Human Experiments (1979) User Reviews

A somewhat tame woman in prison flick

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 3 October 2012]

Anyone who has waded through the infamous video nasty list will no doubt come to the conclusion that an alarming number of the films really have little to no shock content whatsoever. Human Experiments is a perfect example of this. It's really extremely difficult working out what exactly it was that the British censors objected to here. Maybe they just chucked every woman in prison flick onto the list irrespective of substance? Hard to say but there truly is no troubling content in this film. And that is a real shame because there isn't an awful lot in this film of any real interest. Its video nasty status is clearly its only real selling point so you may feel a little short changed with this one.

Its story has a female country and western singer wrongly accused of slaughtering a family and sent to a correctional facility where she is subjected to experimental aversion therapy techniques.

It starts quite well but once we reach the prison things start to become really quite uneventful. For a woman in prison flick there is a very low level of sexploitation content. The 'human experiments' of the title are somewhat underwhelming to say the least. The main shock scene is certainly the part where the heroine is covered in insects and spiders. I personally found that somewhat disturbing so fair enough on that score. This scene comes late in the movie and it does have to be said that in the latter 20 minutes or so things do pick up a bit. Better late than never I suppose. It ends with a strange and senseless ending. In the final analysis, this isn't very good but it's offbeat enough to bring it up to the level of mediocre.

Results are less than spectacular.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 10 July 2010]

Bar-room singer Rachel Foster (Linda Haynes) is wrongly convicted of murder and winds up in a correctional facility where mad Dr. Kline (Geoffrey Lewis) is conducting experiments on the prisoners.

Considering its lurid title, promisingly perverse premise and 'video nasty' label, I was expecting (or should that be 'hoping for') Human Experiments to be a sleazy slice of 'women in prison' depravity in the vein of fellow 'nasties' Women Behind Bars or Love Camp 7; instead, it turned out to be an extremely tame addition to the WIP genre, offering very little in the way of true deviancy, but plenty of the dull kind of drama that typifies your average made for TV movie of the era (unsurprisingy, writer/director Gregory Goodell would go on to make plenty of these!).

Apart from the typically indelicate induction routine suffered by all new prisoners in exploitation movie jails (stripped naked, showered and given the once over by a tough nurse), and a brief (non-explicit) masturbation scene, nothing particularly sexy or sordid happens in this prison, with a distinct lack of hot lesbian inmates, despicable male guards, or communal bathing. Dr. Kline's experiments also prove to be extremely disappointing: there's no electrodes on the nipples or surgery without anaesthetic, but rather a series of psychologically traumatising episodes designed to reduce the prisoner to a childlike state, after which they are to be rebuilt as model citizens.

If you don't like creepy crawlies, then the scene where Haynes is covered in cockroaches, spiders and other assorted bugs might prove cringe-worthy, and trash fans should find the delightfully silly (and rather unlikely) ending to be amusing, but in all honesty, this is one of the least offensive 'video nasties' on the entire list and only worth watching if you're intent on seeing all of the films vilified by the BBFC during the 80s.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for a fun cameo from Aldo Ray as a lecherous bar-owner, and the brief full-frontal nudity from Ms. Haynes.

Could have been a good movie!

[Greensleeves · 3/10 · 13 August 2003]

