Customer Reviews

SS Hell Camp

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

And censorship is sometimes the best thing that can happen to a movie. Case in point SS HELL CAMP, a `video nasty' that contained scenes of such perversity it moved a nation to impose sanctions to protect its citizens from its baleful influence. And that's just the stuff that'll get chumps like me to line up around the block to take a gander.

Well, peek away, and try your best to stay awake. The Germans are occupying a town, a band of partisans are blowing up bridges, and the bad guys are rounding up the wimmen folk for interrogation purposes. The chief Nazi doctor on-site is a gorgeous brunette with a dominating air and a caged, half-human, sex maniac in the cellar. To make them talk, the women are either sadistically - and graphically - tortured (a bad thing,) or they're thrown naked in the cage with the neanderthal Casanova (a very bad thing.)

More than half this movie, the half that's spent with the intrepid band of partisans in the field, is impossibly boring and can't be watched without mashing the fast-forward button. The acting is atrocious and the scenes in the field run on forever. Besides, the whole point of the movie is to linger over the shoulder of the beautiful and twisted Nazi doctor.

I'm sorry, this movie is supposed to shock and disgust, but it is done so poorly it's impossible to take it even half-seriously. Its worse scene involves a number of women undergoing a number of tortures. One woman, strapped to a table, is supposed to have been cut open, her entrails exposed and gnawed on by rats. Supposed to have been, but the stage blood was gruel thin, you could see her intact stomach underneath it, and the red sawdust on top failed to convince as innards. Plus, the `rats' on her stomach were a couple of overweight guinea pigs, who scampered away as quick as their pudgy little legs could take them. I gave this movie two stars for the unintentional laughs it provided. SS HELL CAMP is a nasty little exploitation movie, although I'd call it silly rather than shocking, and pretty poorly made.

Let me preface this by saying that I bought this film fully aware of the fact that it would be a horrible exercise in exploitation. I harbored no illusions that led me to believe that I was possibly buying a forgotten Bergman masterpiece or a classic John Ford western. I enjoy a good bad movie every now and then, so I figured that this had to be one of the best of the worst. Well, I was half right.

To refer to "SS Hell Camp" as "a" movie is somewhat misleading. In actuality, "SS Hell Camp" is two different movies that happen to be on the same DVD and through an accident of editing, have become inexplicably intertwined in one package. One movie is about a group of Italian partisan rebels in the German-occupied Republic of Salo in the last days of World War II. They sabotage German railroad shipments and work to actively resist the Waffen SS and Wehrmacht detachments in the area. The other movie is about a sadistic bisexual nymphomaniac named Dr. Ellen Kratsch who runs a sexual torture dungeon under the guise of "science." Experiments include the genetic engineering of a bestial naked Italian man with a unibrow who violently has his way with captured females. With a name like "SS Hell Camp," which of these two movies do you want to see?

Either way, it's more of the former than the latter, and is therefore quite slow-moving and only occasionally funny. (My definition of "funny" being "unintentionally hilarious.") There's nothing particularly 'graphic' here other than female nudity and fake blood (neither of which is done very well). The highlight of this movie is a scene in which the country priest remarks "put your trust in the Lord: he's the best!" For a movie that bills itself as being unspeakably evil and extreme, that's not a very good sign. In a movie as bad as this one, it's difficult to know who to root for. The acting is so bad among the partisans that I frequently found myself hoping that Dr. Kratsch would capture them and kill them and then a stray bomb would destroy the dungeon, killing Dr. Kratsch and her underlings. That way, everyone would be wiped out. Even still, I'm not sure I'd have gotten any satisfaction from this movie beyond the feeling of finality that comes with knowing everyone is dead.

If you're looking for a good non-prescription sleep aid, this movie will do wonders for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for something that's so-bad-it's-good owing to its tastelessness, violence, and sexual perversion, you're out of luck here.

Another in the short list of Nazi exploitation pictures, "SS Hell Camp" is a crazy, plotless film. Those expecting to view scene after scene of Nazi atrocities will be bored as the film tries to be something it is not. The vast majority of the running time concerns a small group of partisans who are trying to free their villa from the Nazi invaders. The lesser section of the film is of an Ilsa like Nazi doctor and her apparent love of torture and strange experiments. Her primary scientific research focuses on a large deformed male who she supplies with women to rape and kill. It appears she has some belief that mating the women with this creature will produce an even better master race. For some reason, she becomes involved with an equally sadistic soldier whose duty is to find and kill the partisans. So, basically, the film becomes a low budget war movie with battle scenes and lots of shot up flailing bodies falling to the ground. The ending is also out of place with the rest of the film and makes little sense in the context of everything that has occurred prior. The movie was haphazardly shot as evidenced by one scene where the entire camera crew is clearly visible in the shadows. The dubbing is terrible and the "action" scenes are anything but. I gave "SS Hell Camp" two stars due to two scenes of torture and murder that I was not expecting, one concerning an infant. In all, far too much time is spent on things other than Nazi atrocities and none of that is very good. One last thing, there is no hell camp, its more of a basement, should have called the film "SS Hell Basement". View at your own risk.

