Caged Fury (1990)

PC3's Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!

If you read my last review, you’ll remember I said I went in expecting one thing and ended up getting something completely different. That’s not the case with Caged Fury. I went in expecting a cheesy, pulpy titty fest and that’s exactly what I got.

First, let’s get the confusion out of the way: this is not the same film as the Caged Fury from 1983, which is also a schlocky women in prison flick. They’re in no way related. Why the filmmakers of this 1990 picture elected to give it the same title as one released just seven years earlier, I have no clue.

Here is the synopsis courtesy of IMDB: Kathie (Roxanna Michaels) is innocent when they lock her up ... but that won't last long. Women in chains, a deviant warden and murderous guards ... no wonder the cops claim Honeywell State Prison doesn't exist. Her only hope of being freed lies with Harley-riding hero Victor (Erik Estrada) and combat karate champ Dirk (Richie Barathy), who'll take on the whole prison mano a mano if need be.

Yeah, that pretty well sums it up. Honeywell State Prison, it turns out, isn’t a real prison at all. Not to give too much away—it’s so absurd I just have to mention it—but the prison, court, guards, judges, film studio, and pretty much everything you see is some kind of elaborate cover for a human trafficking operation. But whatever, it doesn’t have to be logical in the grindhouse genre.

Like I said, Caged Fury has everything you expect: the sadistic warden and prison guards, several torture scenes and sex scenes, and all the bare breasts you could ask for. It even has some stuff you wouldn’t normally expect, like the muscle-bound, ugly as fuck martial arts master, who basically karate chops to death every bad guy in the entire film. The scene near the end where he is marching through the prison with women hanging off of him while also battling random prison guards as he goes is beyond hilarious. He’s like the cheesiest versions of Chuck Norris and Steven Segal rolled into one.

Does Caged Fury have issues? Sure. The plot is ridiculous. The acting sucks. Erik Estrada’s character seems to have no point to exist, since the martial arts expert takes care of all the bad guys single-handedly. But, come on, what are you expecting from a low budget exploitation movie?

PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!

Gore - 3

Special Effects - 2

Nudity/Sexuality - 10

Wow Factor - 6

Acting - 2

Fear Factor - 0

Story/Plot/Originality - 2

Cinematography - 4

Sound/Music - 4

Fun Factor - 8

Caged Fury gets a 41 total PHEMSA. Pretty good for as bad as it is. What can I say, I’m a sucker for women in prison films. The only thing it was missing was Pam Grier.

If you want to read a grindhouse women in prison story, check out my novel Vampire Nuns Behind Bars.