Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS 4K 1975 Ultra HD 2160p

Storyline
The scene is set from the start - Ilsa, chief warden of a Nazi concentration - is enjoying the pleasures of one of her male captives. He has the temerity to orgasm before she does, and is speedily hauled off by 2 of Ilsa's henchwomen for speedy castration. Shortly after, a lorry load of fresh female captives arrives. Ilsa informs them: "Do not be afraid, we are doctors." While this statement is true, the reality is that she wishes to use them in "medical experiments" to prove that women are as able to withstand pain as men, in fact better. This is in fact "proved" by flogging one of each to death at the same time, with the two henchwomen laying on with whips while stripped to the waist. After much more along the same lines, Ilsa's nemesis arrives - a blond, blue-eyed American who has been swept up in the death camps. He satisfies her, but weakened by lust for him, Ilsa fails to spot the inevitable prisoners revolt which reverses the table on the baddies. Ilsa is given the full, um, lash by the delectable Dianne Thorne - the bogus German action laid on with a trowel, magnificent breasts deployed at every available opportunity. The success of Ilsa begat a series of similarly themed knock offs by the one and only Jess Franco - the best of these, set in a dodgy South American prison - is Ilsa, Wicked Warden.

User Review

So, I watched one of the most famous Nazi exploitation films. The film is harsh and not erotic at all (as noted in many reviews).

In fact, the subject matter is more than harsh, because all of this really happened. Moreover, the torture was not carried out by one or two maniacs, but was ‘woven’ into the bureaucratic procedures of the Third Reich. This makes the film seem even more frightening and sinister.

I would also like to mention the cruelty. There is plenty of it in the film. Thanks to the well-chosen angles, it is not at all naturalistic. We do not see the “rivers of blood” that can be found in many modern films. The viewer understands what is happening to the victims, but does not see all the details.

The psychological component of the film is not developed at all—the emphasis is exclusively on the narrative. This is probably for the best.

Someone had to make a film about torture and medical experiments in the camps. As it happened, most of the films made were Nazi exploitation films. Ilsa is the most famous of them.

This is due to the sinister elaboration of Ilsa's character. A few sinister touches and Dianne Thorne's texture, which fits the image perfectly, did the trick.

The plot is, of course, superficial and unpretentious. The whole story takes place in a concentration camp where prisoners are tortured and experimented on. Everything is run by Frau Ilsa, who tries to resemble Cleopatra. However, the prisoners decide to strike back.

One can only wonder why no more or less psychologically tense, festival-worthy films have been made on the subject of medical experiments in concentration camps. There is, of course, an answer, and it goes far beyond the scope of this review.

As it happens, Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS has become one of the most memorable films on this subject. Despite the cruelty of the scenes, the film is clearly more respectful to the viewer than Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. It is amusing that the film is also referenced in real life. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the details of the scandal involving Max Mosley to understand how much the images of Ilsa have become part of the modern world.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (89.1 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by Actress Dyanne Thorne, Director Don Edmunds & Producer David F. Friedman, Moderated by Humorist Martin Lewis)
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by Film Historians Kat Ellinger & Evgueni Mlodik)

Info Subtitles