Written and Directed by Jonathon Demme (Silence of the Lambs), Caged Heat is the granddaddy of "Women in Prison" films. It may be old news, but It has never been done quite like this. It's tough to describe why Caged Heat is more of the same, but oh so different at the same time, but it is. It's partly due to the writing, partly due to Demme's casting choices, and partly due to his talented direction, even back then his style was evident. This DVD is a mixed bag at best, but in an instance like this, one can't be too picky.

Jacqueline Wilson (Erica Gavin) is sent to a tough women's prison after a brief opening sequence depicting what appears to be a drug bust. From this point forward, It's really nothing you haven't seen already. This is really your typical by the numbers WIP film, well... sort of. You get the showers, the fights in the showers, the "correctional" torture, the assault, the rebellion, and last but not least, the escape. It's not so much the story here that shines through, but more so in the execution. This is where the territory becomes a bit unfamiliar. You won't find your typical perverted, sex starved male warden like you're used to. Instead, we're given a female warden, brilliantly played by Barbara Steele (Nightmare Castle, Black Sunday). Caged Heat has a very different tone than you may be used to from other WIP films, as well. At times, it plays off tongue and cheek, like the sign in the prison cafeteria that says, "no food throwing". It's touches like this that don't make you feel as dirty for watching this film as you would other WIP's. Don't get me wrong, it's less sleazy, but that doesn't excuse it from all sleaziness. It's tough to watch the scene in which the prison doctor molests a drugged up inmate only to take Polaroid's of his conquest for a truly disturbing finale.

Caged Heat is presented Full Frame, which is probably pretty close to its original ratio. It doesn't appear as if we are really missing much, if any information. Colors are sharp and stable, and there is minimal print damage. Not much in the way of scratches, however, speckles and slight grain appear now and then. Not too much to complain about concerning the image, considering the films budgetarty restrictions. Unfortunately Caged Heat's sound is another story.

Caged Heat's mono soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired. For starters, dialogue appears to go in and out of sync at times giving the impression of a poor dub job. Sound varies from slightly muffled, to screeching at louder volumes, especially in the echoing prison. I found myself having to manually adjust the volume during the film, not good at all.

Extras are quite impressive for a budget title like this one. We're given 4 trailers of other titles in the Roger Corman Collection, including; Candy Stripe Nurses (I can't wait to grab this one), Big Bad Momma 2 (with Angie Dickenson), Big DollHouse, Crazy Mama, and also a trailer for Caged Heat. The trailers are in great shape all things considered, with Candy Stripe Nurses suffering the most with multiple scratches, specs, and grain. All are still acceptable, nonetheless. We also get a few brief bios and a short interview with Roger Corman conducted by Leonard Maltin.

The price point is really going to help a title like this. I managed to grab it for 8 bucks and change shipped. Caged Heat has never looked this good, but with the magic of DVD and remastering, it could have looked a lot better. I don't understand why the new entries in the Roger Corman Collection are full frame. They've already released a few of their catalog titles widescreen, and then dropped the ball by releasing all the rest full frame. I'm not sure if the sound problem was inherent in the original elements or what, but it's pretty bad and would have benefited from a little work. I guess that's gonna their excuse, you get what you pay for, but it could also have been much worse. The good points definitely outweigh the bad, and if you can grab Caged Heat for under 10 bucks, go right ahead, and never look back.