Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is a 1975 American Nazi exploitation film produced in the USA. The film was directed by Don Edmonds, produced by David F. Friedman and written by Jonah Royston.
Plot[]
Ilsa is Kommandant of a Nazi Stalag (prisoner-of-war camp), who conducts sadistic scientific experiments designed to demonstrate that women are more capable of enduring pain than men are, and therefore should be allowed to fight in the army. Ilsa is also portrayed as a buxom woman with a voracious sexual appetite for men. Every night, she chooses another one of her male prisoners and rapes him; however, due to her insatiable hunger, she gets disappointed when her current victim eventually ejaculates, and promptly has him castrated and put to death. Only an American prisoner, who can withhold ejaculating, manages to use her weakness to his favor.
Cast[]
- Dyanne Thorne as Ilsa
- C.D. Lafleuer as Binz
- Gregory Knoph as Wolfe
- Tony Mumolo as Mario
- Maria Marx as Anna
- Nicolle Riddell as Kata
- Jo Jo Deville as Ingrid
- Sandy Richman as Maigret
- Rodina Keeler as Gretchen
- Wolfgang Roehm as General
- Lance Marshall as Richter
- Uncredited
- Jacqueline Giroux as Rosette
- Uschi Digard as Pressurized chamber prisoner
- Colleen Brennan as Redheaded prisoner
- Peggy Sipots as Prisoner on ice block
- Donna Young as Prisoner with white scarf
- Janet Newell as Blonde prisoner
- Eve Orlon as Nude prisoner in bed
- Wayne Beauchamp as Prisoner
- Sandy Dempsey as Prisoner
- Meri McDonald as Nazi guard
- John F. Goff as Nazi guard with mustache
- Gary Schneider as First prisoner beside Wolfe
Production[]
When Lee Frost and David F. Friedman's 1969 Love Camp 7 became popular in Canada, André Link and Cinepix's John Dunning created a script for Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. After offering to produce, Friedman agreed and brought on Dyanne Thorne to play as the titular character. Friedman is credited onscreen as "Herman Traeger".
Ilsa is patterned after real-life murderous female Nazi camp personnel Ilse Koch and Irma Grese.
Friedman (under the pseudonym Herman Traeger) put a notice before the film opens: "The film you are about to see is based on documented fact. The atrocities shown were conducted as "medical experiments" in special concentration camps throughout Hitler's Third Reich. Although these crimes against humanity are historically accurate, the characters depicted are composites of notorious Nazi personalities; and the events portrayed, have been condensed into one locality for dramatic purposes. Because of its shocking subject matter, this film is restricted to adult audiences only. We dedicate this film with the hope that these heinous crimes will never happen again."
Location[]
The film was made on the Los Angeles set of the TV series Hogan's Heroes.[2] The series had already been cancelled and the show's producers let the film be made on it once they learned that a scene called for it to be burned down, saving them the cost of having it demolished.
Release[]
Ilsa was rejected by the British Board of Film Classification and banned in Australia and Norway.
Reception[]
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS has received primarily negative reviews, and holds a rating of "30% Fresh" at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader referred to it as "self-conscious Canadian-made camp of the bondage-and-discipline variety."
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS won Best Alternative Release at the 1985 AVN awards.
Legacy[]
Sequels[]
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS was followed by three sequels, all variations on the sexploitation prison film theme: Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks in 1976, Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia in 1977, and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden, also in 1977 and directed by Jesús Franco (the latter was also known as Greta, The Mad Butcher and Wanda, The Wicked Warden).
In popular culture[]
The 2007 film Grindhouse features a faux-trailer for a film called Werewolf Women of the S.S. by Rob Zombie, whose characters have been referred to as resembling Ilsa. The lead female officer, Eva Krupp (played by Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon), can also be seen as an Ilsa-like character.