivating enough to be watched all kinds of movie buffs. Just warn them of the impending nudity and enjoy the show :)

This is no simple little 'sexploitation' or 'women-in-prison' film. Rating this film is difficult because it attempts to do so many things. It's always cool when you put on a movie that you don't expect too much from, and the director surprises you with a whole bag of tricks.

If all you want is sexploitation, then this might work for you - I believe there are more panty-shots in this film than any other in history. Seriously. There is a hella-sexy scene of all of the women bathing together with bowls and barrels. If you're into torture in your women's prison films, then this 'Bamboo' can scratch your itch. There is some pretty hardcore stuff here - a little too much for my taste. The presence of a few Caucasian women in this Japanese concentration camp was also off-putting to me... and, the white girls always had clean hair. How stupid... Meanwhile, the director puts all of this extra effort and detail into these realistic explosions and attempted choreography. Speaking of...

Why does this sexploitation film have so many effects and stunts? Wtf was going on over in Hong Kong? There was actual fight choreography in this film... several times... and, it was bad... every time... the choreography was bad every time. The explosions were good. The car chase scene destroys an entire set. They just keep driving this car into buildings and props until they destroy the entire set they were using. And, it was awesome.

You would think that all of these explosions and poorly acted fights might distract from the either the 'sex' or the 'exploitation' aspect of the sexploitation, but, no! Even in the midst of the car chase, the director manages to include a ton of panty shots. Genius.

This film is way better than it should be and is a unique trashy gem in a genre full of generic trash.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1; Casting - 0.5/1; Directing - 0.5/1; Story - 0.5/1; Writing/Screenplay - 1/1;

Total Base Score = 3.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Gratuitous Female Nudity: +1 (Is it weird to say that this film makes me want to visit Hong Kong? Yeah, that's weird...);

Total RealReview Rating: 4.5 (happily rounded up to 5 for IMDB)