****Possible Spoilers****

This is a step up from this producers previous efforts and although this film begins well it doesn't follow through. Linda Haynes is excellent as a singer who travels from town to town playing one night gigs as a singer/songwriter. She rebuffs advances from the local bar-owner and he responds by paying her short of the money agreed. As his brother is the town sheriff she finds she is in no position to argue. Driving away the next day she swerves to avoid someone who runs out in front of her car - although it would have helped if she had not been trying to write sheet music while driving! She gets out of the car and looks for the casualty but can't see anyone so she wanders up to a nearby house to use the phone and this is where she gets into really big trouble because she walks into the middle of a massacre. Up until now the film has been suspenseful and the characters interesting but after a quick voice over narration we find Linda committed to life imprisonment in a women's prison. This is where credibility and interest end however as the prison is presided over by a Warden and Psycho - psychiatrist who are developing new methods of rehabilitation by driving inmates out of their mind and reverting them back to their childhood so they can be brought up as nice, decent people instead of criminals. The whole scenario then becomes ludicrous and unbelievable and more's the pity after such a good beginning. There are a couple of scenes which will shock you but not in a bloody or violent way and both are in the first part of the movie. You may find the scenes with the bugs unpleasant in the second half of the film although the photography is so dark it's difficult to see them properly anyway. Linda Haynes is memorable in this role, she is convincing mainly because as a singer she is only average and she doesn't have the prettiest looks which is exactly what this role demands. Her acting is believable and she does have a beautiful body which the film makers exploit in a couple of scenes although the movie veers towards their previous hardcore efforts with an unnecessary (but thankfully curtailed) masturbation scene.

Not great perhaps, but neither boring nor "nasty"

[lazarillo · 5 April 2009]

This movie is most famous for having been banned in Britain during the "video nasty" scare of the early 80's. I can only suppose the idiots mistook it for a Nazi death camp exploitation flick, like the similarly titled "S.S. Experiment Camp", because it's really not all that shocking or offensive. 70's actress Linda Haynes plays a country singer. Haynes was very cute and sexy, but she was a TERRIBLE singer, which might explain why her character only gets booked by horny hicks at honky-tonk bars out in the middle of nowhere. While driving back from one of these gigs, her car breaks down. She goes to a farmhouse to use the phone, only to discover that a pre-teen boy living there has slaughtered his entire family with a shotgun. She shoots the homicidal tyke in self-defense and ends up being blamed for all the murders.

The movie for awhile turns into a rural WIP movie like "Jackson County Jail"--there is a "de-lousing" and shower scene, some aborted lesbianism, and a brief cat fight--but not as much as usual in a WIP film (gratefully, perhaps since all the other prisoners are generally unattractive). But this particular prison also has a bent psychiatric doctor played by Geoffrey Lewis (side-kick to Clint Eastwood and the father of Juliette Lewis). He has some crackpot therapy where he breaks the worst offenders down to the level of infants, where they're clutching teddy bears and sucking their thumbs, and then he tries to "rebuild" them as respectable citizens. So far, however, all his "experiments" have gone horribly awry.

The scenes of the prison authorities breaking the Hayne's characters will are pretty effective--the crackpot shrink is also a frustrated entomologist, so at one point they pour disgusting insects all over her, and they do other stuff like stage mock executions and try to convince her she's going insane. None of this rises much above the level of a TV movie though, and it hardly justifies this movie's "nasty" status. The image of grown women reduced to infantilism is kind of disturbing, but if this were a Jess Franco or European WIP film, they probably would have tried to make this sexy somehow, which would have been far more disturbing.

The ending is REALLY stupid, but I didn't find this movie boring generally speaking. And it certainly didn't deserve the "nasty" treatment it got from the British censors.

Tame nasty

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 8 June 2021]

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS (1979) is another one of those low budget American B-movies that somewhat randomly made the UK's "video nasties" list; a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. There's certainly nothing particularly explicit about the plot or any of the content here. The set-up is the usual women-in-prison story in which an innocent woman (Linda Haynes) finds herself set up by a corrupt justice system and sent to a women's prison presided over by the sinister Geoffrey Lewis, an armchair expert in human psychology who enjoys conducting mind-control experiments on his inmates. It's a slow and scuzzy affair, packed with nudity but without much in the gore department; there's a scene of a woman being covered in insects but that's about as horrifying as it gets. Haynes gives it her all in the lead and Lewis typically impresses as the villain of the piece, but this is one of those films that just plods along aimlessly until the (twist) ending thankfully rolls.

