Lust For Freedom — Lust For Freedom(Blu Ray)

Lust For Freedom is a late 80’s US-made Women-In-Prison film, which sits at the largely tamer and campy end of the genre. The film blends in bad action movie tropes, with light touches of female flesh, and the old splatter of bloody gunplay. It’s a Troma Entertainment release- though it largely lacks what you’d expect from the company- playing much more as a straight WIP film, with a people traffic edge. Here’s a recent region-free Blu-Ray release of the film- with as far I can gather just archive extras, with a director's commentary, an intro from Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, and a few shorts/ trailers.

Lust For Freedom(  aka Sex-Experts, Sex Prison) is from the year 1987. With the jail location shots captured in Lincoin Heights Prison in LA, with the ragged & sun-baked desert scenes captured near Ely Nevada. It was helmed by Eric Louzil- who had thirteen director credits under his belt- this is his debut film, and it certainly shows with some of the sloppy editing/ repeated scenes, and lead character plot voice up to try & tie up the films structural/storytelling issues. His other credits include Class of Nuke 'Em High Part II: Subhumanoid Meltdown(1991), kidnapping horror Night of the Beast(1993), Class of Nuke 'Em High Part 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid (1994), and exotic thriller Fatal Pursuit (1995) featuring Malcolm McDowell.

The film kicks off in bad 80’s action form- as we see our lead character Gillian Kaites(Melanie Coll) a cop who is doing an undercover set-up/ burst with her intended who is also a cop. One of their fellow undercover agents breaks cover- leading Gillian's beau to be gunned down. After this she decides to take off for a desert drive- stopping to ‘think’ near a body of water. Here she encounters a panicked woman who is running away from somewhere- she gives the woman a lift, before fairly soon being pulled over by local police officer Sheriff Coale(William J. Kulzer)…the woman runs- leaving Gillian to go back with the Sheriff to make a statement…but things don’t go quite as expected- as he drugs her, and she lands up in the middle of nowhere female prison.

And basically, the prison is owned/ run by a group of criminals who traffic the women- who are picked out/ selected by a white-suited & bearded man who has somewhat of a Colonel Sanders vibe.  As typical of the WIP genre- we  a cruel female chief guard in the form of Ms. Pusker(Judi Trevor) a hard-faced, cigarette roughed voiced, and lanky brown-haired middle-aged woman. And a corrupted warden Maxwell(Howard Knight) whose a large, blading, and sweating man in his early 60’s. Both of these are good enough, and play up well to the genre tropes.

As a lead Coll is somewhat a vapid dolly bird- who like all of the inmates has hairdresser-sprayed hair, good complexion, and is not in the least bit rough. There are a few topless moments,  a brief shower scene, and rather tame/ fleeting female-on-female action. So if you are here for the sleaze- they are rather slim pickings.

The torture/ torment the genre is known for is fairly subdued- yes Trevor is well-picked & believable as the head guard- she is just not given any nastiness to revel in, aside from implied or off-screen action. The film unfolds eventful enough- playing through pretty much you’d expect from the WIP, but of course in a fair tame manner.

We get a fair few action elements- with in the prison Coll doing some kung fu, we have a female wrestling match, and later some blood-splattered gunplay. On the outside, we have a tall scar-faced, cruel and perverse native American Indian- chasing down and capturing women for the prison- with a few neat car chases and the odd explosion.

The film's soundtrack features a fair bit of fist-pumping & head-shaking heavy metal- this adds to the 80’s campiness of the whole thing. Though it’s not by any particular known/ notable coming off as a mix between Dio and WASP.

I’d say Lust For Freedom is a passable enough 80’s WIP film- with the action elements, and trafficking element adding in different flavour to the whole thing. I just wish the whole thing could have been a little more intense & gritty- but I guess that’s down to my personal bias towards this side of the genres. 

Moving onto this region free Blu Ray, and the print looks good, bright, and clean- as it’s not advertised I’m guessing this is ported over from the 2014 Vinegar Syndrome release. The extras( as far as I can gather) are ported over from the VS and early 2000’s Troma DVD release of the film. So there is the following Audio Commentary with Director Eric Louzil, a short intro from Lloyd Kaufman, an interview with Kaufman(10.40), a  few Troma shorts- including a 39-second pep talk from Eli Roth, a trailer & trailer reels for Troma.

In finishing I’d say if you’re a fan of the WIP genre, and you’ve not seen this- then pick it up. Equally, if you enjoy bad 80s action films- high with camp, and largely vapid acting pick this up. And it’s certainly not your standard Troma fare- so hopefully you know if this is going to be your thing or not..