I just got done watching this film. I was a bit disappointed since i have heard so many people condemn this film as one of the worst pieces of garbage ever produced. Yet i wasn't really offended. I mean, even ignoring its premise (crazy nazi experiments, sex crazed SS officers, etc) there wasn't anything too graphic in that film that would make it stand out from any other 42nd street grind film. Although i did love the part where Ilsa p**ses on the Nazi Commander ("it's the only way!")
oh, and anyone here from the University of Iowa?
Did you know Ilsa is based on an actual person of the same name, so there is some truth to the events. I'm not sure how much truth, but maybe thats why it is deemed so offensive. I havent seen the movie myself but am currently reading Sleazoid Express by Bill Landis and their is a chapter just on the Ilsa movies.
It;'s very loosely based.....basically, just someone named Ilsa Koch whom I think was the wife of one of the concentration camp commandants.
The set was the old Hogan's Heroes set. I think it isn't anything in the film itself that is so shocking, just that they used the Holocaust as a setting for an exploitation film, though I think a lot of the Ilsa imitators that came along later were a lot worse.
I think it was the combination of sleazy sex (the best kind) and mutilations that was the trigger. Plus, it was more mainstream than a 42nd streat porn flick. And it was made in 1974, before we got jaded with all the slasher flicks. Harem Keeper is right in the same vein, the DVD has a nice audio commentary, I haven't listened to the whole thing yet.
Did you ever see THE STORY OF "O". Seen it at the theater when I was 17 years old. I'd like to see it again.
Saw it, and read the book. Interesting idea, how far would you go for love, but the counter is would you do something degradig to someone you love.