Total crap, this 'film' has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 18 December 2004]

The things I sit through in the name of film reviewing so other people may not have to, Damn I'm a real masochist! This obscure piece of crap is a good case in point. It starts out with self employed singer Rachel Foster (Linda Hayes) driving along a desert road in the middle of nowhere, she drives past a sign that says 'Putnam County Elevation 4,250', she pulls up along side a bar and introduces herself to the owner Mat Tibbs (Aldo Ray). The next thing we see is Rachel singing (badly) and performing to a bunch of redneck looking guys in cowboy hats. After this less than thrilling opening, and after she gets ripped off by Tibbs, she's back on the road again. While distracted behind the wheel a girl (Theodora Tate) runs out in front of her car and Rachel hits her. She veers off the road and goes back to try and help her but Rachel can't see the girl as she has been thrown into some shrubbery by the roadside. Rachel notices a house and heads towards it in the hope of finding help. Rachel knocks the door but no one answers and since the door is open anyway she decides to just go in. Inside she discovers three members of the Lewis family, the Father (James O'Connell) his wife (Rebecca Bohanon) and their son (Timothy Coyle) brutally murdered by the fifth member Darell (Robert Porter). She fears for her life and arms herself with a shotgun from a nearby rack and proceeds to check the house. She finds Darell and in self defence shoots him which puts him in a coma from which his doctors say he will never regain consciousness. There goes her alibi. She runs from the house and is arrested by the local Sheriff (Jackie Coogan). In court Rachel doesn't have a leg to stand on and is found guilty of first degree murder. She is sentenced to life in the Gates Correctional Facility. The psychiatrist who works at the prison, Dr. Kline (Geoffery Lewis) takes an interest in Rachel and singles her out for some unusual forms of 'treatment'. Warden Webber (Mercedes Shirley) is a bit uneasy with Dr. Kline's methods but goes along with it and helps him cover any potential problems up from the outside authorities. Will I be able to stay awake to watch this crap to the end? Will Rachel be able to survive Dr. Kline's bizarre therapy? Personally speaking I didn't care in the slightest but someone out there might I suppose, does seem unlikely though. Co-produced and directed by Gregory Goodell I thought this film sucked. It has absolutely nothing to recommend it. It's exploitation elements are virtually non-existent, there's a brief masturbation scene, a very short shower scene and one or two extremely quick glimpses of female nudity but nowhere near enough for this type of film. The film also features a scene where a room fills up with live insects and bugs that crawl all over Rachel, there doesn't seem to be any reason for this but what the hell, to be fair it almost sparked my interest, hey I said almost! Maybe the filmmakers wanted to create a serious study of prison life from the perspective of a wrongly accused woman (Ha! right sure they did!), well if they did they failed miserably in this aspect of the film too. I'm not sure what the script by Richard Rothstein was aiming for, as I've already mentioned it works as neither exploitation or as a more serious thought provoking film. It just sucks all round. The ending doesn't make any sense either. The film appears to be shot in a real prison and for that reason it actually looks OK, acting isn't as bad as it perhaps could have been but it still ain't great. John Travoltas sister Ellen Travolta has a smallish role as an inmate Rachel befriends nicknamed 'Mover' so called because she gets things done, apparently anyway. The music is terrible as well, especially when Rachel 'sings' and there is another awful musical number when a band of talentless hacks perform at the prison to the inmates. I really don't know the type of film watching person who would get anything out of this lame excuse for a film, I certainly didn't. Recommended to insomniacs and masochists only, everyone else steer well clear!

Ridiculously bad - one of the most mind-numbingly boring movies ever made!

[The_Void · 1/10 · 15 October 2006]

I'd heard nothing but bad things about this film prior to seeing it, but yet I still went ahead and watched it purely because it was one of the films banned by the DPP back in the early eighties. Judging by the title, I was expecting this film to have been banned for scenes ghoulish experimentation, but it would seem more likely the DPP opted to take it out of circulation simply to spare film viewers from its inherent boredom. Apparently, Human Experiments is a 'women in prison' flick, but instead of ritual torture and nudity, all we have is a film where absolutely nothing at all happens. Human Experiments is by far one of the most tiresome movies I've ever had the displeasure of watching, and honestly; the only good thing I have to say about the film is that at least it only lasts about eighty minutes. They are eighty very long minutes, however, and unless you've decided to see everything on the Video Nasty list as I have, there is absolutely no reason to see this film. For once, I agree with the censors - this movie really shouldn't be viewed by anyone!

