Absolutely the worst movie.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD is a cheap and sleazy women-in-prison flick from that purveyor of low-budget '70s trash, Pete Walker. Amid the dodgy fashions, cheesy dialogue, and masses of big hair, this is actually a pretty effective and frightening shocker that makes fantastic use of its setting, a remote and decrepit old jail. Much of the horror is down to one woman, Sheila Keith, whose prison warder is undoubtedly the best character of her career. Cold, twisted and utterly evil, Keith is the kind of woman who reminds you of your old granny on the outside – but inside she's a twisted psychopath and far more chilling than stock horror villains like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers.The plot pretty much follows the typical formula for a WIP flick. The young, innocent heroine – here sporting a rubbishy French accent – is betrayed and led to an institution presided over by a barmy judge who sees fit to uphold Britain's laws by incarcerating the people he feels have got away with their crimes. Said judge is played by Patrick Barr, and is obviously mad. Barr gives the film's most sympathetic performance, as his associates exploit both his blindness and weakness to trick him into committing atrocity after atrocity.Most of the film is set inside the jail as our heroine attempts to escape and is invariably recaptured. These scenes are dotted out with padding showing the investigation into her disappearance, and of course these two plot strands converge at the end. There are some very suspenseful scenes – the girl's escape is perhaps the best – which are combined with more predictable '70s vicious as we witness innocent girls being whipped and hanged by the cruel warders. This being an exploitation movie, there's plenty of nudity from the attractive female cast, although most of it is cast in an ever-so sleazy light. Heroine Penny Irving is the weak link when it comes to her acting, but she's nevertheless a very pretty lead.Despite the low budget, production values are pretty high and there's plenty of style on hand from director Walker, who delivers exactly what audiences are looking. Fine claustrophobic use is made of the genuine jail setting and effective lighting and camera-work adds to the experience. Most of the cast are very good, from Barbara Markham's dotty governess to Robert Tayman's trickster villain, whose silly name references the Marquis de Sade. Along with Partick Barr, supporting actress Dorothy Gordon is the most experienced of the cast, and her prison warder is an intriguing creation – especially the scene where we see her cuddling a child's toy! The hero is played by Walker staple Ray Brooks, better known today for his role as the killer Joe in EASTENDERS, and he's fun to watch in a dated way. Popular British actress Celia Imrie turns up in a tiny role as a fellow prisoner. All in all this film isn't bad at all, far better than you would expect from the title and genre, and a nice precursor to the (possibly even more terrifying) FRIGHTMARE.

Having found director Pete Walker's first "House" film House of Mortal Sin to be a marvellous,daring Giallo,I began to get interested in seeing Walker take on a sub-genre that I had never seen before:Women In Prison (WIP)The plot:Attending the premiere of a naked photo that she secretly took with a photography,French model Anne-Marie Di Verney catches the attention of fellow party guest Mark E. Desade,who invites Marie to go to his "pad" so that they can continue the party alone.Driving to their destination,Di Verney's hope quickly grind to a halt,when she finds out that Mark's "pad" is actually a disused prison,which has been transformed into a "secret court" by a group of "moral guardians",who have decided to deal with indecent people in modern society,by sentencing them to death.View on the film:Despite director Pete Walker giving the disused prison a stylish low light appearance that gives the movie a good,grubby atmosphere,the first hour of David McGillivray's screenplay disappointingly drains the film of any nail biting tension,by making the ordeal that Di Verney has to face be ones that feel plodding and also lacking any sense of suspense.Along with the screenplay,the film is also not helped by the performance of Page 3 model and Sitcom star (who had also been an extra in Walker's earlier Tiffany Jones) Penny Irving as Anne Marie- Di Verney,who makes the many scenes featuring Verney ones that are extra painful to watch,due to her giving the character a chalkboard-like fake French accent.Thankfully for the last 40 minutes of the film,McGillivray and Walker break out of the prison confines to deliver a tense,wonderfully bleak,grim and gritty Thriller,as Walker (perhaps one of 70's cinema most under rated British directors?) builds upon the themes that he had started in House of Mortal Sin,by splattering all of the dreams that the "establishment" of secret courts and moral guardians have across the screen,by giving the film a strong dose of Black Comedy to show how justice is "blind",and cheekily naming one of the nastiest wardens after himself, (played by Walker's amazing collaborator Sheila Keith) as Walker shows lengths that the wardens are willing to go to,in order to create their "moral" society.

