Lifting rudimentary plot points from both Don Edmonds’ notorious ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974) and Tinto Brass’ upscale SALON KITTY (1975), two of the better-known examples of Naziploitation, Sergio Garrone’s SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP (1976) was one of the primary titles that helped set off the Video Nasties furor in the U.K during the ’80s. Thanks to this infamy, it became one of the most recognized titles in this dubious and short-lived facet of Italian exploitation cinema, which also included similarly sordid entries such as Cesare Canevari’s THE GESTAPO’S LAST ORGY (1976) and Luigi Batzella’s THE BEAST IN HEAT (a.k.a. SS HELL CAMP, 1977), both of which also landed on the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) list in the U.K. That being said, with its occasionally moody lighting, fits of gritty realism and nasty pulp violenza, Garrone does produce some several strikingly explicit visuals, which are greatly enhanced on 88 Films’ recent 4K overhaul.
Shot back-to-back with Garrone’s follow-up SS CAMP 5 – WOMEN’S HELL (1976), a far more distressful picture which includes much of this film’s cast and crew members, SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP also opens on a disturbing note with SS officers meting out electroshock torture on a pair of trussed-up women all in the name of the German Empire. Amid this experiment camp led by Colonel Kleiben (Giorgio Cerioni), women are forced to participate in various medical tests or are ordered to “raise the moral” of the soldiers in the adjoining brothel. When Helmut (Mircha Carven), one of the new enlistees from the frontlines, falls in love with one of the female prisoners (THE CHILDREN OF VIOLENT ROME’s [1975] Paola Corazzi), his actions eventually lead to an outrageous sub-plot, and by film’s end, it unexpectedly succeeds in being of the funniest examples in the entire Italian exploitation film canon, if largely by accident.
While SSELC lacks the visceral punch of other such films, much of it’s still suitably lurid, just like the dialogue (e.g., “You stink like a bunch of sheep!” – “This is just the beginning you puritanical, frigid bitch!” – “It’s all shit!” [etc]), and considering the sexploitation context, Garrone inserts the usual communal shower scene while many of the ‘experiments’ quickly manifest into softcore grope sessions. Not surprisingly, the periodical forays into brutality carry the most conviction with Dr. Renke (Patrizia Melega) and a cackling SS officer (Serafino Profumo) overseeing eardrum pressure tests and cold-soak research, while a quietly mortified Dr. Steiner (EVA MAN’s [1980] Attilio Dottesio) implements dodgy surgeries. In keeping with Garrone’s downbeat premise here, much of the characters’ psychological torment is well-refracted by Roberto Pregadio’s and Vassil Kojucharov’s ominous score (one of the film’s strongest assets), even as much of the stilted dialogue and frequent lapses into utter dramatic implausibility threaten to derail the entire picture.
Although banned in the U.K., Garrone’s film was readily available on VHS/Beta videocassettes in the U.S. and Canada thanks to Charles Band’s Wizard Video imprint. Released as SS EXPERIMENT in one of those snazzy, eye-catching big boxes, this was a popular rental (one video store in the west-end of Toronto rented this tape well over 400 times by the early ’90s!), which somehow never got caught up in Ontario’s very own censorship issues with the OFRB (Ontario Film Review Board). As part of Media Blasters’ Exploitation Digital line, the film made the jump to DVD in 2005, which showcased a fine-looking presentation of the film. Although dated by today’s standards, this was a very welcome upgrade for the time, which also included a brief interview with Garrone (9m44s) and the film’s spoiler-laden trailer (3m). Ten years later, it surprisingly turned up on U.K. Blu-ray thanks to 88 Films and their popular Italian Collection line, which this time included both English and Italian audio options in LPCM 2.0 mono (the latter with optional English subtitles), the film’s Italian opening and closing credits, and trailers for some of 88 Films’ other product.
