House of Whipcord (1974)

'House of Whipcord' is one hell of a fun and deranged movie. As all of Walker's films have a political or social undertone, much like George Romero does with his zombie franchise, this particular film satirizes corporal punishment and harassment in the workplace. The film starts off at a lively office party where a young model Anne-Marie (Penny Irving) was recently called to justice for showing her breasts in a photo shoot she did. Her work colleagues find out about this and brush it off as a joke and all have a friendly laugh about it.Anne-Marie meets a guy named Mark E. Desade (I see what you did there.), whom has taken a liking to Anne-Marie, and the eventually go out. After their dinner date, Mark wants Anne to meet his mother and drives her out to the country to meet her, however once she gets out of the car, Mark speeds off leaving her in the cold. There is someone waiting for Anne, and leads her to a dreadful place which is an off the grid women's home that is supposed to cure women of their wicked ways.The place is run by the evil Mrs. Wakehurst (Barbara Markham) and her husband Justice Bailey (Patrick Barr) who are not above brutally torturing or even murdering their kidnapped victims. Mrs. Wakehurst is helped by Walker (Sheila Keith) and Bates (Dorothy Gordon), a due of two old ladies who use whips to keep the ladies in line. Will Anne and the other girls get out alive?This film could be compared to the 'women in prison' genre, but it is much more than that. 'House of Whipcord' is more sadistic than that and less sexy. It's also much darker and sinister than other films of that sub-genre. I enjoyed seeing how Mrs. Wakehurst had a troubled past as well and the irony of how these old ladies are quick to deal out brutal and serious punishment for small crimes like shoplifting or exposing yourself, but the old ladies in charge of the home severely beat and murder people. This is a great psychological horror film, one that some of the characters will stay in your mind for days after viewing.

An elderly ex-judge and his wife set up a kangaroo court to pass 'proper' sentence on wayward young women who they consider have been treated too leniently by the law. Those convicted are forced to serve time in their private house of correction, where any misdemeanours are dealt with most severely: one strike gets a trip to solitary confinement; two strikes results in a flogging; three strikes and it's the hangman's noose!In dedicating House of Whipcord to 'those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment', director Pete Walker and writer David McGillivray take a wry swipe at the self-appointed moral guardians of the day, people whose ultra-conservative values made them more dangerous than those they seek to persecute.The undoubtedly deranged individuals who operate the prison in Whipcord are clearly intended to represent the religious right, the older generation, and the establishment—exactly the sort of people who would object to this kind of immoral entertainment; the result is a whole lot of sleazy Sadean fun, as Walker and McGillivray go out of their way to rile the easily offended, their liberal young females being stripped, degraded, tortured and killed by their crazy captors (whose number include Walker regular Sheila Keith) for the most trivial of transgressions.Unsurprisingly, the film delivers lots of female nudity (scrumptious Penny Irving as sexy French inmate Ann-Marie Di Verney regularly gets naked, and Ann Michelle goes topless), although the film is remarkably reserved when it comes to depicting the actual violence, preferring to suggest its nastier acts rather than wallow in gore. Despite the lack of graphic nastiness, the film still possesses the ability to shock and upset, delivering a cruel twist and an unexpectedly powerful emotional wallop in its closing moments.

