Prison-A-Go-Go! (2003)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Sweet goody goody two shoes Janie (a perky and appealing portrayal by Laurie Watton) goes to the worst prison in the Philippines to find her missing sister Callista (very fetching tall drink of water Lauren Graham). While incarcerated at this brutal women's penitentiary Janie meets a colorful array of female felons, discovers that mad scientist Dr. Hurtrider (wildly overplayed with deliciously hammy relish by Travis Willingham) is using the inmates as guinea pigs for his nefarious experiments, and, naturally, finds time to take a lot of showers.Director Barak Epstein, who also co-wrote the cheerfully inane script with Mike Wiebe, keeps the enjoyably silly story moving along at a zippy pace, maintains an amiable blithely kitschy tongue-in-cheek tone throughout (the running gags about an on-screen shower time clock and blatant product place in particular are quite inspired), and delivers plenty of over-the-top gore along with the expected tasty gratuitous distaff nudity. Moreover, Epstein certainly covers all the pleasingly trashy babes-behind-bars bases: We've got flesh-eating zombies, sadistic guards, nude gals in the shower, a catfight in the mud, a gaggle of bored ninjas who are desperate for action, and a climactic breakout. The enthusiastic cast have a ball with the wacky material, with especially spirited contributions from Rhonda Shear as friendly and horny top con Jackpot, Lloyd Kaufman as sleazy guard Liebowitz, Louisa Lawless as the crazy Cross Eye, Tina Parker as the flatulent Breezy, and Wiebe as the hopeless nerdy warden Wilbur Thorn. Mary Woronov has a funny bit as the ruthless Dyanne She-Bitch Slutface. Ilram Choi almost steals the whole show with his uproarious turn as an overzealous ninja. A real hoot.

Unfortunately, I missed the first few minutes of this film, so I can't comment on the beginning (I came in on the scene where she can't kill the baby), but the rest of the film is hilarious.All the WIP clichés were there- A woman looking for her sister in jail getting arrested on purpose.The leering jail guard, The butch bully, the cafeteria fight scene, the shower scenes, the big escape scene towards the end, the mad doctor experimenting on the inmates, I completely missed Mary Wuronov's character, but I assume she played the tough dyke warden, etc.... The young guy as the new warden was great, as well as the crazy prison doctor and the Barbra Streisand-type inmate. The punk band scene was a pisser, and there's a lot of jazz in the score featuring a baritone sax (like "I Want To Live" with Susan Hayward and Gerry Mulligan on the soundtrack?).I don't think a total spoof of WIP flicks has been done before, but there have been a lot of partial spoofs. Hopefully this director will do more of the same.

if you go into this movie expecting a masterpiece.. your surely going to be let down.. but come on.. you can freakin tell by the name alone that its going to be a over the top, fun, boobalicous little film. Which it is! Sure its doesn't have the best FX or the best acting.. or the best anything for the sake of argument. But its very entertaining and hilarious. there's a scene where this ninja tells another one to look up.. and he proceeds to karate chop him in the throat. Come on people, don't read into indie movies that are made just to entertain.If your going to see this, watch out for the shower scene timer.. thats right there's a little clock that counts down to the next shower scene.. you will be be completely caught off guard of what happens in one of them.

If you take this movie for what it is worth, it is actually quite fun. It was meant to make fun of the classic 70's prison movies. It does that in spades. This movie isn't meant to be some deep, great blockbuster. If you go into it thinking that, you will get burned. However, if your looking for a mildly amusing, gratuitous nudity filled movie to waste a couple of hours, then this is for you. The acting is quite poor, but thats to be expected out of a no-budget movie. The sound is also atrocious, but that may have just been the copy I was watching. I especially liked the countdown clock that informs viewers of when the next shower scene will take place. The product placement was brilliant. Besides, there just aren't enough movies about mad doctors turning hot women into porcupines.