Sure the torture scenes are, in a way, grisly, but the overwhelming technical incompetence makes this movie a diamond in the rough. This movie is full of fun. Catchy dubbed dialogue: "The light of goodness shines, shining as it does with so much charity on men of good faith"; "Trust God, he's the best!"; and "As for what Jesus taught, I'm not too bright." SS Hellcamp is second only to Craven's Shocker for cast and equipment shadows; viz., a full ten seconds with the complete shadow of both camera and cameraman on a giant orange swastika. Sal Boris is unforgettable as the Nazi Brute/Superman: what is intended as shocking rape comes off as poorly choreographed nude wrestling; laughter is the natural reaction to the various close-ups of Sal's primate/brute face. Another example of this film's incompetence is the awkward integration of washed-out prints of war stock footage into original "war footage" made for the movie. At one point the camera pans across a postcard to show that the Nazis had amassed their forces on the front line. And don't forget about the bomber plane on a string! This film makes Plan 9 seem professional.

Moreover, this film continues the beloved pants-sex tradition of other Nazi turds such as Love Camp 7. Compare the sheer joy of SS Hellcamp with the abject misery of, say, Last Orgy of the Third Reich. Watching the two side-by-side reveals the hidden joys and virtues of the Hellcamp. I first saw SS Hellcamp with Disco Godfather: the perfect bad movie double feature!

(Another movie that goes great with Hellcamp is K Gordon Murray's notorious Mexican version of Puss 'N Boots.)

ahhh,the good old days when absolutely nothing was safe or sacred to the exploitation movie merchants....
here we have,in my opinion,probably the most tasteless example of the Naziploitation picture,a genre that more or less died shortly after this "movie".most would probably agree that that is a good thing.
anyway,about the movie.for the uninitiated,start with "ilsa - she wolf of ss".if you can "enjoy" that bit of nastiness,then perhaps consider taking on this "unique" take on a forgotten film genre.
just dont watch it with your mom or girlfriend.or aunt.or grandma.etc...

This movie forgets that it's an exploitation movie and tries to much to be a crappy war movie. Waaaaay too much time is spent on the escapades of the partisans and not enough on sleazy exploitation. Ilsa, she-wolf of the SS is much better! While there are a couple memorably campy scenes with the beast ( ala his version of a fur burger ) it's not enough to merrit a purchase. Avoid.

One side thinks it's a great nazi-sexploitation flick, while the other thinks it's a tame, over-rated, boring PoS. So which side should you listen to? Being an exploitation movie fan myself(with the likes of Porno Holocaust, Images in a Convent, Entrails of a Beautiful Woman, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, House on the Edge of the Park, The Beast, etc) I have to say I agree with the 3-stars-and-under reviews(although I agree with everyone, the woman playing the lead nazi interrogator looks seductively alluring). This may be considered the best of the nazi-exploitation films, but that's not saying much(I haven't seen most of the Ilsa films so I can't even vouche for that claim by critics/fans).

Since I own this movie, I can vouche that it is not that exploitive(except for maybe one long multiple-tortures scene), and worse, it's not even that enjoyable or very interesting to watch(the beast guy rapist is just too silly and campy). Rent it to kill your curiosity if you must. But I doubt you would want to own it and rewatch it(if you do, I gotta copy ready to go for ya). It's presented nicely in a widscreen transfer, but with no major extras to its credit, the dvd itself is not even worthy of collecting. Maybe worth a rental, but I'd put this on the backburner and go straight to the 2-disc collector's dvd of D'Amato's Images in a Convent. Now THAT'S worth a purchase!

Ok..where to start with this little 'gem'. Like many I bought this movie based on it's reputation and the fact that it had been banned in the UK for years. On viewing it I really don't see what all the fuss was about. It is quite possibly the worst film I've ever seen.

