1972’s Prison Girls 3D which just hit Blu-ray thanks to Kino and the 3-D Archive, is exactly the kind of gnarly softcore sleaze you’d expect with a title like that. Directed by Tom DeSimone, the director of Savage Streets, Hell Night and the iconic 80s women in prison flick Reform School Girls, the film follows the misadventures of six female prisoners who, after exemplary behavior, are granted a weekend furlow. The film is presented on Blu-ray, in not only regular frame sequential 3D, but also anaglyph red/blue 3D for those without a 3D setup, and even standard 2D. The disc does also come with a pair of anaglyph 3D glasses, which has been a smart move by Kino.
Of course the film opens with the requisite shower fight, but in 3D. Thankfully, this transgression is disregarded by the progressive prison psychologist, Doctor Reinhart, who hopes the women will use the weekend to reacclimate to the real world before their release.The crux of the drama here is the cops are after small-time criminal Johnny Bricker, who just shot up a bank and is on the run. He’s been rumored to have been dating one of the six women, so as each story plays out, we patiently wait to discover which woman was Johnny’s main squeeze. Coming in at the tail end of the era of free love, the psychologist even offers one of the prisoners her vacant apartment for the weekend to hopefully spark a sexual awakening in their marriage.
Expect plenty of skin, a psychedelic soundtrack, bizarre discussions on the perks of communal love, bodypainting, abusive pimps and biker gangs, in a film that delivers an episodic 3D sexposé as each woman discovers the grass isn’t always greener. Featuring a cast of genre regulars the likes of Uschi Digard (Supervixens), Candy Samples (Flesh Gordon),Tracy Handfuss (A Clockwork Blue) and Maria Arnold (Meatcleaver Massacre) Prison Girls sticks to the assignment while pushing its softcore moniker as far as it can. Shot with a 3D 16mm camera system, Prison Girls is grimy and a bit rough around the edges, but that only enhances the viewing experience and subject matter.
If that wasn’t enough the film also features an informative audio commentary by Horror-Fix.com’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton who do an excellent job as offering up some context on the film’s history and its rather well endowed cast. While the film is light on the gags, we do get 3D showers and a pimp trying to put a cigarette out on us from the 3rd dimension! It is heavy on the salacious drama and even stumbles into some really dark and non-consensual places. First and foremost Prison Girls is about the lurid & badly simulated sex, and it deals that out in spades, but it also strangely enough never misses the opportunity to also deliver a dose of odd morality when it comes to our protagonists. That being said, Prison Girls 3D is exactly as advertised, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
