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THE
NAKED CAGE
The Cannon
Films logo is a like a trademark of quality to schlock fans. Even if the film
it's attached to is complete and utter crap, you know the presence of that
logo ensures the film will still deliver the exploitative goods. And if
you're lucky, the movie will surprise you with a bit of filmmaking savvy. The
Naked Cage is a good example of that latter category. It uses the simple
'women in prison' genre to create a surprisingly ambitious and thoroughly
gonzo exploitation mini-epic.
The film's unusually complicated plot starts off with bad girl Rita
(Christina Whittaker) suckering an easily controlled cokehead named Willie
(John Terlesky) into pulling a bank robbery. The only problem is the robbery
takes place the bank where his ex-wife Michelle (Shari Shattuck) works.
Michelle gets mixed up in the robbery as she tries to save Willie and gets
sent to prison for her troubles. Once there, she struggles to stay out of
clutches of the corrupt, S&M-loving lesbian warden (Angel Tompkins) and a
Smiley (Nick Benedict), a guard who thinks raping the inmates is a fringe
benefit of his job. There's also trouble brewing with the black inmates, who
hate the warden's casual racism. Things get even worse Rita gets transferred
into the prison and vows revenge on Michelle for screwing up her bank heist.
After Rita kills Michelle's ex-junkie pal Amy (Stacey Shaffer) , Rita and
Michelle square off as the tensions around them boil over into a full-fledged
riot.
As the above synopsis reveals, The Naked Cage attacks its genre with
vigor and ambition. It works well thanks to the guidance of an experienced
grindhouse auteur in 'Paul Nicholas' (a.k.a. German filmmaker Lutz
Schwaarwachter), who also helmed another 'chicks in chains' epic Chained
Heat. Nicholas couldn't write a believable piece of dialogue to save his
life - all the 'dramatic' scenes veer into howler territory - but his script
shows an uncanny sense of timing in its ability to balance its twist-happy
plot with strategically timed lashings of smut and violence. He also cleverly
balances his grim story content with slick cinematography from Hal Trussell
(he shot Bachelor Party!) that gives it just the right glossy,
neon-tinged 1980's look.
The performances are also surprisingly decent - Tompkins and Benedict have
campy fun with their villainous roles and Shattuck puts some admirable gusto
into her too-good-to-be-true heroine role. Nicholas gets bonus points for
casting bodybuilder Faith Minton as the 'barn boss' of the inmates - schlock
fans may remember her as the 'Godzilla' that fell in love with Jackie Gleason
in Smokey And The Bandit 3. However, the top acting honors in The
Naked Cage must go to little-known Christina Whittaker - with her butch
new-wave hairstyle and her Flashdance-style torn prison garb, she
looks like a member of the Go-Go's gone bad as she schemes and slashes her
way across the screen in a blaze of nostril-flaring fury. She's truly a
wonder to behold.
In short, The Naked Cage is schlock par excellence. Nicholas was
probably aware he was making trash but he set out to make the most complex,
artsy piece of trash he could muster up - and that's enough to get a schlock
addict like myself misty-eyed for the days when low-budget genre filmmakers
tried to compete with theatrical release fare instead of just settling for
being part of the straight-to-video ghetto.
Taken from http://madeoutofmouth.blogspot.com/
Copyright © 2007
Made Out of Mouth
Want more The
Naked Cage? There’s a brilliant
page at Prison Flicks www.prisonflicks.com/reviews.php?filmID=60
If that page disappears you can find a saved version here
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