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House of Whipcord (1974) Country of Origin: UK PRODUCTION SCRIPT DIRECTION PHOTOGRAPHY EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION MUSIC SOUND DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION LOCATIONS CAST PLOT SUMMARY The reactionary Mrs Wakehurst and her blind associate Justice Bailey have become so enraged by what they regard as a weak and innefectual judicial system that they establish their own private prison, a dank and claustrophobic institute in the wilds of rural England. Using her good looking and smooth talking illegitimate son Mark E. Dessart to lure transgressors into her clutches Wakehurst incarcerates, tortures and finally executes young women who she feels have been treated too leniently by the law. Their 'crimes' are ones against the morality of Wakehurst, usually some act of sexual liberation or expression of sexuality that she finds both threatening and repugnant. The latest recipient of Wakehurst's brutal regime is model Ann-Marie de Vernay who escapes with a fine when arrested for posing topless for photographer Cavan in a public place. Mark abducts Ann-Marie and she becomes increasingly desperate in her attempts to outwit her captors and her pack of sadistic, lesbian wardens (led by the terrifying Walker) and somehow effect an escape. Following a lucrative string of low budget sex comedies, horror-flavoured thrillers and the proto-slasher The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), Walker upped the ante with this superb and criminally under-rated run through of the standard themes and images of the much maligned "women in prison" genre. It's a long way from the visceral excesses of Jesus Franco but the unrelentingly grim ambience, some superb performances and a witty, powerfully written script from McGillivray gives it a disturbing and claustrophobic air that has remained irresistable to this day. House of Whipcord often teeters precariously on the brink of utter absurdity (it is, after all, taking reactionary politics to quite absurd lengths) yet always manages to stay on course. Australia UK USA Australia Norway UK USA 1999 Many young girls have entered these gates - none have yet come out! E sul corpo tracce di violenza - Italian
title MAGAZINES Empire November 1998 p.98 (UK) Flesh and Blood no.7 p.50 (UK) Halls of Horror no.27 p.23 (UK) Shivers no.33 p.14 (UK) BOOKS Horror and Science Fiction Films Volume II p.180 OTHER SOURCES A Naughty Business! pp.16-17 KEYWORDS cages, cells, sadism, torture, whipping, women in prison
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