Hellhole

 

Hellhole

1985

Director- Pierre De Moro

Cast- Judy Landers, Ray Sharkley, Mary Woronov, Edy Williams, Robert Z-Dar, Natalie Main, Lamya Derval

            Susan (Judy Landers) finds herself caught up in a convoluted plot of a criminal trying to find some incriminating documents. She walks in on her mother being strangled by a killer (Ray Sharkley) that looks like he walked out of a leather bar. She runs but the killer catches her and pushes her off of a building.

            However, rather than dying, she survives but with amnesia. She doesn’t remember who she is or what happened to her. She is sent to an asylum for women in the hopes that she can recover her memory. Her would be killer infiltrates disguised as an orderly in the hopes of interrogating her about the missing papers.

            If this isn’t bad enough, the asylum is being run by an amoral mad scientist (Mary Woronov from Chopping Mall, Night of the Comet, Death Race 2000, and Silent Night Bloody Night). Any patient who acts up is snatched up by the doctor’s goon squad and whisked away to Hellhole, a building where the mad doctor conducts her psychiatric experiments. Most patients never return and those that do are the worse for wear.

            Hellhole gives little to no thought toward realism.  Judy Landers wears a sexily cut dress as her patient attire. The medical staff seems largely oblivious. Anyone who has ever worked in either a hospital or an inpatient mental health facility will laugh at the ridiculous over the top sexiness. Hot girls get into naked shower fights, hot girls have topless mud baths, and more hot girls get their hands on drugs and have sex with the staff. The sexiness is led by exploitation star, and former wife of Russ Meyers, Edy Williams. Edy makes for a great early 80s sexbomb with her big, bleached blonde hair.

            Besides the sex, the sleaze is laid on pretty thick, thanks mostly to Ray Sharkley as Silk, the killer who stalks Susan through the film. He is a truly deplorable character who abuses or insults just about everyone in the film. He’s so sleazy that he’s often more caricature than character, but that’s the charm of the film.

            Despite all the obvious tongue in cheek fun, the film does manage to conjure up some feeling of menace, especially within Hellhole itself. Patients, driven mad by the doctor’s drugs, are reduced to feral creatures. Added to this is the doctor’s goon squad led by Robert Z’Dar (best known as the Maniac Cop). He has a real intimidating physical presence that seems even more intimidating when he shares the screen with Judy Lander’s delicate beauty.

            Of course, Judy Landers is the main attraction.  She has the unconscious charisma that just makes you want to watch her. She always had a bit of a good girl image which contrasts sharply with the film’s overt sleaziness.

Judy and her sister Audrey were mainstays of late 70s /early 80s pop culture. One or both of them made an appearance in just about every show worth watching. Judy herself showed up in Vegas, Buck Rogers, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Alf, Night Court, and CHiPs. Audrey had a regular role on Dallas and also appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Happy Days, Police Woman, The Dukes of Hazard, Hotel, Crazy Like a Fox and MacGyver, Both sisters made appearances on Charlies’ Angels, Love Boat, BJ and the Bear, and Fantasy Island.

If you were a TV show in the 80s and the Landers sisters didn’t make an appearance, you have to question your significance as a TV show. Judy also did several movies including Stewardess School and Dr. Alien.

Hellhole is a crazy mishmash of genres. It has a heavy dose of the women in prison genre, even though they aren’t actually in a prison. Added to this is a doctor making mental  zombies, a lot of over the top sexuality, a little bit of Giallo, and some kind of organized crime angle thrown in for good measure. Don’t watch this if you are wanting a thought provoking mystery or a careful study of human nature. On the other hand, if you’re wanting to check your brain at the door with some cartoonish characters and a hefty dose of TnA, then Hellhole might do the trick.