"SS Experiment Camp", as it's known in Britain, first found fame with its promotional poster - in the early days of video in the UK, when only cheap titles were being released, video store owners brightened up their shops with its lurid artwork of a tortured semi-naked girl hanging upside down in a prison yard, with the spooky face of an evil Nazi officer hovering behind. The result was outrage, and the beginning of the Video Nasties panic, resulting in the banning of this and almost 80 other films.
I don't think "SS Experiment Camp" is currently available uncut anywhere in the world, which is hardly surprising - even Anchor Bay would turn their noses up at this one. Obviously it's in UNBELIEVABLY poor taste, and yes it does take ludicrous liberties with its portrayal of Nazi death camps, but what really stands out about this movie is how appallingly bad it is. All these things come together most startlingly in the memorable scene where a lady prisoner, who has been repeatedly raped to orgasm by a sadistic female doctor, piles marmalade onto her bread and sighs "I haven't had marmalade for ages...if these guys keep treating us like this, they've got my vote!" Jaw-dropping.
The torture scenes aren't very realistic, but they're INCREDIBLY mean-spirited (the even-worse sequel to this movie, the charmingly titled "SS Camp 5: Women's Hell" has more torture, which the filmmakers absolutely revel in). "SS Experiment Camp" is a very, very badly made film - those of us with a taste for extremely sick kitsch watch it for its ludicrous, campy sleaziness - for which we should be thankful. If it was a well-made film, it would be pretty impossible to watch without puking your guts up.
