The reporter Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is on an undercover mission in a prison. If you ever watched any of the women-in-prison movies of the 1980s, you know: prisoners are not treated kindly there. However, "Violenza..." is a little bit superior to most of this genre insofar as it is not only into shower scenes. It's a tough, dark, fast moving flick with an amazing Laura Gemser and her husband Gabriele Tinti as a doctor who helps her to escape. The slowly evolving love interest between the doctor and Emanuelle is well scripted. Not for the fainthearted, however, is a scene where Emanuelle is locked up in a dark cell with a bunch of rats attacking her. Two years later, director Bruno Mattei went on to shoot "Rats - Notte di Terrore" with many more rats - a kind of unhealthy fascination, if you ask me. Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti continued with another prison movie "I Violenti" which is a sequel (not as good as the first film) to "Violenza..." although Tinti plays a different character.

Violence in a Women's Prison (AKA Emanuelle in Hell) sees Italian trashmeister Bruno Mattei (as Vincent Dawn, just one of many silly aliases the guy operated under) tackling the WIP genre with the same lack of subtlety, skill and style that he applied to most of his work; in other words, the film is an inept but gloriously cheesy slice of exploitative garbage that offers lots of misogynistic action, cartoonish violence, and unintentional hilarity, interspersed by moments of extreme drudgery and sheer tedium.

Laura Gemser, she of the dusky skin and perky breasts, once again stars as intrepid reporter Emanuelle, who this time around poses as a hooker and drug pusher to go undercover in a women's correctional facility and, with the help of Doctor Moran (Gabriele Tinti) and some friendly inmates, expose the depravity and corruption that goes on within. This flimsy plot is all the excuse Mattei needs to give fans of such dubious fare (myself included) over an hour and a half of poorly acted, badly directed sleaze, including the obligatory lesbian action from big breasted bimbos, assorted scraps, a rat attack, a touch of rape, a smidgen of buggery, a little drug abuse, some torture, and best of all, a scat-fight (that's a cat fight that takes place in human feces). It's not art, but it is fun (some of the time).

I give Violence in a Women's Prison 5.5 out of 10, happily rounded up to 6 for Lorraine De Selle's unmissable performance as the prison's nasty head warden, who parades around in black stockings and sussies, forces Doctor Moran to have sex with her (the poor man),and watches on with glee as a virginal female prisoner is raped by two leering inmates borrowed from the neighbouring men's prison.

Gutsy reporter Emanuelle (luscious Laura Gemser) goes undercover as an inmate in a women's prison to expose the corruption and brutality going on inside the place. When her identity is revealed, she incurs the vicious wrath of the sadistic staff. Veteran Italian trashmeister Bruno Mattei, working from a suitably seamy script by Olivier Lefait and Ambrogio Molteni, scrupulously covers all the spot-on essential slimy bases: abundant tasty distaff nudity, lurid lesbianism, sizzling soft-core sex scenes, ferocious rape, rough'n'tumble fisticuffs, mean and cruel guards, a grimy location, an exciting last reel break-out, a few lively catfights, a dark and gritty tone, and a simply fantastic sequence with Emanuelle being attacked by nasty red-eyed rats after she's placed in solitary confinement all add up ton provide a quite sleazy and hence most enjoyable piece of low-grade schlock. The sturdy cast of familiar Italian exploitation cinema regulars helps a lot, with stand-out contributions by Gabriele Tinti as the kindly, humane Dr. Moran, Lorainne De Selle as the wicked and depraved warden, Ursula Flores as the fragile Consuelo, Maria Romano as the snippy Kitty, Francoise Perrot as ruthless and predatory snitch Hertha, Jacques Stany as the crooked chief inspector, and Leila Durante as wise old felon Pilar. Luigi Ciccarese's polished cinematography makes all the filthy goings-on look slicker than they probably deserve. Luigi Ceccarelli's bluesy'n'jazzy pounding rock score hits the right-on groovy pulsating spot. Worthwhile viewing for babes-behind-bars buffs.