It's actually quite difficult to tell who's being punished in this picture. The women locked up in their 'coral' or the viewer who's forced to witness this dreck. Director Oswaldo De Oliveira takes a giant step back after Bare Behind Bars (which is often more brutal and unfortunately, often more entertaining than this little ditty). The film itself often feels as if it took 10 minutes to slap together, but an eternity to sit through. Amazon Jail is a film that's filled with greasy overweight shirtless men and greasy underweight shirtless women. You'd think that this would strike some sort of a perverted cosmic balance in the end, but it really doesn't.

Truth be told, I've been known to enjoy my fair share of Women In Prison films. Some of which (in my humble opinion) are truly great works of cinema! No, really!

Titles like Black Mama White Mama, Big Doll House or Caged Heat are shining examples of the genre (just to name a few). But along with any successful genre comes the inevitable copycats. The films that are there for one reason and one reason only...to cash in...and fast. Say hello to Amazon Jail. Now the quick cash-ins aren't always thatbad. As a matter of fact, quite often they can be enjoyed on the basest of all levels, and when it comes to a film like this...it's exploitation. These knock-offs are never stellar examples of cinematic wonderment either. They're mostly just terrible. We know that. We expect that. We relish in their awfulness. And this is why we love 'em so. There are very few films like this that take themselves as seriously (and that are as good) as the films' that they're knocking-off to begin with - To be expected.

Therfore, criticising one of these flicks for artistic merit is like shooting fish in a barrel, it's just too goddamn easy. They can't all be shining examples of the genre. But some of these rip-offs are far worse than others and deserve to be singled out as the ultimate waste of time that they truly are, clearly evidenced by what we have here. There are certain things we expect to see in a film like this, any and/or all of these things would be acceptable, however, they really should be presented in some sort of an 'over-the-top' manner IE: excessive (please don't think any less of me for this!). To this end, it makes perfect sense to me, to criticise a film like this not for it's lack of artistic achievement, but simply for it's lack of acceptable exploitation elements. Not in any specific order (especially not in order of my own personal preference - ahem) are the degrading elements that indeed make a no-nonsense WIP flick knock-off all that it could be, or dare I say should be; Complete and utter trash that would make your mother's head spin. Unfortunately, Amazon Jail is either completely void of these elements or presents them in such a sanatized, Disney-esque manner, that it really doesn't matter in the long run. Besides, this film is more silly and goofball like than sickening and/or upsetting so it loses points there as well. On with the list.

- attractive women that spend little to no time fully clothed
- butch hard-ass lesbian warden who actually looks surprisingly attractive when disrobed
- undersexed perv doctor
- shower scenes (and plenty of them)
- mutual AND/OR forced lesbian action
- torture
- weird medical experiments
- punishment for absolutely no good reason
- midgets and or animals (preferably involved in some sort of sex orgy with the women)
- cat fights (with lots of clothes being ripped off and hair pulling - and feel free to throw a midget in the mix here as well)

While the women in this flick are often disrobed, they aren't all that attractive. And the 'butch hard-ass lesbian warden' is replaced with the wife of the slave trade owner and she barely lifts a finger at the girls. Somehow, the women who are kept in their outdoor cell are tricked into slavery and locked up in a bamboo cage in the middle of the jungle. Honestly, their accomodations are more like a catty sorority house than an outdoor prison. They bicker and slap each other around (but not nearly enough for this pervert) before they're taken out to parade their meat products in front of prospective 'customers.' But then again, if they're not up for a party, they're allowed to just hang out in their cage for the evening without punishment. Ummmm, OK. But then again, who wouldn't be up for a party? They're showered, greased and sparkled up nice! They seem to be fed pretty well and they're given the opportunity to dance around with fat shirtless men to a monotone jungle beat! What's not to love? It's actually not such a bad gig when you think about it.

It's quite a tepid affair. Throughout the course of the film these women escape, are caught, bathe in the lake, are scared by birds, get caught, use their bodies to occupy men (and women) so they can escape, are shot dead, dance around... and so forth and so on. If I offered any more of a synopsis than this, I'd literally be writing my own script and I'm sure as hell not giving that one away for free. These women are dim bulbs to begin with. Business opportunities in the middle of the jungle? My ass. Amazon Jail is barely up to Skinemax standards. I'd rather be watching Bikini Car Wash.

For what it's worth, Blue Underground does a fine job in bringing Amaazon Jail to DVD, if with little fanfare (perhaps they're saving the hub-hub for their HD Version we can only hope is in the works). Their transfer is quite breathtaking, for a movie of this ilk. Nary a sign of print damage and colors that just pop. The audio dub is awful, but clearly not a fault of BU. Everything sounds quite fine and dandy in WIP style mono, clearly the audio option of choice among WIP afficionados. It's just silly bad is all. Extras are limited to an English language trailer and about 90 minutes of wasted time. Really only for the true completist, curious or sadist.