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In some alternate reality, the USA have finally abolished the death penalty - only to ship all murder convicts off to a high security island, where they are left to their own devices. There's no law on the island, so they may murder one another all they want, and it's really survival of the fittest. Carmen (Ena Hartman) is the latest arrival on the island, dubbed Terminal Island, and she's soon befriended by the local doctor (Tom Selleck), a murder convict himself, who leads her to the main village, hardly more than a random collection of shacks ruled with an iron fist by psychopath Bobby (Sean Kenney) and his muscle Monk (Roger E. Mosley). The women in the village, Joy (Phyllis Davis), Lee (Marta Kristen) and deeply traumatized Bunny (Barbara Leigh) work just as hard as the men and are forced to pleasure them sexually every night. Carmen is at first shocked how readily the other women seem to accept this, but soon has to learn that it's either accepting it or forced to accept it by violent means. Then though the girls are saved by a group of rebels led by A.J. (Don Marshal), who have long escaped Bobby's rule. Thing is, they are now constantly on the run, justifiably fearing Bobby's wrath - which is just not good enough for the girls who before long teach their new allies how to make grenades and curare for blow darts to defend themselves against Bobby's goons and eventually go into the offense - which is about time as Bobby and company have managed to capture a patrol boat for its handguns and machine guns to have the upper hand on the battle field - unless of course our heroes use some ingenuity and cunning ...

Back in the early-to-mid 1970s, prison camp movies, often with a black female lead, seem to have been all the rage on the exploitation side of filmmaking, and this movie follows that genre's playbook rather nicely, but at the same time manages to escape being just another formula movie by adding splices of dystopia, elements of Lord of the Flies and even some social commentary - especially in the opening in a TV studio - to the mix, as well as putting a female perspective on things, thus minimizing the sleaze for actual content. That's not to say this has then become a brain-heavy thought piece, it's still a wildly enjoyable genre movie made to entertain first. All that said, this film is no utter masterpiece either, just one of the better exploitation pieces of its time, and most certainly worth a watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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