House of Whipcord (1974)
Starring Barbara Markham as the sadistic warden of an unauthorized women's prison where the female 'criminals' are tortured and abused by the three psychotic staff. Sporting a grimly sleazy atmosphere, House of Whipcord has much to say on the state of criminal justice in Britain, much of which still holds sway today. The film itself is by the numbers and occasionally predictable, especially one plot contrivance that you'll see coming a mile off. Whilst the final twenty minutes is genuinely thrilling with a fair sense of tension.
Newcomer and former Page 3 girl Penny Irving is fine as the prison's new inmate, and for once Ann Michele has a lot more to do than merely shed her clothes, but as is often the case with Walker's films it's the older actresses like the aforementioned Markham and the ever reliable Sheila Keith giving a typical robust performance who steal the show,
I do wonder if House of Whipcord was Walker's ripost to Mary Whitehouse and her strong arm levels of right wing censorship. It's easy to suggest Markham is playing a Whitehouse parody, meanwhile Patrick Barr's doddery performance as the judge is clearly a premonition of Joe Biden.
The new Blu-ray from 88 Films is head and shoulders above any other version of the film i've seen.
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