Ilsa, She Wolf Of The SS - Don Edmonds - USA - (1975)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071650/

Plot from Imdb: " Ilsa is an evil Nazi warden at a death camp that conducts "medical experiments". Ilsa's goal is to prove that woman can withstand more pain and suffering than men and therefore should be allowed to fight on the front lines."

First part of the infamous Ilsa series, this gruesome piece of Sexploitation and Nazisploitation is really a nasty experience. Despite the disclaimer of the producers, the movie is one of the most exploitive piece of cinema ever imagined: along with the Nazi imagery and the horror of the torture sequences, comes some erotic scenes, led by Dyanne Thorne, maybe the most unerotic figure of the Sexploitation genre (in my opinion). But as a complete fucked up and absurd experience, "Ilsa.." is an interesting viewing experienced. As much ridiculous (Dyanne Thorne characterization is sooooo over the top) as it is gruesome, the results is strange and leaves you with a bitter feeling. Can't say I'm a great fan of the film, as I had trouble to distanced myself from the subject (as I was raised amongst the Paris Jewish community, I have a hard time trying to find anything "fun" about the death camps).
Anyway, the movie is so exploitative in every aspect that it needs a viewing as it became a classic an is often referred to. It will also introduce you to the great world of Ilsa, a hardcore "mistress" of epic proportions (specially her breast).

 Trailer:

Preaching to the Perverted - Stuart Urban - UK - (1997)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119935/

Plot by Imdb: "Minister on a moral crusade employs young computer whizzkid Peter to infiltrate the London S&M scene..."

Funny movie about the hypocrisy of the mainstream toward the fetishist world. Nothing is realistic about it and it might get real S&M enthusiasts pissed off but hey, it's entertainment. And to reach it's goal, it had to be light of the flogging aspect. Too bad for the perverts, like us. As the main character goes deeper and deeper into the world of mythical Mistrees Tanya Cheex, the weirdness of it tend to disappear and leaves us with a funny feeling. To portrait to fetish and S&M english scene as just "nice people" role-playing and wearing strange outfit, the director loose completely the most interessant aspect of it, the psychological  (watch "Barbet Schroeder's "Maitresse"  for that). In the main role, Guienever Turner is cute as hell.

Harmless but visually titillating, "Preaching to perverted" offers a nice 90 minutes entertainment with lots and lots of latex and leather. Kinky !

Trailer:

Ghost of the Civil Dead - John Hillcoat - Australia - (1988)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095217/

Plot from Imdb: "The inmates and guards of a modern, clean and efficient maximum security wing are slowly and increasingly brutalised until they erupt in violence." 

Note: "In Roman law, a person convicted of a crime where the punishment included loss of their legal rights as a person was civiliter mortuus, a person without civil rights, a civil dead." (Wikipedia)

John Hillcoat ("The Proposition", "The Road") first direction is a very impressive one. Having collaborated with Nick Cave (as they did for "The proposition"), they created a bleak vision of a high security unit, doom to collapse from the inner violence of the industrial repression system that governs the place.

Extremely claustrophobic, strangely realistic (as far as we can tell), I found it highly political. From a cold point of view, the movie recreates perfectly the tension between the groups inside the prison. Even the guards seems prisoners of a dehumanized system. Highly brutal, even in the symbolic sense, this ozzie version of "OZ" (the prison tv series), is gonna hurt you and put you in front of a paradoxical question:  is Society creating more violence by trying to suppress it ?

Excellent first movie from Hillcoat, his sober but efficient style goes perfectly well with the macabre music by Nick Cave (who has a small role as a crazy inmate) and creates a real oppressive atmosphere that contaminates you. 

A impressive Ozzie gem. 

 Trailer (with french subtitles, don't ask me why):

Hana To Hebi aka Flower and Snake - Takashi Ishii - Japan - (2003)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388098/

Plot by AsianFilmReviews: "Shizuko Tooyama is a beautiful professional dancer with a successful marriage and a seemingly perfect life. What she does not know is her husband, Takayoshi, owes the yakuza a large sum of money. The yakuza threaten to turn over a videotape with Takayoshi engaging in illegal activities with them to his boss. The only way that Takayoshi can pay the yakuza off is by selling his wife to them for use as a sex slave. Shizuko is then kidnapped, ritually gang-raped and subjected to countless types of sexual torture. Her abuse is primarily for the enjoyment of the head boss of that yakuza family. It was his attraction to Shizuko that prompted his underlings to arrange her purchase. "

 

Remake of a classic from 1974, this Pinku, directed by Takashi ishii ("Evil Dead Trap" writer, director of some of the "Angel Guts" pinku series and of the petrifying "Freeze me"),  is visually splendid and has very good production values, contrary to a lot of "modern" erotic movies. The erotic tension is put aside unfortunately and the director obviously concentrate all of hs effort on the stylish achievement of creating beautiful "frames" of S&M sex. The iconic nature of these images is mesmerizing but distract the audience from the plot and the emotional involvement of the viewers. After her first abduction and submission to sexual fantasies, we find ourselves longing for something more and it doesn't happens. The desperate attempts to save her seems doomed from the beginning and we guess very soon that her salvation lies in her acceptance of her fate/own fantasies. Unfortunately, this is way too classic to be interesting to a pinku "aficionado". Despite that, one cannot put aside the real lavish S&M imagery and the quality of Ishii's direction.

Many have noted the connections between this movie and "Eyes Wide Shut"...I won't comment further as they are clearly not the same kind of movie, but it's clearly the Japanese movie that goes all the way in the  exploration of erotic fantasy where E.W.S staid only at the surface. Question of culture, I guess.

At the end of the day, the fetishist aspect of S&M is clearly depicted as beautiful and arty.  And it is. But too much of the eroticism is missing, for this movie to be completely successful.

 Sorry, no trailer available.