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November 17, 2012

Movie Review: Sex Hell: True Story of a Woman in Jail (1975)

Directed by Koyu Ohara

Starring Hitomi Kozue, Meika Seri and Maya Hiromi

Here we have your typical “Women behind bars” movie. It has all the elements one would expect in this genre, plus it is done on the supposition that the jail in question is actually a juvenile hall. Implying that all the females involved are under-aged. As one would expect, in 1970's Japan this caused a bit of a stink. (Although all of the actresses involved are quite obviously of legal age.) For fans of this type of stuff, everything you want and need from your “woman behind bars” fix is included.



The story follows a group of girls as they enter juvenile hall. Along the way they are subjected to numerous cavity-searches and gynecological examinations. Once put in their dorm-cells, some are victimized in hazing rituals that include (naturally) being stripped naked and urinated on by fellow inmates. And if your worried about not getting enough cat-fights, fear not, there is plenty of shirt ripping, panty-pulling hi-jinx to go around. Once the girls settle in, there is the usual nipple-fondling and finger-banging scenes......in the chow-hall, the showers, the movie room, the nurses office and of course sex with the guards through the bars of the cell doors. Along the way the girls find time to make dildos in ceramics class and eventually, plan an escape. In the end, two girls set fire to the juvenile hall and head for the hills on foot. One is murdered by her hubby's new girlfriend and the other knifes the boyfriend who set her up to get arrested for murder to begin with. Unfortunately for her, she ends up going right back to juvenile hall, (or SEX HELL, depending on how you look at it I guess).

Aside from the implication that the girls in question are under-aged, there isnt anything in this film that is too extreme. (That is, if you dont count the golden shower hazing scene and the hilarious bloody tampon scene) The only thing I struggled with was the extremely poor lighting throughout, I realize it's supposed to be a prison-like setting, dark and dank, but come on guys....throw the audience a bone and set up another light bulb when your filming this shit, for Christ-sake. The lone exception being the shower room scene where we are treated to an underwater finger banging session where no one, not even the guards, seems to notice the girls moaning screams of pleasure. I guess its all part of daily life in The Hall.


I'd rate this one pretty high on the “Tits-n-Ass” meter, the nudity is pretty rapid-fire without too much time to get bored between molestations. The girls were....well, a mixed bag. The three main characters were hot but the rest looked like girls you would actually see in prison. Just take that for what it is. Although not as humorous and entertaining as Roger Corman's entries in this genre, this one still deserves some praise for pushing the boundaries during its time. If your a collector, I would say you definitely need to make some space on your movie shelf for this one.

Reviewed by KennyB

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