Should Have Been Better

[deenariley-49870 · 5/10 · 8 September 2019]

There are a lot of good ideas in Human Experiments and the first 15/20 minutes are notably gripping. While the execution leaves a little to be desired most of the time, Linda Haynes makes for a watchable protagonist and there are a few highlights such as a nasty scene where a blood=drenched Haynes is stick in a room where bugs fall from the ceiling and spiders come out of the air vents.

The rest of Human Experiments is mostly by the book and predicable with a colorful cast of characters right out of a Linda Blair TV movie. A big twist towards the end does add a little something special, but it's too little too late.

A Bit Bland

[laurieanngermann · 4/10 · 4 October 2021]

For those expecting wild and raunchy exploitation goodness, Human Experiments will come up short. It's nowhere near as memorable as other woman-in-prison films and it doesn't quite pack a punch in the horror/suspense department either.

Pretty absurd women-in-prison flick with a sprinkle of horror.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 15 August 2012]

Country music singer Rachel Foster is wrongfully accused for family mass murder.She ends up in a women's prison led by Warden and Dr.Kline.It seems that both of them are conducting bizarre psychological experiments on the inmates where they are mentally broken down and rebuilt with a totally new personality.Wonderfully hokey and very tame exploitation flick with fairly gruesome mass murder aftermath and a bit of graphic nudity.The ending is pretty stupid and there is mildly infamous scene of Linda Haynes covered in insects which probably was the main reason of putting "Human Experiments" on video nasties list.7 country singers out of 10.I must say that I enjoyed this absurd exploitation classick.Am I the only one?

Lame 'women-in-prison' movie...

[gorepump · 3/10 · 30 November 2016]

Going into this, I guess I was expecting "Human Experiments" to be a little more of a 'sleazy' WIP exploiter, but it turned out to be more along the lines of a standard horror/thriller flick. Could've still been fine but unfortunately it wasn't...

Passing through a hick sh*thole town, a struggling singer winds up in a car wreck and, while searching for a phone to call for help, comes across the grisly remains of a murdered family that she is subsequently blamed for and sentenced to life. While locked away in a prison/loony bin, she comes to find that some suspicious sh*t is going on with the resident head-shrinker who happens to be conducting experiments on the female inmates' psyches as a way to rehabilitate/brainwash them.

There's really nothing "graphic" or interesting to speak of as to this movie. It's slow, shoddily written, contains a few off-screen deaths and an extremely anticlimactic ending. Nudity and sexual material is also drastically minimal. In all, "Human Experiments" seemed like a film with a premise that those involved had no idea how to properly execute. It fails as a horror flick and DEFINITELY fails as a WIP movie. Check out "Ilsa" "Sadomania" or "Last Orgy of the Third Reich" instead.

More horror/exploitation reviews at http://swinesewage.blogspot.com/

Neat and different woman-in-jeopardy thriller

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 14 June 2018]

Struggling country singer Rachel Foster (an excellent and appealing performance by the lovely Linda Haynes) gets arrested on a trumped-up murder charge and sent to a harsh correctional facility where evil psychiatrist Dr. Hans R. Kline (well played with subtly sinister menace by Geoffrey Lewis) conducts mind-altering experiments on the inmates.

