Virgins from Hell

After their parents are killed by crime boss Tiger, two sisters team up with an all-girl bike gang and go in search of revenge. (Perhaps oddly for an otherwise ruthless figure Tiger makes several seemingly reasonable offers for the family's conveniently located mansion house, only resorting to murder when it becomes clear they will not sell the their family home for generations at any price.)

Posing as hostesses, some of the girls infiltrate Tiger's organisation through one of his clubs, which they destroy before mounting an all-out assault on his new base. It turns out to be a trap, however, with Tiger needing guinea pigs for the super-powerful aphrodisiac that his captive scientist has just developed. Captured and subjected to all manner of experiments, tortures and indignities, can the girls triumph over the odds?

This latest Indonesian export to be brought to DVD courtesy of Mondo Macabro follows the pattern established by previous Indonesian releases, such as Lady Terminator and Dangerous Seductress, shamelessly plundering from Hollywood but also adding a distinct local flavour. Thus, for instance, in terms of the women in prison aspect of the film (the girl gang, biker and superspy genres are other obvious reference points) the familiar figure of the sadistic lesbian warden is here represented in the form of Dutch, her name and ethnicity seemingly alluding to the colonial past.

Technically Virgins from Hell isn't that great; half the time the firearms don't have magazines in them while a low-fi mongoose and girl in rolling sack sequence is likely to distress more delicate sensibilities. But you can see that the filmmakers were trying to do something more from the opening shot, a view from above pan across a crowded casino floor that wouldn't be too out of place in, say, a Scorsese gangster epic. Likewise, what money there was for the production has been put on the screen, the colourful costumes – red and blue for the goons, the whole gamut for the girls hot pants and go-go boots – production design and action packed approach combining to give a joyously over the top, comic book feel.

The treatment given Virgins from Hell on this region-free NTSC format DVD from Mondo Macabro is up to the company's usual high standards, making the film look and sound about as good as can be expected given its low budget origins and the likely (mal)treatment it has been received over the years, with a nice anamorphic widescreen transfer, strong colours and a decent English-language dub track (the experience enhanced by the way every punch and kick seems to have that same car door slamming effect and some inappropriate library music selections, like the Moody Blues' Nights in White Satin playing over a drug assisted rape scene).

The first disc of the set also includes an informative essay on the background to the film and the WIP genre from Pete Tombs; the original trailer for the film; and the now-traditional Mondo Macabro trailer reel, now updated to include the Tarkan vs the Vikings and The Deathless Devil Turkish Pop Cinema double bill.

The second disc is where the bulk of the extras reside, however, with the old Mondo Macabro documentary on Indonesian exploitation cinema, running just short of 25 minutes, and a 70 minute compilation of trailers, Destination Jakarta, drawn from the vaults of Rapi Films.

While it's likely that most of the target audience for the disc will already have the documentary via one of the previous Indonesian releases, its inclusion is entirely understandable and it continues to provide a good introduction to the subject, featuring interviews with some of the leading players in the scene, including Barry Prima, and Mystics in Bali director Tjut Djalil.

The trailers themselves,including the Warrior series, starring Prima as the titular comic book hero, Jaka Sembung; various war films pitting Indonesian heroes against Japanese and western colonial forces such as Blazing Battle and Daredevil Commandos; and actioners like the Chris Mitchum vehicle Final Score, are not only entertaining but also contribute to the viewer's understanding of the form as they showcase again and again how the country's filmmakers could successfully blended domestic and international influences, giving their films a unique – frequent gory and sadistic – flavour.