Thebes

Also known as Barbed Wire Dolls. (Jess Franco, 1975.)

Good grief, Franco’s made a lot of crap. This one stars his muse, Lina Romay, as Maria, who is falsely imprisoned for murdering her father, after which the standard Franco women-in-prison stuff ensues — lots of nudity, torture, and piss poor dialogue. I often say that a lot of Franco’s films feel like they were written by accountants on mescaline, and Barbed Wire Dolls is no exception. Unfortunately, outside the sadistic torture porn, it doesn’t really have much to offer. I like Franco better when he manages to channel his sexual obsessions, amphetamine-fuelled nihilism, and technical ineptitude (though the latter might be a put-on. The man did work with Orson Welles) into inspired, speedy surrealism like Vampyros Lesbos (1971). So, no recommendation for Barbed Wire Dolls, except for the Franco and/or women-in-prison completists.  [...]