“I don’t know many new fish that would fuck with Chuck.”
They don’t come much better than Reform School Girls (literally or figuratively). Where Deported Women of the SS Special Section takes the cake for being dark and brutal, Reform School puts the fun and sexy back into the WIP genre. With its scores of hot girls, rocking music, and all-star cast, it is definitely one Women in Prison film you don’t want to miss.
Reform School Girls wastes no time cutting to the chase right from the opening scene. The premise is simple: Jenny Williams gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong and is sentenced to three years in Pridemore Juvenile Facility, which is any young girl’s nightmare and every teen boy’s fantasy.
Pridemore is run with an iron fist by Warden Sutter (Sybil Danning), and her evil, butch, oversized henchman Edna (Pat Ast). “Who some girls call Eddie, once they get to know her,” as she explains to all the new fish. Our head-cell-block-bitch Charlie is played by Wendy O. Williams, and if that is not enough to make you put this in your classics category you have obviously never seen the film. The reform school is filled with tons of hot, young, bad girls walking around in their underwear and lingerie. If you are the type of person who might ask why the girls are allowed to walk around in such a state, then you may want to turn off this film and watch the newest Owen Wilson comedy. It is probably more your thing.
It only takes about 5 to 6 minutes for the first, but not last, obligatory mass shower scene, soon to be followed by the first catfight between the new girl Jenny and Charlie, where Jenny learns the hard way that Charlie is in cahoots with Edna. In short you don’t want to “fuck with Chuck.” During a great panning shot of the three girls exposed butts at the end of the second shower scene, Jenny’s conspiracy theory continues to grow when she notices Charlie and her gang all have the same marking on their asses.
Reform School Girls is not all just fun and games. Things do get grim at times, like when
Lisa, our sweet and weak, innocent prisoner (who you can identify because she is the only one wearing a non-revealing nightgown during most of the film), passes out when she is denied water in the work yard. Also, Jenny sleeps with the hired hand who promises he will help her escape, only to turn her in after he is finished using her. This gets Jenny tossed into the hole, and then raped behind closed doors by Edna, who emerges wearing rubber gloves. It is left up to your imagination why she is screaming and what just occurred. I can only guess it was a thorough internal exam. There are more intense scenes but I won’t mention them all., but if you really think there is going to be a happy ending for the kitten, I have a bridge you can buy.
This film really belongs to Pat Ast and Wendy O. Williams. As it is always great to see Sybil Danning, she doesn’t do much more than say a creepy, nightly prayer (which one girl refers to as the voice of God ) from some watch tower, and pops up occasionally to yell at Edna. Wendy as Charlie is something I can’t even put into words. Her performance is almost laughable, but her sneering, tough bitch routine cannot be denied. She looks the part, and what is wonderful about her is that one sometimes questions if she is even acting at all. I don’t know how something that seems so bad can feel so real at the same time. I also can’t forget to mention this movie has one of the most classic genre film endings ever, and it would have never been possible if it were not for these two women. This is where Wendy and Pat really steal the show, and what makes Reform School Girls one of the greatest WIP ever made. If Williams does not make you want to jump to your feet and pump your fist, or at least has you cheering from your seat, you may want to check you pulse. She and the ending are just that good.
One of the highlights of Reform Girls is the music, which really kicks up towards the end. Take note of the song playing during Jenny’s sex scene because it is just too classic to ignore. Also the lines that the hired hand uses to seduce Jenny almost make you feel okay about the fact that he not only screwed her once, but twice. I guess the chance for freedom was too hard to ignore. I dare you to say to any female “Let’s play carnival, that is where you sit on my face and I guess your weight” seriously, and see if you get laid. Only a girl locked up in Pridemore would still be desperate enough to fuck you after dropping some crap on her like that. Also take note of Lisa’s cute ass when she is almost branded, not once but twice, in the bathroom.
I’m not going to go as far and say that Reform School Girls set the standard for WIP films, but it did for me. When I think of the WIP films two things pop in my head, this film and Linda Blair’s broomstick rape. Watching movies like Reform School and Dream Lover while I was a kid is probably the reason I developed a panty fetish. No not wearing them, but seeing girls wear them. You probably did not want to know that, but there are so many panty shots in this film, it just had to be mentioned.
Even if some other film defined the genre for you, you would be a fool to deny that Reform School Girls is not one of the definitive Women in Prison flicks. It includes every cliché we have come to love about females behind bars, while actually never crossing the too cheesy line. It has the perfect mix of brutality while never becoming too brutal, and includes way too many great lines like “You are the shit stains on the panties of life.”
This is a must see, and a piece of cinema history that should never be forgotten. The kind of movie that not even the best critic could ever take away from us, well until some jack-off decides to remake it that is.
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