Rating: 
Summary: A Good Argument for Censorship
Review: I saw this years and years ago, and also its sequels. I wish now I never had. I still like a range of films that are usually classified as pornography, but this THING should never have even been filmed much less brought to DVD. Even imagining that anyone could possibly do some of the things acted out in this film to another human being is painful; knowing it is essentially historical fact sickens. Possibly the creators of this film hoped it would have that effect, but I doubt it because the sequels were equally horrid and presumably they do not even pretend to historical accuracy. In the 'Sheik' version, for example, they torture a woman by having her leg eaten off by ants below the knee while she watches. And it looked absolutely REAL. I see here reviewers calling these works 'erotic' and I shudder. How they even made scenes like that I don't care, I'm caught on why would they WANT to? Such a concept is EROTIC? Get HELP! As I said, this is one set of movies I truly wish I had never seen. I guess at the time I was finding out there are NO limits in film- making, but with scenes like what comes back to me as I see these names again, I wish now SOMETHING had been in place to spare me that. Readers, you are forewarned.
Rating:
Summary: This isn't for everyone, and it wasn't for me
Review: I thought that this would be right up my alley because I'm a fan of the super-weird. My hopes were that the film would be corny and darkly funny, like a cross between "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and a sexy cheesy women's prison flick. However, it made me very uncomfortable, mostly because it deals with something that was in fact very real - torture in the concentration camps of the Nazis - and in a very gory and graphic way. I actually had a nightmare after watching it. I'm no prude, and I don't condemn anyone who does like this film. But ask yourself if you can find humor or enjoyment in the Holocaust and torture...if the answer is yes, then perhaps you'll like this movie. If the answer is no, save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: they can't make them like this anymore!
Review: I was hoping for more "erotic lesbian sexual scenes" however this film delivers on the "graphic violence" level instead. A few of the prisoners are beautiful and quite sexy, however some of the grusome torture scenes were just "implied", and never actually shown. Some others scenes were shown, but were less than erotic or alarming. All in all, this remains an all time classic woman's prison film ....when the rape of a female inmate was about to take place by the Nazi (male) gaurds, I began to think it was going to be something very stimulating to watch....however, they did not show anything sexually graphic and it became just a mild scene with men pouring beer on the victim's naked chest etc. etc. Not much more than an R rated scequence from a film made today. However, there were some scenes that would not make it past the ratings board today...and for that, this film gets 4 stars from me.I still found the 1975 film, "The Image" a more tastfully done erotic S/M classic. A film that is more realistic and transforms the viewers into a S/M world they can not only relate to, but actually become a part of one day themselves! If its just scenes of frequently naked women being subjected to bloody tortures and "implied" sexual molestations, that you are looking for....this could be THE movie for you!
Rating: 
Summary: camp, porn, horror
Review: If you like a little camp, a little porn, and a lot of horror you have to see this movie. I first saw this as a teen and thought it sucked. 15 years later this movie has got to be one of the funniest, sickest movies ever. Dyanne Thorne is incredible but the premise of the movie is a laugh. My recommendation is to have a few drinks and then watch. Guys, make sure to keep your legs crossed.
Rating:
Summary: A UNIQUE EXPLOITATION FILM.
Review: Ilsa is a film that will never be made again in our present time or never again ever.
The film is shocking, funny, and bad. But what do you expect when that was really the intention of the filmmakers. I was very shocked and entertained when I watched this for the first time on DVD. Dyanne Thorne is undeniably very sexy with her SS uniform. She fit the German blonde goddess stereotype exactly. The rest of the stereotyped SS blonde women in this film are also hot. Watch this film but do not take it seriously. Enjoy it for its efforts. It was shot in only 9 days according to the commentary included on the DVD--that alone is an amazing achievement by the filmmakers and the actors involved.
Rating:
Summary: Ilsa's sadistic romp
Review: Ilsa is a gem of b-movie exploitation. If your PC, DO NOT VIEW THIS TAPE! If you enjoy sex, violence and the exploitation of the human race, this is your movie. P.S. Not to be taken seriously, just some not-so-clean fun.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD Presentation of Sleaze Classic!
