What, I’ve started a Cult Sirens blog and haven’t yet talked about a Women in Prison (WiP) movie? Outrageous! All these shower scenes! This genre is almost as old as the art of motion pictures itself, dating back to the Silents. The condemned innocent, the sadistic prison guard, the corrupted facility administrator, the butch cellblock queen and many others are all beloved stereotypes of these productions. Universally produced, these movies were at the pinnacle of success in the seventies, with reigning divas Pam Grier and Meiko Kaji being typecast in many memorable titles. In fact, Meiko could be responsible for the ultimate product in this genre, the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, which will probably be our first subject for this feature, why not start with the best?

So I’ve been quite tempted to begin a series on this strange corner of film mythology, revisiting key productions and giving some historical background. I’ll try to supply endless chronological lists of titles, because as movie fans we can’t get enough of LISTS! MOVIE LISTS, YES!!! So get out your orange prison fatigues out of the closet right now and be ready to be plunged into movie madness soon. And of course don’t drop the soap!