Sweet young Maria de Guerra (a personable portrayal by super cutie Lina Romay) gets sent to a harsh women's penitentiary after she's found guilty of killing her father. While serving her life sentence Maria must deal with an assortment of cruel and depraved ordeals that include everything from electro-shock torture to unhinged and/or predatory fellow inmates to, naturally, brutality and degradation as meted out on a regular basis by the corrupt prison staff.Notorious Spanish sleazemeister Jess Franco really indulges his passion for leering close-ups of unshaved vaginas and sizzling semi-pornographic explicit female masturbation including a literally hot number with a freshly smoked cigarette (!) while also maintaining a steady pace and an appropriately grim sordid tone that comes complete with a socko surprise bummer ending. The colorful array of choice nasty villains adds tremendously to the overall deliciously trashy entertainment value: Monica Swinn attacks her juicy roll of the wicked warden who wears a monocle and hot pants with lip-smacking relish, Paul Muller snivels it up to the despicable hilt as whiny coward doctor Carlos Costa, and Eric Falk lets it all hang out as jolly sadistic guard Nestor. Buxom blonde dish Martine Stedil brings a winning naive charm to her character of wide-eyed virginal innocent Bertha Contrini. Better still, the fetching female felons are all clad solely in skimpy smocks but don't bother with wearing any underwear. Franco appears as Maria's pervy incestuous pop in a hysterical flashback sequence that's done in hilariously unconvincing faked slow motion. Franco's competent cinematography makes cool frequent use of zippy zoom-ins. The swinging jazz score by Daniel White and Walter Baumgartner hits the right-on groovy spot. A solid scuzzfest.

Women in Prison movies come in several styles, ranging from tongue-in-cheek camp to disturbingly sadistic shockfests. Barbed Wire Dolls is a Jess Franco flick, so, as expected, it doesn't really fit into any pigeonhole. Overall, it feels like watching a repressed old man's secret fantasies, reenacted half-assedly over the course of a three-day weekend by Franco's friends in exchange for a free flight ticket. The extremely low budget is clearly visible in every aspect of the movie, including the film quality, which is barely a step above that of a Mexican soap opera or 80s late-night infomercial.Watching Frauengefangnis is like performing an experiment on yourself. The painfully slow pace, downbeat soundtrack, eternal scenes of pointless verbal abuse, mock torture, and idiotic dialog gradually turn your brain into glue. The movie is so sleazy, depressing, and confusing, that it's almost unwatchable in one sitting.The creepy effect of this movie doesn't come from graphic violence, as there is none. What's disturbing is how tame and lifeless everything feels, given what's supposed to be taking place. For example, it's unnerving to watch a woman laugh while she gets tortured. The laughing isn't part of the script, but on more than one occasion, actresses in this movie unintentionally crack up throughout what's supposed to be a torture or a rape scene. The effect it at once comical, disorienting and depressing. Highly recommended.

Well, I didn't go into this film expecting anything over and above the usual sleaze from prolific director Jess Franco, and while I've certainly seen worse films from the director; this isn't exactly a highlight for him either. Barbed Wire Dolls is another one of those sleazy 'women in prison' in films, and aside from the obvious implications of this sort of film; Franco has seen fit to make things even sleazier by way of things such as a lesbian warden and a whole host of sadistic torture sequences. There's basically no plot in this film, although there is a little slither involving a young woman and her father, whom she is believed to have murdered. This plot never takes centre focus, however, and Franco seems keener to continually show filth, which is no bad thing if you ask me. However, there's only really so far a film like this can go with no plot to speak of, and the fact that Franco didn't care at all about telling a story is shown best at the end, when it just 'ends' without any resolution. Still, sleaze fans are likely to get a lot out of this film as there's naked chicks, violence, lesbians, sadism etc, and while I don't rate this too highly; I can at least say I enjoyed watching it. What?

This is one for the real deranged sex maniacs out there. There's virtually no plot just one flimsy excuse or another to show helpless women being sexually tortured and degraded. There are plenty of laughs to be had if that sort of thing rocks your boat, though. One outrageous scene has Jess Franco playing in-mate Lina Romay's father who attempts to rape her in slow motion...only trouble is they actually act (very badly) in slow motion live rather than slow down the actual film!!! incredible! Franco's worst? Hardly, It's actually one of his filthy sadistic best as there is no time to get bored for a change (a rarity with his movies!). Fans of that ol' Spanish zoom lens we've come to know and love will not be disappointed. Wild and crazed as only Franco could do..he out viles the ILSA series with ease here.Perfectly putrid!(and I loved every moment!)