Naive, young, gentle-hearted, beautiful French model, Ann-Marie Di Verney(Penny Irving)is drawn to a dark and mysterious "writer", Mark E Desade(Robert Tayman)after meeting him at a party, later(..after a date)agreeing to meet his mother outside of London, despite knowing little about him. Ann-Marie's pal and roommate, Julia(Ann Michelle)doesn't like the idea of leaving with a man she has just met and these worries come to fruition when Mark takes her to an abandoned institution which works as a cover for a hostile prison for "immoral girls not fit for society who must be punished into submission". Mark's mother, Mrs Wakehurst(Barbara Markham)was once a prison governess who lost her job after her aggressive torturous methods towards a French inmate ended in death. The elderly, blind Justice Bailey(Patrick Barr), whose mind is slipping into senility, once holding a prominent position, is now operating as the secret prison judge, having left his wife for Wakehurst after getting her off for her previous misdeeds regarding the murder of the girl(..the penalty being the loss of her license, and the source of her deep rooted, and thriving bitterness and hatred for "loose women"). Their marriage has worsened substantially over the years, and we discover that Mark is their illegitimate son(..there are also disturbing incestual undertones eluded to later on) Forced against her will into an illegal imprisonment, Ann-Marie notices other girls that have met these particular circumstances as well..it seems Mark's job is to lure women to this place so that they can be tried and convicted in some sort of bogus sentencing, a ceremony so ridiculous(..Wakehurst must now inform of her husband of the lines he's supposed to say due to his forgetfulness)it borders on parody. You can only imagine how shocking and surreal such a situation can be. Told not to speak unless spoken to, given very little to eat, and a penalty system for bad behavior(#1:Solitary confinement, #2:A flogging, & #3:Death by hanging), Ann-Marie will have to figure out some way to escape or else face the dire consequences of her current predicament. Working with fellow prisoners who have had enough of their cruel mistreatment at the hands of Wakehurst and her unpleasant guards, Walker(Sheila Keith)and Bates(Dorothy Gordon), Ann-Marie will attempt to break free from the harsh confinements of such a bleak and unfriendly environment. Meanwhile, Julia confides in her lover, Tony(Ray Brooks)regarding Ann-Marie's whereabouts setting out to find her if she can, attempting to discover just who Mark is and his location.Appropriately grim women-in-prison film throwing a young lamb into a den of wolves. Barbara Markham is quite impressive as the diabolical(..with homicidal tendencies and a yearning to see the pretty deteriorate)warden who hides behind this cloak of morality, wielding her power as if chosen by God to reform those deemed unfit to exist, when in reality she enjoys making girls suffer. The unbridled sadism, buried underneath this cold and calculating execution by the warden and her staff, really has you pitying poor Ann-Marie, who really is a sweet-hearted teenage girl who isn't ashamed of her body. Penny Irving positively glows in the opening scenes, a very vulnerable, somewhat bubbly girl whose modeling career is seen as a blight on society(..Walker obviously wishes to, along with writer David McGillivray, create a film exposing authoritarian types who use their power and code of ethics as a tool to discriminate, as the hypocrites they are)by certain people who really wish to punish and harm because of the thrills that such methods provides. Sheila Keith is particularly memorable as Walker, an obvious lesbian who harbours a lust for Ann-Marie, but hates her at the same time for the type she represents. Through facial movements and specific gestures, Sheila Keith is also able to show her attraction to Ann-Marie, but, at the same time, we see the conflicting repulsion that soon overcomes her. It's a very convincing performance that can elicit chills. The film doesn't actually dwell too much on the whip flogging, although Walker establishes the potency of it's use very well showing whelps and bruises on those victimized. There's a certain hopelessness that permeates throughout Walker's film for Ann-Marie as she is constantly on the verge of escape only to be ensnared right back into the snake pit by unforeseen circumstances. Thanks to cinematographer Peter Jessop's lighting and the miserable aura of the institution setting, Wakehurst's prison is quite a morose and unforgiving place and you can do nothing but feel for those trapped within it's cells. Walker really wishes to keep the indelible image of the hangman's noose in our minds, knowing that this method of execution has been used(..we witness a prisoner sentenced to hanging for attempting to steal a piece of bread, and the failed operation to sneak her away from the death chamber)before and could be Ann-Marie's fate if Wakehurst has anything to say about it. Walker alternates between Ann-Marie's plight and Julia in London growing more concerned about her friend's condition and reasons for not communicating somehow. It's a form of manipulation, of course, allowing the framework to advance regarding Julia being Ann-Marie's only hope(..another form of manipulation is Walker establishing Ann-Marie's potential getaway thanks to a truck driver nearby the Wakehurst estate). Stanley Myers score exceptionally conveys the mood of the film's plot all too well. Robert Tayman has quite a malevolent presence, despite his handsome allure which draws women like Ann-Marie to their doom. Jessop has a way of lighting Tayman that gives off a sinister intent, and you can just sense that this poor girl, under his spell, is like a fly caught in the spider's web. Penny Irving is quite uninhibited in this film, not afraid to show her gorgeous naked body, including a rather uncomfortable disrobing scene where she's forced to remove her clothes by Walker and Bates before being taken to her cell.

HOUSE OF WHIPCORD Aspect ratio: 1.75:1Sound format: MonoA French exchange student (Penny Irving) is lured to an old house in the English countryside where she's incarcerated by a senile old judge (Patrick Barr) and his crazy wife (Barbara Markham), who seek to punish impure young women for 'crimes against morality'.This was British director Pete Walker's first collaboration with legendary exploitation scriptwriter David McGillivray (HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, SATAN'S SLAVE, etc.), spawned from a pre-determined ad campaign showing a screaming, half-naked starlet framed by a hangman's noose. The result is a minor classic in which part-time nude model Irving is lured into captivity by her creepy new boyfriend (Robert Tayman, from VAMPIRE CIRCUS) and imprisoned by Barr and Markham. Unwilling to take her predicament lying down, Irving plots escape with her fellow inmates and suffers all manner of indignities at the hands of cruel warder Sheila Keith and her equally depraved second-in-command (Dorothy Gordon).Cleverly written and cheaply produced in response to an upsurge of activity by the UK's Christian Right in the wake of several controversial film releases - most notably A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, STRAW DOGS, THE DEVILS (all 1971) and LAST TANGO IN Paris (1972) - "Whipcord" opens with a now-famous dedication "...to those who are disturbed by today's lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment...." Though contemporary critics railed against the threadbare production values and softcore nudity, it's apparent that much of their outrage was prompted by Walker's brazen challenge to the Christian moralists, whose over-zealous rhetoric has always enjoyed a disproportionate measure of representation in the British media.The film is deliberately crude and confrontational, with a vulnerable heroine - played as an infuriating wimp by relative newcomer Irving, sporting one of the worst French accents in movie history ("'Ow did zey bring you 'ere?") - struggling to survive against all the odds, while Markham's brutal staff indulge their deepest puritan impulses. Keith is especially good in this regard ("I'm going to make you ashamed of your body, de Vernay. I'm going to see to that... personally!"), manifesting the corrupt zeal of a True Believer with little regard for pity or compassion. The sleaze quotient is high for a British shocker of this vintage, but neither McGillivray's script nor Walker's laidback direction comes close to matching the debauched atrocities which distinguished the 'prison camp' subgenre during the 1970's and early 80s, exemplified by the likes of ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974) in America, BARBED WIRE DOLLS (1975) in mainland Europe, and Asian shockers like BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1973), LOST SOULS (1980) and WAR VICTIMS (1983). Still, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD is an effective relic, and it led directly to Walker's next offering, FRIGHTMARE (1974), reuniting him with McGillivray and Keith for one of their finest collaborations to date.