PRISON-A-GO-GO
Directed by Barak Epstein
Featuring Laurie Walton, Rhonda Shear, Mary Woronov,
Travis Willingham, Lauren Graham, and Mike Wiebe
2005
WIP Studios
Shock-O-Rama

The women-in-prison film really is its own genre; it’s a b-movie tradition that saw its biggest heyday in the 1970’s, giving Linda Blair work on more than one occasion. The 80's cult hit "Reform School Girls" may have been intended as an homage to such classics as "Chained Heat" and "The Big Bird Cage, but despite its self-aware cheesiness, it is looked upon as more of a late entry to this style of film than some kind of send-up. And that’s where Barak Epstein’s "Prison-A-Go-Go" steps in, to lovingly spoof a genre that has been ripe for it for decades.

Laurie Walton stars as Janie, a clueless veterinarian whose sister is kidnapped and taken to a womens’ prison in the Philippines (where else?) for use in the bizarre experiments of a mad scientist. In order to save her sister, Janie purposely commits a murder and instantly finds herself on the cell block with an incredibly strange and funny cast of characters (in a prison run by a young slacker who would be better suited to working for Bill Lumberg in "Office Space" than functioning as a warden), including the voluptuous sex offender Jackpot (played by USA Up All Night’s Rhonda Shear!), and various other women who are addicted to frion, hide things in their asses, and keep porcupines as pets.

"Prison-A-Go-Go" is a 35mm feature that looks and sounds something like a Troma movie, only higher quality and far less disgusting. Director Barak Epstein clearly has a love and healthy respect for the kind of films he’s making fun of, and gets everything right: the skimpy uniforms, the food and mud fights, and of course…the obligatory shower scenes. "Prison-A-Go-Go" even comes equipped with a "Shower Clock" in the lower right hand corner of the screen, so that video viewers on the run know exactly how long till the next time they’ll be seeing some bare flesh! And in addition to the mad scientist subplot, Epstein pulls out all the b-movie stops by incorporating zombies, ninjas, and glorious cameos by cult film fixture Mary Woronov and Troma head honcho Lloyd Kaufman.

I’ve seen many unsuccessful attempts at poking fun at b-movies, but nothing has come close to what "Prison-A-Go-Go" manages to accomplish. Not only is it one of the most well-made indie comedies I’ve seen, but it’s funny and well-acted at that (everyone is energized and funny, and Rhonda Shear looks even better than she did when I was a kid watching her show). I don’t often tell my readers to run out and buy the films I write about, but in this case I really suggest you do. No self-respecting cult film fan should be without "Prison-A-Go-Go", because it is clearly made for us by one of us.

"You’ll learn to like it, bitch!"

(May 2005)