Battered Flesh

Director - Javier Aguirre (Count Dracula's Great Love, Hunchback of the Morgue)

Starring - Esperanza Roy (X, Medea 2), Barbara Rey (The Night of the Sorcerers, ...And Give Us Our Daily Sex), and Tota Alba (Inquisition, Demon Witch Child)

Release Date - 1978

Genre - Drama

Format - Blu (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      When I was looking over the films in the Exorcismo set from Severin, I was shocked to see that it didn't have a women in prison film in it considering how popular they were in the 70s.  I've reviewed dozens of these films over the years from boutique labels like Severin, Vinegar Syndrome, and Blue Underground.  Hell, even Full Moon and Troma have a few in their catalogue of films.  However, as I worked my way through the set and reached the 1978 film Battered Flesh I was excited to see that it was a women in prison flick.  The title made me think I was diving into a horror film but I was wrong.  It was a pleasant surprise and a solid film for what it was.

    The film follows a woman who finds herself behind bars for what appears to be fraud.  Here she is beaten, degraded, and humiliated by guards and other prisoners.  While she does find some friendship inside the walls, transfers and releases keep an everchanging dynamic in the prison yard.

     Battered Flesh is pretty straight forward for a women in prison flick.  The story is nothing we haven't seen before, the characters are pretty cliched especially by the late 70s, yet I still had fun with it.  It's nothing original but still fun.  The acting in this one is very one sided.  Roy does most of the heavy lifting in the film.  She's delivers a solid performance but the lack of character development and personality makes her blend into the background.  The supporting cast is pretty bland but no one tosses in a women in prison flick for good acting.  The story for this one is nothing we haven' seen before especially in a film with a premise like this.  A woman who is wrongfully convicted or convicted of a small crime is sent to a women's prison where she is sexually and physically abused, degraded, and singled out.  It's clearly a vehicle to get women nude and it succeeds.  With that being said, the drams works and is just enough to hold the viewer's attention.  Finally, we might have a little of the red stuff but don't expect a movie with some fun deaths.  We have some skin and that is about the extent of it.  Overall, Battered Flesh is a movie that is not going to really stick with the viewer after but was fun especially for a first time watch.  Check it out.