Director Gregory Goodell relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, grounds the absorbing premise in a plausibly sordid everyday reality, adroitly crafts a low-key, yet creepy, sleazy, and oppressive atmosphere, takes a cool and surprising detour into grim horror territory in the last third, and delivers a satisfying smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity. Haynes makes for a strong and sympathetic damsel in distress. Moreover, there are sturdy supporting contributions from Ellen Travolta as the compassionate Mover, Lurene Tuttle as crazy old bat Granny, Mercedes Shirley as the ineffectual Warden Weber, Marie O'Henry as the sassy Tanya, and Cherie Franklin as a hard-nosed guard. Popping up in small, yet memorable roles are Aldo Ray as lecherous bar owner Mat Tibbs, Jackie Coogan as the corrupt Sheriff Tibbs, and Bobby Porter as deadly psycho kid Derril Willis. Richard Rothstein's compact script offers a nice mix of horror and exploitation elements. The slick cinematography by Joao Fernandes gives this picture a pleasing polished look. Mark Bucci's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. Well worth a watch.

Human Experiments - OUTRAGOUS!!! as a Video Nasty

[TVM-Liveforever · 7/10 · 18 March 2015]

Rachel Foster is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of an entire family, once in prison however she is subjected to mind altering experiments at the hands of the prison psychiatrist with results.

A good women in prison movie with some strong points. The story is nothing special but is handled well, and has enough movement within the story to hold interest. Performances are all pretty good, Linda Haynes in the lead as Rachel gives a very strong portrayal of the innocent prisoner, Aldo Ray & Geoffrey Lewis are also strong in their roles. There are also some very good sequences within the film including, the scene where Rachel is losing her mind and a hoard of insects are coming in to her cell and she then crawls her way through the ducting it's a strong and commanding scene. The main problem with the film though is it's pace, although the story is OK the pace of the film is sometimes so slow it feels it's taking a age to develop and the audience may start to drift off.

This is not a violent or gruesome film, there is a scene at the beginning where you see a family who have been shot and later in the film you see a woman hanging, these are the two most violent things in the film and are both aftermath shots, so how this relatively mild W.I.P. movie ever got caught up the Video Nasty scare here in the UK really is shocking and it is something it most certainly didn't deserve. If you can see this pretty rare film give it a watch it isn't bad.

Video nasty checklist

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 19 September 2021]

Rachel Foster (Linda Haynes) is a country singer making her way through the United States who gets caught in the clutches of bar owner Mat Tibbs (Aldo Ray, paging Bill Van Ryn). As she hurries to escape, she wrecks her car and walks into a murder scene that she gets blamed for by Tibbs' brother, the town's sherriff (Jackie Coogan).

If this was any other decade than the 70s, this would be the story of her escape. But nope, the 70s were nothing if not relentlessly downbeat. And scummy. Which is kind of what you expect when a movie ends up being a section 2 video nasty. Geoffrey Lewis excels at playing Dr. Kline, the villain of all the many villains in this film.

Director Gregory Goodell moved on to make TV movies after this which makes perfect sense. Sadly, Haynes quit acting and didn't resurface until Quentin Tarantino started looking for her.

Mildly Entertaining But Rather Tame

[Michael_Elliott · 1 September 2018]

Human Experiments (1979)

** (out of 4)

Rachel Foster (Linda Haynes) is a musician who finds herself performing in a small rundown town. As she's trying to leave the next murder she stumbles across a crime scene where she's arrested for murder and sentenced to prison. Not only does she have to struggle with being innocent in a dirty prison but soon she realizes that the prison doctor (Geoffrey Lewis) is doing bizarre experiments on people.

If you go through the infamous "Video Nasties" list then you'll probably notice a handful of titles that are rather lame and you'll be asking yourself why they're on the list. I've yet to watch everything on the list but I must say the fact that HUMAN EXPERIMENTS is on there is somewhat of a joke. This is basically a women-in-prison drama that turns into a mild horror film at the end but both elements are done in a rather tame way so the fact that this film made this list is rather questionable.

The women-in-prison and mad scientist sub-genres weren't anything new in 1979 and sadly this film doesn't offer anything fresh to it. I will say that the film is a disappointment if you're expecting a bunch of sleaze, torture and gore but once you get past that you'll see that the film is mildly entertaining for what it is. In all honesty, this here is more drama than anything as for the majority of the running time we're watching the lead character adjust to her new life, trying to make friends and of course going through some familiar prison drama.

