AKA: Perawan Disarang Sindikat
Country and Year: Indonesia (1987)
Director: Ackyl Anwari
Starring: Enny Beatrice, Yenny Farida, Harry Capri, Dicky Zulkernaen

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars (good)

Virgins from Hell kicks off in grand fashion with a veritable army of busty biker chicks in leather short-shorts whooping ass on a gambling parlor, tearing around on dirt bikes, and crashing through walls in battle jeeps adorned with skulls-and-crossbones. It’s as good as it sounds. Most people probably won’t need to know more than that to decide if this is the right movie for them.

VFH is a pure product of the ‘80s, a bastard child of the Roger Corman Filipino women-in-prison (WIP) films, and Golan and Globus’s patented low-budget Cannon cheesefests like American Ninja. Indonesian artisans added their own touches, ratcheting up the gore while combining obviously exploitative subject-matter with a demure ban against nudity. This is the kind of movie where the girls have catfights and shower together, but do it in their bathing suits.

Unlike many other Indonesian films released in the US, like The Stabilizer, Lady Terminator, Mystics in Bali, and Dangerous Seductress, VFH seems to be an entirely local production, not relying on the presence of foreign actors and actresses of dubious talent to draw foreign box office. Not to say that the indigenous talent on display is any better in a technical sense, but there’s a certain charm that is lost when the locals have to play second fiddle to some stiff import (Italian movies both prove, and break, this rule).

Virgins from Hell follows the trials and tribulations of Sheila (Enny Beatrice) and her gang of tough biker chicks, who are out to destroy the villainous Mr. Tiger (Dicky Zulkarnaen). Mr. Tiger killed Sheila’s parents in order to use their home as a base for his villainy (like so many blaxploitation villains before him). He and his scary tranny sidekick Dutch have turned the place into a fort, and are now running experiments in the basement in order to develop a potent aphrodisiac (I’m not sure that the actress playing Dutch is actually a tranny, but … damn).

Sheila, after a rousing speech, leads her mini-army in an all-out frontal assault on Mr. Tiger’s compound. Why they don’t have more of a plan must remain forever a mystery, much like the question of why Mr. Tiger would build sandbag emplacements that face onto his own fortress. After the attack fails, Sheila, her sister (Yenny Farida), and her girlfriends are left at the mercy of Mr. Tiger, who puts them to work and goes out of his way to devise baroque tortures involving rotisserie grills, barbed wire swing playsets that would make any parent cringe, and the ever-popular “Hungry Mongoose” game.

Tiring of hauling coconuts (double-entendre intended), Sheila teams up with Larry (Harry Capri), an overall-wearing, two-fisted man of science, to bring down Mr. Tiger once and for all. Natch, this requires tons of carnage and skimpy outfits.

VFH is bookended by two tremendous battles - classic ‘80s low-budget set-pieces featuring rocket launchers, dirt bikes, machine guns, and lots of explosions. VFH also continues the Indonesian tradition of The Stabilizer by featuring lots of vehicles crashing through walls. The film does get a little bogged down in WIP antics during the middle portion of the film, as the girls are tortured and scheme to break out. However, the viewer is never too far from an action scene, and the outré outfits, silly villains, and pretty girls should serve to keep you distracted while you wait for the next explosion.

VFH also has a fair amount of weirdness on display. There’s an appalling scene where a local mystic heals Larry’s leg by inserting a live snake into the bullet wound to retrieve the metal, not to mention the best fake alligator wrestling scene since Indian Tarzan. All the characters carry ridiculously large fake guns straight out of a 5-year-old boy’s fantasy world. They certainly spoke to my inner 5-year-old. Also keep an ear out for wildly inappropriate uses of the music from David Lynch’s Dune, and a cover of Nights in White Satin.

While the heroes are not especially well-defined (though their outfits are attention-grabbing), that void is filled by Mr. Tiger. Ah, Mr. Tiger, that enigmatic mix of sensitivity and raw brutality. For example, when he needs a break from running his international drug empire, Mr. Tiger relaxes in a room decorated with posters of pretty ponies and tigers that would do any 12-year-old suburban girl proud. He tops the whole thing off by having the walls covered with pink, deep shag carpeting. The only thing missing is a stuffed unicorn. His fashion sense is also highly developed – Mr. Tiger favors puffy pirate shirts and colorful gaucho uniforms. Yet this same man is perfectly capable of taking a bullwhip to his captives and maintaining a sadistic torture dungeon (which, unlike Dr. Who from King Kong Escapes, he does not decorate every day with fresh flowers). Truly, he is an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in a pirate shirt.

Recommended? If you need to mainline some ‘80s action cheese, look no further. For those with no affection for the WIP genre, the good definitely outweighs the bad here.

If you like this, you might like: The Stabilizer, American Ninja, The Big Bird Cage, Bamboo House of Dolls, Lady Terminator, Switchblade Sisters, Female Convict # 701 Scorpion, Criminal Woman: Killing Melody

DVD DETAILS

DVD Production Company: Mondo Macabro (www. mondomacabrodvd.com)
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Run Time: 94 Mins
Extras: Original trailer, Essay on WIP films, Documentary on Indonesian Exploitation, 70 minute of trailers from Rapi Films

Mondo Macabro scores again with this excellent Region 1 double-disc set of Indonesian exploitation. The first DVD holds the feature film. Virgins from Hell is presented in crisp 2.35:1 remastered anamorphic widescreen. Only the English dub is provided. In addition, on the first disc are the original trailer (a classic bit of ballyhoo) and an essay on WIP films by Pete Tombs, covering the genre from its inception, through the Jess Franco nazi-sploitation films, to Roger Corman and the classic Filipino WIP.

The second disc contains a couple of real treats. First up is another in the series of fascinating Mondo Macabro original documentaries, this time focusing on Indonesian Exploitation, with tons of clips and interviews with luminaries like star Barry Prima (The Warrior) and director H. Tjut Djalil (Mystics in Bali), as well as producers and special effects crew. Of special note is an apparent Indonesian version of the infamous flying guillotine. Purchasers should note that this is the same documentary included on the earlier Lady Terminator disc.

The heart of the disc is a massive archive of 21 trailers from Rapi Films, producers of Virgins from Hell. For many, this alone will be worth the price of the set. The films run the gamut from military action, to supernatural period pieces, to martial arts, to WIP. For the record, the trailers are: Snake Queen, Devil’s Sword, The Warrior, Primitif, Satan’s Slave, Revenge of Ninja, Violent Killer, Bloody Vengeance, Mystics in Bali, Hell Riders, Tiger Commandos, Freedom Force, Daredevil Commandos, The Terrorists, Final Score, The Warrior and the Ninja, The Warrior Against the Blind Swordsman, The Blind Warrior, Virgins from Hell, Escape from Hell Hole, and Blazing Battle. A couple of these films are already available, including Primitif, Mystics from Bali, and The Blind Warrior. Among the trailers, I would particularly recommend Devil’s Sword, or any of the Warrior trailers. Hopefully we’ll get to see the actual films in condition this good also, someday.

© David Austin

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