International Walnut: Virgins From Hell

Movie Reviews That'll Put Yer Eye Out, Kid!

Virgins From Hell

Published Sunday, January 22, 2006 by Brian | E-mail this post

Virgins From Hell

Mondo Macabro's latest delirious dose of "wild world cinema" opens in a smoke-hazed gambling house where the stakes are high, and evidently so was the camera operator. The camera swoops above the action like an injured mallard, revealing a cluster of poker-faced patrons seated around a swelling pile of moolah (the official Indonesian currency). However, all bets are off when a female motorcycle gang clad in primary colored pleather, armed with assault rifles, and fueled with feminine fury lay waste to the house of cards, before finally making off with all the Indonesian currency they can get their murderous, albeit well manicured, hands on.

After this bit of thuggery, and a largely out of focus motorcycle montage wherein the gaggle of gals look more lethargic than lethal, the motorcycle gang returns to their secluded hideout. Once inside, the money is counted, but when the leader of the gang reveals that instead of being equally distributed, the loot will be used to buy weapons - so that she can can destroy the diabolical Mr. Tiger, thus avenging the death of her parents - tempers flare and some requisite biker babe bickering quickly ensues.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tiger is busy being wicked inside his fake-ass castle. With the help of a mop-headed medical student, Mr. Tiger has created a super-duper, special, secret female sex serum which he plans to use in order to take over the world's aphrodisiac market - thus making Spanish fly a thing of the past, I suppose. But, before Mr. Tiger can push his product onto GNC shelves everywhere, that pesky pack of biker babes arrives, ready for a rumble.

For some unknown reason the motorcycle gang shows up without new weapons, or for that matter, any semblance of a plan. However, they do have a zippy little Suzuki Samurai with yellow lightning bolt decals... but alas even this is not enough to defeat Mr. Tiger and his heavily armed and brightly costumed legion of chubby, middle-aged men.

The dozen or so girls who survived Mr. Tiger's bullet blazing counterattack are tossed into one of his large cave-like dungeons. Beset by constant infighting, backstabbing and hair-pulling, the gang of girls eventually begin working together (well, sort of) in an effort to survive brutal tortures, a lesbian warden, and horny henchmen. But more importantly, will they ever manage to escape the evil wine-wielding clutches of Mr. Tiger, and if so, might they put an end to his diabolism and countless costume changes...with hymens intact?

With their recent releases of For Your Height Only, The Deathless Devil, Tarkan Versus the Vikings, and now Virgins From Hell, the good people at Mondo Macabro have put out some of the whackiest, most deliriously bizarre, off-the-wall-funny movies I've seen available on DVD.

Along with the madcap plot and characters I've described, the acting is atrocious, the action inept and many of the interiors are about as gaudily tasteless as can be imagined (although I would love to have the portrait of a horse Mr. Tiger has hanging next to his whips). Fight scenes and violence abound, but it's all so unskillfully enacted and comically absurd that laughter seems the only probable response. In terms of sex, that which might have been included to titillate, like everything else, doesn't necessarily have the desired effect, but is nevertheless amusing and only adds to the laughter that the film will surely elicit. I'm not entirely certain what intentions the filmmakers behind Virgins From Hell (and other films of this ilk) may have had, but I can say with some amount of assurity that they wanted to entertain, and in this they succeeded admirably. Simply put, these films are so bad they're brilliant.

Mondo Macabro's release of this film is really above par. Virgins From Hell is presented in a remastered anamorphic widescreen print, that really looks much better than one would expect given the obscure nature of the title. The audio is quite clear, without any fluctuations or noticeable imperfections - making it all the easier to hear the silly dialogue, a stolen section from the score to Dune, and a quirky instrumental version of The Moody Blues's "Nights in White Satin." The first disc also includes a trailer for Virgins From Hell, background information on the Women In Prison genre from Pete Tombs, and the Mondo Macabro previews trailer.

Virgins From Hell also comes with a second disc that is sure to keep the party going with "70 minutes of trailers from the studio behind Virgins From Hell." The trailers run the gamut with supernatural martial arts spectaculars, more women in prison films, horror, crime films, jungle adventure and even war films. Based solely on the trailers I'm hoping Mondo Macabro releases a couple of the "Warrior" films and The Devil's Sword to DVD. Finally, a documentary on Indonesian cinema is included, and will look familiar to those who already own Mondo's excellent Lady Terminator release. So, with a fun feature film, a bevy of great extras and the most fashion conscious villain in cinema history, what more could fans of "the wild side of world cinema" possibly ask for?

Originally published at Horrorview.com

Labels: dvd, mondo macabro, review, virgins from hell