The horror elements basically start during the final portion of the film as we see them done to Rachel and we see the impact that they have on her. This sequence is decent for what it is but there's no question that it's rather tame considering some of the other films in this genre. I wouldn't say Haynes gave a wonderful performance here but it was at least good enough to hold your attention throughout the picture. It was funny seeing Lewis in a film like this and especially since he was making his way with Clint Eastwood during this era.

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS is well-made for the most part and it kept me entertained while I was watching it but at the same time the movie is mainly remembered for being on the Video Nasties list.

Genre blending

[haildevilman · 4/10 · 27 May 2012]

This is basically a Woman in prison flick mixed with a Mad Scientist flick. Call it a WIPWMS flick then.

A country singer (The lovely Linda Haynes) meets a child that just killed his family. So she shoots him in self-defense. However the sheriff (Jackie Coogan???) Frames her and sends her to prison.

They do it differently in this prison. The inmates are nothing more that fodder for a bunch of twisted experiments. Geoff Lewis hams it up as the local Dr. Frankenstein wannabe. And John Travolta's sis Ellen also appears.

Ms. Haynes was not afraid to do nudity but why they dubbed a singing voice I'll never understand. Especially since the voice was crap.

The best scenes were the nightmare/hallucinations becoming reality. You have to wait for 2/3 of the film to get to it though. And I wonder how many punk clubs tried to book Satan and the Lucifers after seeing this. Otherwise....it's all been done better.

Watch for Aldo Ray as a slimy barman in an early scene.

INHUMAN EXPERIMENT5

[mmthos · 4/10 · 10 July 2020]

A women's prison doctor with a thing for creepy crawlies torments an innocent inmate. The main actors here all had careers beyond grindhouse, so the acting is better than most. I found the script unclear at points, and pointlessly interrupted three times by musical numbers, twice to showcase the leading lady's vocal skills--not bad, but out of place here--and somebody must have owed something to the band that plays a gratuitous concert for the ladies, apropos of nothing.. For a women's prison movie they certainly didn't take much advantage of the obvious opportunities for sexploitation. Prisoners are stripped, of course, but they all abide by the prohibition of physical interaction as barked to them by the matron over the loudspeaker. And it's even coitus interruptus alone as, just as our gal's about to stick her hand in her panties, it's lights on for a surprise rollcall. Talk about torture by deprivation! Add up the plus and minuses and you come up with something middling.

Not your typical women-in-prison movie

[gregorycanfield · 4/10 · 1 May 2022]

My heading is not intended as a compliment. This is a pretty bad movie. A country singer is framed for murder, and sentenced to life in prison. What follows is pretty much a letdown, if you're expecting the obvious things. There is nudity, but not enough. Linda Haynes is not a good actress (she can't even scream effectively), but she is sexy. Very, very sexy! Too bad that she wasn't a better actress, and this wasn't a better movie. It might have been possible to make a good movie here, but they blew it. The most memorable scene, for me, comes before any of the so-called horror. Linda is in a hotel room, wearing only a bra. Next, she's outside, wearing a flimsy top, and the bra is missing! I loved it! Now that I think about it, maybe I should have rated the movie a little higher....

Decent women-in-prison flick with a twist

[udar55 · 6/10 · 7 August 2009]

