The Bamboo House Of Dolls (Kuei Chi Hung, 1973)
Filmed in glorious SHAW SCOPE™, The Bamboo House Of Dolls is generally regarded as the finest 'women in prison' exploitation flick ever made. For sure, they sure don't make 'em like the Shaw Brothers did, boy howdy!
Bamboo House Of Dolls is mostly set in the 13th women's concentration camp, which is ruled over by the evil Japanese during WWII. There just happens to be some beautiful western women in the camp, the latest addition to which, is a stunning blonde Red Cross nurse (Danish vixen Birte Tove), who has just been captured after she was hiding an American soldier.
The camp is generally ruled over by the evil Mako (above), who just so happens to be a screaming (and scheming) lesbian, preying on the sexy prisoners at every available opportunity. HK legend Lo Lieh is amazing in this role... sexy, yet very very bad ass.
The camp seemingly doubles as a brothel for randy Japanese soldiers. So with this, the lesbotic Mako, and the sexy European girls, it all adds up to a kick-ass action packed exploitation romp, with scenes of rape and torture, lesbian fumblings and moanings, and -most impressively of all- a car chase action sequence... actually in the camp! Tenko was never like this.
Kuei Chi Hung's direction is a little mental, but it suits the crazed nature of the film. At 106 minutes, it is over-long, mostly down to a laborious escape sequence in the middle of the film, after which, the titilation soon slows down, letting the story veer towards a sub-plot about missing gold.
The Bamboo House Of Dolls is a riot. The restored DVD looks and sounds amazing considering its low budget roots. The cast are all excellent, and the groovy opening title music is actually Morricone's track Adonai, from the movie Il Giardino Delle Delizie! Dare I say that The Bamboo House Of Dolls is a camp classic?! Dare! Dare!
