Jonathan Demme's first cinematic tryout is one of the most notorious W.I.P. efforts of the early 70's, but you can nevertheless easily conclude already why he's one of the only directors of his class who went on to do bigger things, like
oh I don't know, making Award winning masterpieces like "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia". The script contains a handful of really clever findings, like a girl who uses her showering town tome sneak off to the kitchen through the air ventilation system and steal food for her friend in isolation, as well as some ambitiously experimental stuff, like a lurid dream sequence and an ingenious method to commit bank robbery. There's not as much torture, rape, humiliation and lesbian escapades going on in "Caged Heat" as in most other Women in Prison movies, but you can always take comfort in the thought that this is a more story-driven accomplishment. Besides, this weren't the rancid 80's so don't expect another "Chained Heat" (the Holy Grail of W.I.P. cinema) or "Reform School Girls". The rebel girls in this prison facility are subjected to harsh electro shock therapy – beautifully referred to as behavioral correction – that makes them shut up for the rest of their sentences. The prison is run with an iron hand by battle ax head warden McQueen, who's a religiously fanatic crippled woman in a wheelchair who dreams about dancing in front of her prisoners in a bunny outfit. Fantastic, that is! Even more fantastic is that this role is taken up by the legendary cult siren/horror wench Barbara Steele! "Caged Heat" is admittedly slow and boring in places – quite a few places unfortunately – but it actually plays in a different league than the vast majority of Women in Prison movies. Plus, the ending is awesome!
Review of Caged Heat