Country singer Rachel Foster (Linda Haynes) is undoubtedly the unluckiest person alive as she stumbles upon a young kid who has just slaughtered his family. She shoots the kid (he goes into a coma), resulting in a life sentence after the crooked Sheriff pins all the murders on her. But this is no ordinary prison as the Warden (Mercedes Shirley) and Dr. Kline (Geoffrey Lewis) are conducting bizarre behavioral experiments on their charges. My Aldo Ray mini-marathon continues with this sleazy exploitation flick. Ray pops up in the first 15 minutes as a lecherous bar owner who tries to get it on with our lead. There are some memorable bits in this and, on a whole, it is a pretty solid WIP entry with a few nice twists. Lewis does a great job as the creepy doctor and their is a nice supporting role from Ellen Travolta. Haynes is an attractive lead and isn't afraid to deliver the genre required nudity. The only odd thing is the filmmakers having her sing to terrible vocals supplied by someone else. The film's oddity highlight though is the Warden booking the band Satan & The Lucifers to perform for her inmates. Director Gregory Goodell excels in the film's last third where Foster's nightmares come to life to haunt her. Sadly, he went on to Lifetime movies exclusively after this.

The Arch Angels????

[tvsgael2-2 · 10/10 · 13 August 2007]

The most gnawing thing about this movie is the incredible rock band that plays for the inmates, yet they seem to have never existed beyond the movie. When trying to track the band members, one only gets dead ends, yet they sound like a fusion of the old Journey with a little r& b thrown in. Lounge act they are not, and had to have worked at getting this gig together for the movie. Maybe when this DVD comes out, we will finally get the lowdown on who they were, and if they ever did produce an album. This isn't a spoiler, it's a teaser. There is a wealth of character actor talent here that is both campy and serious in dialog. Linda Haynes is the perfect victim who doesn't give up until the very end, which is quite interesting and ties into the beginning in a bizarre way.

Not as much fun as this viewer would have wished.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 7 October 2018]

Under-rated 70s actress Linda Haynes ("Coffy", "Rolling Thunder") gets top billing in this so-so W.I.P. (Women In Prison, for those not in the know) exploitation-thriller. She's lovely and appealing, and is a sympathetic character in this tale of an aspiring young singer-songwriter who ends up jailed for multiple murders (due to largely circumstantial evidence). The place she gets sent to is one of those typical hellholes common to cinema, and there the nefarious prison shrink (top character actor Geoffrey Lewis, "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"), who's in cahoots with the warden (Mercedes Shirley), conducts bizarre "rehabilitation" experiments.

"Human Experiments" is stacked with cliches / expectations of the genre, such as the standard leering redneck types (like the hotel & saloon owner Aldo Ray ("Pat & Mike")), the appreciated birthday-suit shots, lesbianism, a catfight, and the overwhelmingly seedy environments. It's not exactly hard to feel bad for Rachel and disgusted with the slimy Dr. Kline. There is a little bit of gore, as well, and director Gregory Goodell capitalizes on peoples' aversion to insects and arachnids by inundating poor Ms. Haynes with a variety of creepy-crawlies. She gets put through the ringer, which might account for "Human Experiments" ending up on the notorious "Video Nasties" list.

Overall, the movie is reasonably entertaining, although this viewer would be lying if he said that very much of interest ever happens. At least the evil shrink Dr. Kline provides a fresh spin on a genre that had flourished throughout the 1970s. The ending provides some satisfaction, but is not really well-thought-out.

The better-than-average cast does help, complete with appearances by the likes of Ellen Travolta (Johns' older sister), Jackie Coogan ('The Addams Family'), Lurene Tuttle ("Psycho"), Darlene Craviotto ("I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"), and Marie O'Henry ("Three the Hard Way").

"Human Experiments" is absurd, amusing, and in general a hoot, if too tame for hardcore exploitation lovers.

Six out of 10.

Bad Movie - Banned in the U.K.

[horrorbargainbin · 19 November 2002]

I like hardcore horror, but this banned film (sometimes marketed as a women in prison movie) is not very interesting and may be Scientologist propaganda.

Shocker scenes include the discovery of a massacred family and the full frontal nude spraying of inmates. Otherwise I found little of interest other than a scene involving the bloody and semi-topless lead covered in real live bugs, many of which were huge and bizarre.

Is the main character being psychologically tormented by an evil doctor or is she seeing things that are not there? I didn't really care, but it's all resolved at the end. Quite a far fetched and annoying end at that.