The story centres around the scientific exploits of degenerate Nazi Scientist Dr Ellen Krast (the stunning looking Macha Magall. In fact the ONLY thing this film has going for it is that most of the female characters are attractive. And nude a lot of the time) who believes that she has created the perfect 'human being' who will in turn lead to a master race. In reality the perfect 'human being' is a short, squat, hairy neandrethal (played by Sal Boris)who looks about as scary as Big Bird and as perfect an example of the human being as Homer Simpson. Krast's attempts to 'create' the 'master race' from the loins of her creation are somewhat hampered by the fact that the local peasant women she throws to her creature are raped and killed by it. Instead of being a little peeved at this turn of events, Krast seems to overlook it as of but minor insignificance. Why create it in the first place then, the viewer may ask? Why indeed?

The bulk of the film however revolves around the ludicrous, and ultimately extremely tedious, exploits of a group of Partisans trying to overthrow the Nazi occupation of the village and ultimately storm the villa where Krast and her minions are torturing their kinfolk. The 'action' sequences between the Partisans and their German foes are laughable. The director Batzella has literally culled entire segments from his previous movies AND melded it with stock war footage and edited it into SS Hell Camp. The result? You'll probably laugh at it. Particularly when it becomes so blatantly obvious (terrain and personnel magically change and then change back again). You couldn't make this stuff up.

Brad Harris, who plays the local Priest, has the best line in the whole film when he wishes the Partisans well and comments;

"Trust in the Lord. He's the best!"

No wonder he remains uncredited in this film. Rumour has it that the whole cast wanted their names wiped from this movie and it's not hard to see why.

The infamous torture scenes are neither disgusting nor shocking. I've seen worse in Hammer horror movies. The gratuitous male and female nudity may have some reason to do with it's ban but again Bertolucci's Last Tango has a fair amount. The only reasons I can think for a ban are 1) The genre (Nazi Exploitation) and 2. the Concept (Beast rapes women. Although to echo the sentiments of another reviewer this looks more like a bout of (badly choreographed)wrestling than anything else.). Add to this the laughable faces Sal Boris pulls when doing this and it really DOES look like a WWE Bout!

Btw when it gets to the torture scenes have a look for one clip where it shows a naked woman tied down having 'rats' chow down on her insides. Cool huh? Maybe if the 'Rats' weren't really Guinea Pigs or Gerbils!!!!!!!!

And if that doesn't sum up the state of this movie I don't know what will.

Utter dreck.

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to a diabetic summer camp, and I usually tend to think of that as a kind of SS Hell Camp. Naturally I saw the film, SS Hell Camp, because I'm one of those weirdos who tends to like cheap, cruddy films that exploit one of the darkest(if not the darkest) moments in world history simply for violent thrills and sleazery.
But after viewing SS Hell Camp I realized that the diabetic summer camp wasn't so bad, and that I would have rather spent an hour and a half there again instead of watching this movie. As you can guess, it takes it's inspiration from Ilsa-She Wolf of the SS. A loony Nazi scientist chick is torturing women in the name of medical science. She's created some kind of terminally horny, hairy dude she keeps in a cage, and every now and again she throws an unfortunate victim in with him. He proceeds to savagely do his business until the woman expires. These scenes become rather long and boring, believe it or not. It only seemed to pep up a bit when the horny beast-man decides to eat the pubic hair of one of the girls. But it is rather sad when a scene like that is the highlight of the film. The rest of the movie is devoted to some partisans who are plotting to bring the evil doctor chick down.
Mother Mary and Joseph, is this boring!
I gotta tell ya, a flick like this shouldn't be boring, there's no excuse. So I gotta say, SS Hell Camp is one to avoid. You're better off giving Ilsa another go.

not much to say except buy this dvd. i bought it twice because the first time i bought it i gave it away cause i didnt like it to much. i missed it and bought it again. of the handful of nazi exploitation films i've seen this is the best and the only one that really deserves to be banned. not much of a plot. just an excuse to show sex and violence. very depraved and graphic. women are butally raped by a retarded mongloid, one has her clitoris ripped off and eaten in close up, women are tortured in numerous grisly ways including electrodes clamped to there private parts and fingernails pulled off. these scenes are unflinching and very graphic. tons of female nudity and alot of male nudity as well. i have heard from a few that this dvd is cut. if it is then i dont know what could have been cut because all the scenes go on and on. the rapes last for like ten minutes each. very low budget and unintentially hilarious, cheesy and stupid. if not for the films low budget charm the scenes of torture and rape would be very shocking. they are shocking but the impact is slightly softened by poor acting and direction. still a fun film. not for the easily offended or people who dont like b movies.