Review: ILSA makes it to DVD! And what a great presentation it is! The film has never looked better, clean, sharp, colorful, letterboxed and completely uncut (the full 96 minute version - previously only available on VHS from long-gone Videatrics). The film looks 100 times better than any of the previous VHS versions as well. Yes, it is a truly sick and sleazy movie and definitely not for all tastes, but you can't deny it's well-made and effective. Dyanne Thorne is one incredible villainess and the many torture scenes will satiate any jaded sleaze-horror viewer. The DVD also features the original theatrical trailer and has a full-length commentary track featuring director Edmonds, producer Friedman, Dyanne Thorne and some annoying humorist guy who moderates. Thorne is witty, friendly and smart --- her Ilsa persona is completely opposite. This DVD must have the most gruesome and vile menu screens ever on a DVD. Go Anchor Bay!
Rating: 
Summary: Sleazy does it...
Review: ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974): Ilsa, the sadistic female commandant of a Nazi concentration camp, conducts hideous medical experiments on her female inmates and is 'serviced' nightly by a studly male prisoner who is secretly plotting rebellion against her monstrous regime. Produced in the wake of successful women-in-prison thrillers such as THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971) and the notorious LOVE CAMP 7 (1968), Don Edmonds' ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS preceded a wave of Nazi exploitation titles that flooded the grindhouse circuit during the 1970's, particularly in Europe. Aiming to outdo his competitors in terms of sex and horror, 'Ilsa' was conceived by legendary producer David Friedman (SEVEN INTO SNOWY, THE RAMRODDERS, etc.) as a combination of softcore sleaze and hardcore violence, photographed on standing sets from the recently-cancelled TV series "Hogan's Heroes". Ilsa herself is played with unrestrained gusto by the wonderful (and wonderfully endowed!) Dyanne Thorne, a statuesque beauty who uses her voluptuous charms to seduce and destroy her helpless victims, in a manner both Sadean and erotic. But the movie's sexual candor is offset by a series of tortures and medical experiments - courtesy of Joe Blasco's revolting makeup effects - which are rooted in appalling historical fact: For instance, the wound in a young girls' leg is deliberately infected with gangrene, and another unfortunate victim is forced to stand naked on a quick-melting block of ice with a noose tightening around her throat while SS officers dine in front of her. Episodes like these are exploitative and cruel, but no less cruel than the horrors perpetrated by real-life Nazi criminals, which makes ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS one of the few films to reject the sanitized portrayal of wartime horror (cf. SCHINDLER'S LIST, et al) and actually depict the unthinkable. Reckless bravado or depraved opportunism? You be the judge... Edmonds was clearly unable to get all the coverage he needed to tighten long-winded dialogue sequences (some scenes drag as a consequence), but while the production values are sparse, the film is designed and photographed with consummate skill, and the climactic showdown between Ilsa and her former inmates closes proceedings on a note of genuine horror. You have been warned!. Anchor Bay's all-region DVD - which runs exactly 96m - is letterboxed at 1.85:1, anamorphically enhanced. Picture quality is astonishingly good, especially for such a low budget enterprise, and the sound format is 2.0 mono. There are no captions or subtitles. The accompanying trailer appears to have been taken from a terrible VHS print, and while it looks awful, it still manages to convey the movie's soiled charm and naive enthusiasm. There's also an informative commentary featuring Thorne, Edmonds and Friedman, moderated by 'humorist' Martin Lewis which has been condemned in some quarters for Lewis' condescending attitude. Thorne featured in two legitimate sequels, ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS (1975) and ILSA TIGRESS OF SIBERIA (1978) - the former is currently available on DVD from Anchor Bay, the latter is still missing in action - along with Jesùs Franco's tawdry cash-in GRETA HAUS OHNE MÄNNER (1977), which AB has also released on disc as ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN. NB. Friedman fell out with the film's Canadian backers during post-production and is therefore billed on-screen as 'Herman Traeger'.