I didn't go into this film with very high expectations because I didn't like Pete Walker's Frightmare very much; but House of Whipcord is a vastly superior film and, to be honest, I'm shocked that this doesn't get mentioned more often! Pete Walker's film is both a sleazy seventies exploitation classic and a striking indictment of the justice system. The film serves as a warning against what would happen if private institutions were given the power to decide what is apt punishment for certain crimes, and the dedication of the film to all those who believe in capital punishment shows Pete Walker's love for controversy. The plot takes place in an old house, which doubles up as a private institution ran by a senile judge, his unforgiving partner; the female warden of the prison and two equally vile female orderlies. They punish girls for crimes committed that weren't, in their eyes, properly punished by the corrupt British courts. We pick the story up when a young French girl is inducted into the institution.The atmosphere of the film is brilliant; Pete Walker always ensures that the action is sleazy, and yet oddly erotic at the same time. The film is very matriarchal, and it's the female characters that are the protagonists while the men exist in background roles. However, the film isn't feminist; and, in fact, is the exact opposite; as the director ensures that none of the women are portrayed in a favourable light. The film benefits from a handful of great performances; the best of which coming from Barbara Markham, who gives a powerhouse performance in the role of the head of the institution. Frightmare star Sheila Keith, and Dorothy Gordon are the orderlies, while Patrick Barr is brilliantly understated in his role as the ineffective Justice of the prison. Penny Irving is the young French victim at the centre of the story; but her performance is brought down by her ridiculous French accent! The story is another major strong point for this film, as Pete Walker ensures that it always moves well and although you wouldn't expect it from a Euroshock movie like this - he also makes it easy to care about the characters and what happens to them. On the whole, this is a vastly underrated and under seen seventies gem that must be seen by anyone who gets the chance to see it!

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD Aspect ratio: 1.75:1Sound format: MonoA French exchange student (Penny Irving) is lured to an old house in the English countryside where she's incarcerated by a senile old judge (Patrick Barr) and his crazy wife (Barbara Markham), who seek to punish impure young women for 'crimes against morality'.This was British director Pete Walker's first collaboration with legendary exploitation scriptwriter David McGillivray (HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, SATAN'S SLAVE, etc.), spawned from a pre-determined ad campaign showing a screaming, half-naked starlet framed by a hangman's noose. The result is a minor classic in which part-time nude model Irving is lured into captivity by her creepy new boyfriend (Robert Tayman, from VAMPIRE CIRCUS) and imprisoned by Barr and Markham. Unwilling to take her predicament lying down, Irving plots escape with her fellow inmates and suffers all manner of indignities at the hands of cruel warder Sheila Keith and her equally depraved second-in-command (Dorothy Gordon).Cleverly written and cheaply produced in response to an upsurge of activity by the UK's Christian Right in the wake of several controversial film releases - most notably A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, STRAW DOGS, THE DEVILS (all 1971) and LAST TANGO IN Paris (1972) - "Whipcord" opens with a now-famous dedication "...to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment...." Though contemporary critics railed against the threadbare production values and softcore nudity, it's apparent that much of their outrage was prompted by Walker's brazen challenge to the Christian moralists, whose over-zealous rhetoric has always enjoyed a disproportionate measure of representation in the British media.The film is deliberately crude and confrontational, with a vulnerable heroine - played as an infuriating wimp by relative newcomer Irving, sporting one of the worst French accents in movie history ("'Ow did zey bring you 'ere?") - struggling to survive against all the odds, while Markham's brutal staff indulge their deepest puritan impulses. Keith is especially good in this regard ("I'm going to make you ashamed of your body, de Vernay. I'm going to see to that... personally!"), manifesting the corrupt zeal of a True Believer with little regard for pity or compassion. The sleaze quotient is high for a British shocker of this vintage, but neither McGillivray's script nor Walker's laidback direction comes close to matching the debauched atrocities which distinguished the 'prison camp' subgenre during the 1970's and early 80s, exemplified by the likes of ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974) in America, BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975) in mainland Europe, and Asian shockers like BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1973), LOST SOULS (1980) and WAR VICTIMS (1983). Still, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD is an effective relic, and it led directly to Walker's next offering, FRIGHTMARE (1974), reuniting him with McGillivray and Keith for one of their finest collaborations to date.