Released in 1993, this film was written by David Alexander and directed by Joel Silberg. It opens in Greece with four female friends, Bonnie (Lori Jo Hendrix), Michelle (Gilya Stern), Colleen (Rebecca Chambers), and Audrey (Kena Land), who are on vacation for some kind of school trip (presumably college). They decide to take a detour to Turkey but are stopped at the border where corrupt guards plant cocaine on them and arrest them. They’re taken to a brutal women’s prison, which is run by a sadistic warden named Saladin (played by Uri Gavriel), and his main guard Faida (Katia Zinbris).

From there on most of the rest of the film is standard “Women in Prison” film fare. There are the prerequisite shower scenes, filled with naked women (except for Kena Land, whom I noticed never gets nude or even topless in this film, only seen in bra and panties, unlike the other actresses), and catfights in the cafeteria and prison yard. The four ladies quickly run afoul of Hellena (Toni Naples), a tough prisoner who has her own little gang inside the prison, who sets her sights on Bonnie and tries to assault her a couple of times. Hellena is not the only one with designs on Bonnie, as Saladin takes her and rapes her repeatedly in the shower and in his office, almost driving her to suicide.

Eventually, the ladies learn that Saladin is running an international sex trafficking ring. where he sells various prisoners to an unnamed Arab Sheik, for the Sheik’s personal harem. So they try to devise a plan to escape and get the proof they need to expose the warden’s crimes. But not only do they have to outsmart the warden and his guards, Hellena is also keeping an eye on them, and suspects that they’re up to something. All of this leads to a thrilling and suspenseful action-packed conclusion, which I won’t spoil here (other than to say that Bonnie does get some pretty direct and final payback on Saladin).

As far as Women In Prison films go, Prison Heat doesn’t feel as exploitative as other films in this genre tend to. There is some shooting and stabbing, but nothing too gory is shown, and the rape scenes take place off-camera. Really, if you removed the nudity, this film could easily be shown on the Lifetime Channel or some other cable network alongside other late-80s/early-90s action films.

The cast is excellent. I have to single out Lori Jo Hendrix, who has the most dramatic scenes in the film and is a perfect cross between sexy and innocent. Rebecca Chambers is also very good as her character is presented as the de factor leader of the friend group, she’s the strongest one who tries to keep their hopes up until they find a way out of their predicament. And Uri Gavriel is suitably sleazy as the warden, you can’t wait to see him get his just due.

Prison Heat rises above its genre to stand out as a classic. Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this R-RATED DVD for $19.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list