Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1973)

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1973)

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“Once a prisoner has slept with me, he will never sleep with a woman again. If he lives, he will remember only the pain of the knife.”

Synopsis:
A sadistic Nazi prison warden (Dyanne Thorne) gleefully tortures both male and female prisoners in her camp, not realizing that her latest sexual conquest — an American named Wolfe (Gregory Knoph) — is helping to plot her downfall.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Concentration Camps
  • Horror
  • Nazis
  • S&M
  • Strong Females

Response to Peary’s Review:
I’ll admit to avoiding this “indefensible” sexploitation flick (a “cult film for [the] sick set, with a plot suitable for S&M porno books”) for as long as possible before finally giving in to write a review for this site — which is not to say I haven’t been weirdly curious about it for years; with such a “notorious reputation” (and a morbidly intriguing title), it’s hard not to at least wonder what this film and its three similarly-titled sequels have to offer.

In his review of this first entry in the series, Peary notes that “at least the torture/violence is not as convincing as one might fear”, and points out that “the brutality looks staged”; yet the “poor acting, pedestrian direction, and a repelling overdose of bondage and violence” still “put the film at [the] bottom of the women-in-prison genre”. Indeed, it’s genuinely distressing to know that this film has a cult of diehard followers who find nothing wrong with what they refer to as its “campy” sex and violence; why in the world would people choose to sit through something this distasteful? (Clearly I’m not the target audience.) Unfortunately, I’ll eventually have to subject myself to a bit more, given that Peary lists one of the sequels — Ilsa, Harem Keeper for the Oil Sheiks (1976) — in the back of his book, despite openly referring to it as “worse”. Why, oh why, Peary?

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
Nothing.

Must See?
No; despite its undeniable notoriety, film fanatics should only check this one out at their own peril.

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One thought on “Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1973)”

  1. Skip it.

    I’d seen this once before, just to mark it off the Peary list. I’d forgotten most of it…for good reason. In attempting a second watch (by way of YouTube) in order to post here, I only got a half-hour in, then began speeding through to the end.

    Indeed, it’s quite difficult imagining the “target audience” for this, for any reason. I really wouldn’t want to know those people at all. This is just awful stuff on every level.

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