Search - Prison-A-Go-Go! on DVD

Not Funny + Not Erotic = Waste of Time & Money

Pen Name | United States | 09/24/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"IGNORE THE BOX COVER. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS FILM! Actually, the box cover is the best part of this film! I normally love women-in-prison videos, but this one was awful. Basically, they tried too hard to be funny, and in doing so ignored the very essentials of what makes women-in-prison films so popular. Mary Woronov is perfectly cast as the crazed, sadistic warden, and some of the female inmates were certainly pretty enough. But fully HALF of the cast in this one are GUYS. Note: NO GUYS ARE SHOWN ON THE BOXCOVER!!! Nobody wants to see guys in a women-in-prison film! I thought everybody already knew that! And yes, even though they do force in a few women-taking-showers scenes, there's NOT ONE LESBIAN MOMENT IN THIS ENTIRE FILM!!! Not one girl-girl encounter in a women-in-prison film? That's like no gun battles in a western, or no explosions in a World War II film! Again, the humor in this one is sophomoric and decidedly unfunny, but I could have lived with that had there been some girl-to-girl erotica to balance it out. But there was none. Zero. Nada. It was a big mistake for me to buy this one."

A well-made WIP send-up

gonzoriffic | athens, GA USA | 07/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The women-in-prison film really is its own genre; it's a b-movie tradition that saw its biggest heyday in the 1970's, giving Linda Blair work on more than one occasion. The 80's cult hit "Reform School Girls" may have been intended as an homage to such classics as "Chained Heat" and "The Big Bird Cage, but despite its self-aware cheesiness, it is looked upon as more of a late entry to this style of film than some kind of send-up. And that's where Barak Epstein's "Prison-A-Go-Go" steps in, to lovingly spoof a genre that has been ripe for it for decades.

Laurie Walton stars as Janie, a clueless veterinarian whose sister is kidnapped and taken to a womens' prison in the Philippines (where else?) for use in the bizarre experiments of a mad scientist. In order to save her sister, Janie purposely commits a murder and instantly finds herself on the cell block with an incredibly strange and funny cast of characters (in a prison run by a young slacker who would be better suited to working for Bill Lumberg in "Office Space" than functioning as a warden), including the voluptuous sex offender Jackpot (played by USA Up All Night's Rhonda Shear!), and various other women who are addicted to frion, hide things in their asses, and keep porcupines as pets.

"Prison-A-Go-Go" is a 35mm feature that looks and sounds something like a Troma movie, only higher quality and far less disgusting. Director Barak Epstein clearly has a love and healthy respect for the kind of films he's making fun of, and gets everything right: the skimpy uniforms, the food and mud fights, and of course...the obligatory shower scenes. "Prison-A-Go-Go" even comes equipped with a "Shower Clock" in the lower right hand corner of the screen, so that video viewers on the run know exactly how long till the next time they'll be seeing some bare flesh! And in addition to the mad scientist subplot, Epstein pulls out all the b-movie stops by incorporating zombies, ninjas, and glorious cameos by cult film fixture Mary Woronov and Troma head honcho Lloyd Kaufman.

I've seen many unsuccessful attempts at poking fun at b-movies, but nothing has come close to what "Prison-A-Go-Go" manages to accomplish. Not only is it one of the most well-made indie comedies I've seen, but it's funny and well-acted at that (everyone is energized and funny, and Rhonda Shear looks even better than she did when I was a kid watching her show). I don't often tell my readers to run out and buy the films I write about, but in this case I really suggest you do. No self-respecting cult film fan should be without "Prison-A-Go-Go", because it is clearly made for us by one of us."

Nice try

John Nixon | Fairacres, New Mexico USA | 09/06/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The approach with this film is "Airplane" meets Women in Prison movies, with a heart. The leads are a little old for this kind of stuff and gags aren't that funny buy you could do worse. If you must, rent it, otherwise you will probably be disappointed"

Great Stuff IF you have a sense of humor.....

K. Bergner | 09/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having read the other reviews, I cant understand why anyone would'nt like this movie. Well, accepting the fact that they arent a perv looking for porn, or some over the line goody goody, with an underdeveloped sense of humor to start with. GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK WILL YA! consider what this is MEANT to be. Its NOT porn! So if you looking for lesbian shower scenes to fill your otherwise worthless and lame existance, do us all a favor and just get it on pay per view and leave the grown ups who have a life to enjoy funny stuff like this. Like wise you church going nerds. Why would you buy this, watch it once and destroy it...for crying out loud, what kind of MORON does this? Go drink some coolaid will ya? stop wasting our oxygen.
Look, bottom line - If you have ever ONCE watched an episode of MST3K, or enjoyed any film that lampoons something, trust me, this DVD is worth a watch. ANY serious collector simply must have this for thier collection, as it makes great late night party viewing. Rhonda Shear is GREAT in it, and although we dont get to "see as much of her" as I would have liked - (frankly the outfit she wears in the closing scene in the clothing store is the BEST she sports all movie) c'mon, its RHONDA SHEAR! -she even spoofs her "up all night" line at one point in this thing, its great. Its just alot of all around fun, with food fights, NINJAS, mudwrestling, a mad doctor, zombies, a killer anaconda, and some goofy rock band that winds up playing in the chow hall. Frankly, if I have anything to complain about it would be the rap song that runs during the credits at the end. Could have done without that, thanx. In any event, dont take this certainly cool, and entertaining flick tooooo seriously, its just meant to be a goof. AND IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For less than 20 bucks your buying yourself a little fun. What does that kind of money buy you these days, like 3 gallons of gas? or a really cheap pair of headphones? You know you drop more than that in drive thru in a week. And this wont make you fat!

Besides, who buys ANYTHING based on random anonymous reviews written by people with nothing better to do at 1:30 am on a thursday night. :) Oh, wait, the kind of zipperheads looking for soft core lesbian scenes, and no nothing religious weirdos...nevermind.
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