Bad Girls Dormitory is what you get when you put the director of gay porn in charge of a 'Women In Prison' exploitation flick: what is intended to be a gritty slice of sleaze regularly veers into 'camp trash' territory, and the standard of women is average at best, ranging from the downright ugly to the vaguely pretty, with most failing to fill their regulation tight white t-shirts in a satisfactory manner; in contrast, all the men look like gay porn stars, being either buff or blessed with impressive upper-lip facial hair.

Director Tim Kincaid does manage to tick off most of the standard elements one expects from such a film, including a protagonist that doesn't deserve her fate (Carey Zuris as Lori),a cat fight in the mess room, lesbian sex, rape by the more despicable male members of staff, gratuitous shower scenes, a couple of killings, and a riot that allows for a spot of bloody revenge, but his handling of the material is far from great: not one of his cast gives anything remotely resembling a convincing performance; the fight scenes are totally unrealistic; the dialogue is diabolical; and any attempts at pathos are totally botched.

Having said that, it is thanks to Kincaid's lousy film-making skills and his cast's total lack of acting ability—plus loads of hilarious mid-80s trappings—that the film proves to be quite a lot of fun. How could anyone fail to enjoy the drawn out brawl between tough prisoner Rebel (Donna Eskra) and a dyke guard in which neither person lands a convincing punch? Or a disco scene with male visitors dressed like members of Debarge? Or Lisa's stunning (ie. crap) display of grief when she hears of her mother's death? Or... well, the list could go on and on. Suffice to say that if terrible, trashy movies are your thing, you really must see Bad Girls Dormitory.

Nothing like a teen prison girl film with a bunch of women in their 20's. This film has nude shower scenes, cavity search, full frontal nudity, cat fights, sex, rape, incest(?),sadistic guards, a female guard with spiked heel boots, and a bad warden. It is as if they knew everything to put into a prison girl film except a plot and Linda Blair. It also drops the F-bomb, and when things get bad, they go to a worse flashback. The tough girl language and accents were comical. You could do worse. Erotic camp value.

The much mistreated inmates at a seedy correctional facility plot to break out after suffering considerable abuse from the earnest, yet ineffectual warden Miss Madison (a gloriously godawful portrayal by Marita, who sports a thick foreign accent) and the sadistic staff members that include junkie stud Dr. DeMarco (handsome Dan Barclay),snippy bitch Nurse Stevens (a supremely wicked turn by Rebecca Rothbaum),and the token vicious rapist guard. Writer/director Tim Kincaid scrupulously covers all the essential sleazy trash cinema bases: sex-starved felons who regularly seduce the hunky guards, drug dealing, priceless poor dialogue ("One more word out of you, I'm gonna break your eyeballs"),cheesy gore, fierce catfights, grim flashbacks explaining how certain characters wound up incarcerated, tacky 80's clothes and hairstyles, mostly crummy acting from a lame no-name cast, a thrashy rock soundtrack, a violent climactic riot, and, of course, a copious amount of yummy gratuitous female nudity (yep, we get the obligatory leering group shower sequence). The cast are decidedly hit or miss: the pretty Carey Curtis does passable work as framed innocent new fish Lori, Jennifer Delora has a lip-smacking hammy ball as nasty top con Lisa, Donna Eskra likewise overacts gleefully as sassy'n'horny slut Rebel, and Rick Gianasi is hopelessly wooden as nice guy guard Don Beach. Crudely shot on grainy film stock by Arthur D. Marks and boasting some truly scuzzy New York City locations, this movie has an authentically grubby look. The neatly bumpin' synthesizer score by Man Parrish hits the get-down funky spot. Enjoyable low-rent schlock.