Jumping ahead another ten years, 88 Films decided to revisit this tawdry little flick yet again with their new 4KUHD/BD combo, which is hands down the best it has ever looked. Featuring a “brand new 4K remaster from the original negatives,” 88 Films’ new UHD (which also includes HDR-10 Dolby Vision [!]) is quite exceptional providing superb detail and a more pronounced colour palette, which also retains the necessary deep blacks and shadowy detail of Maurizio Centini’s better-than-average photography. 88 Films’ new restoration far surpasses any release that came before it. There is also nothing to complain about the film’s audio as well, which once again features both English and Italian audio in LPCM mono. While it’s always nice to have both audio options, it’s hard to resist the film’s more familiar English-language option, which includes several prominent voice talent artists such as Larry Dolgin, Carolyn De Fonseca, and a suitably over-the-top Robert Spafford filling in for Serafino Profumo.
Following their virtually bare bones BD from 2015, the folks at 88 Films have redoubled their efforts for this UHD, which includes a nice selection of special features beginning with a comprehensive audio commentary with Italian cinema gurus Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni Cobretti. In this well-researched track, they discuss the specific mood and tones of this sub-genre and explore the “influences and meanings” tied to it. While many of these films attempted to give audiences “something strong” when Italian cinema saw a “loosening” of censorship, both men agree that many of them are “tacky” and badly made, which were ultimately harmless in their “corrupting power.” They also go over Garrone’s stop-and-start career beginning with his string of westerns, his numerous back-to-back productions and the very different career path of his brother, actor Riccardo Garrone. Other topics discussed include extensive information on most of the cast members, the theatrical history of these films in Italy, the obvious controversies, and much more in this extensive deep-dive analysis.
Ercolani also returns to direct a quartet of featurettes beginning with Sadistically Yours, Sergio G. (30m24s), an on-camera interview with the director who discusses the productivity of Italian cinema during the ’70s, the always changing market, and its eventually demise (“We were not able to profit from our inventions.”). Needless to say, he also has plenty to say about the film in question including its origins, his research into the project, the film’s many compromises, and much more. In SSadist Sound (28m26s), Four Flies Records’ CEO Pierpaolo De Sanctis gives a fantastically detailed history on the “underestimated” Roberto Pregadio who worked “almost exclusively for lowbrow, cheap productions.” He also discusses Pregadio’s time on the long-running television show LA CORRIDA (1968 – 1977) where he was the orchestra conductor, his love of jazz, and his collaboration with director Silvio Amadio. Although De Sanctis believes his score for said film is merely “serviceable”, he does appreciate co-composer Kojucharov’s “baroque approach” to the material. In The Alabiso Dynasty(25m52s), editor Eugenio Alabiso talks warmly about all of his brothers and their involvement in the film business beginning Salvatore who was the oldest and “born to make films” whose eventual breakthrough came with several early westerns. Eugenio on the other hand entered the industry “by luck” via his other brother Daniele, another talented editor who showed him the ropes, whereas Mario was a film producer who “over-estimated his own skills,” and put together several “sleazy and gory things” including both of Garrone’s death camp films, and a pair of southern plantation pictures that fell far short of Richard Fleischer’s MANDINGO (1975). Lastly, DOP Maurizio Centini sheds light on his career in Framing Exploitation (11m42s) who got his start working at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, his apprenticeship with fellow DOP Ennio Guarnieri, his “formative experience” working with director Carmelo Bene, and his extensive collaborations with Elo Pannaccio and Alberto Cavallone, two of the more iconoclastic exploitation film directors working in Italy at the time. Other extras include the aforementioned Italian opening and closing titles (2m50s), the film’s trailer (3m), which includes music cribbed from Kojucharov’s score for Luigi Batzella’s THE DEVIL’S WEDDING NIGHT (1973), and an 11-page liner notes booklet featuring a new essay by Tim Murray.
In the end, Sergio Garrone’s SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP shall forever remain more popular for its past controversy, and despite a beautiful 4K restoration and a wealth of first-rate special features, 88 Films’ new disc is probably only of interest to more resolute fans of Italian exploitation cinema. Order directly from 88 Films or DiabolikDVD.
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