Rating: 
Summary: Ilsa: Sometimes Raunch is the Point
Review: ILSA SHE-WOLF OF THE SS is a terrible movie. Now having said that, one who notes this is faced with the dilemma of where to go next. Low quality, low budget films that are judged deficient in worth must then have their deficiencies seen as either done on purpose to achieve a desired effect however wretched that effect may be or accomplished as a byproduct whose only discernible point is to cause the viewer to feel the pain of wasted time rather than the pain of any of the characters. In the case of ILSA, I reluctantly see the dramatic impact as having a valid point, even if in so doing, I feel a weird sense of perversion mixed with fascination. Ilsa is the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp whose female inmates seem to be made up of assorted busty models and starlets. The guards and Ilsa herself are decked out in fashionably black uniforms that cling to their well-shaped forms. The ostensible plot revolves around Ilsa'a theory that women, when properly trained, can endure pain far more effectively than men. To accomplish this, of course, director Don Edmunds, finds it necessary to show full frontal female nudity in every other scene. To those male viewers who equate nudity with desire, ILSA is a shocking revelation. Despite the abundance of exposed female flesh, the more prevalent emotion aroused is one of a disagreeable mixture of disgust, consternation, and grotesquerie. Dyanne Thorne, who plays Ilsa, is a woman driven by nearly every negative emotion--both sexual and non-sexual--that one can imagine. She is a psychiatrist's worst nightmare: sado-masochism, misogyny, lesbianism, megalomania, nymphomania, just to name the most obvious. To Ilsa, sex is never a goal; it is only a means to a painful end. Women and men are routinely tortured in graphic closeup. Her superior officer is an SS general who comes across as a mindless laughing hyeana, who demands of Ilsa to straddle him in a way that the viewer, even if not Ilsa, finds a bit too much. What then to make of a film that comes across as the pornographic flip side of HOGAN'S HEROS? Ilsa's Stalag is unfortunately seen as more nearly representative of the moral vacuum of a Nazi death camp that HOGAN'S HEROS tried comically to portray. If one could laugh at Colonel Klink or Sergeant Schultz without getting at the true horror that lay behind the laughter, then one could also try with an equal lack of success to get aroused at the nudity that lay on the operating table of Ilsa's mad doctors. The closing scenes of murder and mayhem, surprisingly enough leave the realm of sex to wind up in a more traditional war ending of soldiers and desperate inmates blasting away at one another. The continuous barrage of raunch that is nearly all of ILSA is ultimately seen as simply one subset of the insanity that we now call the Holocaust. Sometimes even a piece of trash like this has a point.
Rating:
Summary: How can anyone Nazi(Not See) This Film??
Review: Ilsa's a movie that you kinda feel guilty enjoying(a guilty pleasure if I ever saw one). I mean, it's in such extremely bad taste to take the atrocities of the third reich and make it into a sleazy sex and violence flick. So, yeah I feel kinda bad that I like this film. It's kinda like laughing at a racist joke when you're not racist. Ilsa's plotless plot is pretty much Ilsa running a smaller scale Auschwitz that caters to torturing women and sleeping with/castrating men. A new male arrival at the camp turns out to be just the superman Ilsa's been looking for and she gets taken with him as everyone else plans their Great Escape. That's the plot. The running time is padded with numerous torture and softcore sex scenes, sometimes a mix of the two. I didn't know that female SS officers whipped people while topless. I might have to get thrown into a camp like Ilsa's. Dyanne Thorne is not the most beautiful woman in the world, but she pushes the sexy needle right into the red. She can be my She Wolf any day. A real high point to this dvd is the commentary. It's very funny. The makers of this film(including Thorne) realize the kind of film they've made and have no problems heckling it, very funny. They do get a little sidetracked from the action onscreen(I would have liked to hear Thorne's take on some of the scenes if you know what I mean), but do manage to cover almost everything you want to know about the making of the film. It won't hurt to check this out if you're curious. I wouldn't pay too much attention to one star reviews, coz anyone who knows the film's title, looks at the cover and reads the back of the box knows what to expect-And it's not Schindler's List!! As a matter of fact I'm puzzled as to what the one star reviewers were expecting from a film called Ilsa: She Wolf Of The SS, and why they even watched it if they were already offended by the subject matter. Oh, well, I don't claim to know it all. I do know, however, that you should check out Ilsa just to say you saw it.
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