Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Michael_Elliott Hellhole (1985) ** (out of 4) Susan (Judy Landers) witnesses her mom murdered due to her having some papers, which could lead her boss to prison. The young woman takes off running and the killer believes he has finished her off but she survives and in order to cover up the crime she is sent to a mental hospital. Once inside the hospital Susan realizes that the evil Dr. Fletcher (Mary Woronov) is doing bizarre experiments on the women.Pierre De Moro made three films in his short career and this here was his final credit. Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff wanted to make a WIP movie and the end result is something that isn't nearly as raw as the Jess Franco films of the 1970s like BARBED WIRE DOLLS and ILSA: THE WICKED WARDEN but at the same time it's a tad bit sleazier than the majority of the American films from the genre.As you'd expect, when one makes a WIP movies there's a checklist that the screenwriter goes down. This includes an innocent hot woman. There's also the nudity. There are the drugs. There are the lesbian scenes as well as the lovely shower scenes. There's also the butch-type warden/leader doing the bad experiments. There's also the sweet guy who tries to save the innocent woman. All of that stuff is included here and for the most part it's mildly entertaining as long as you're not expecting an Orson Welles type of film.The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this, although I found Landers to be a bit too bland in the lead. Woronov is certainly the best thing about the picture but there's plenty of nice eye-candy as well. The biggest problem with HELLHOLE is the fact that it runs way too long at 95-minutes. The film certainly could have used some editing and the "plot" tries to do way too many things.

Coventry Maybe the golden years of sleazy & campy "Women in Prison" were long history by then already; maybe it didn't get properly promoted or announced in trailers (like "Reform School Girls", for example) or maybe it's just not good enough to compete with other & more successful films with a similar theme, but "Hell Hole" is a totally anonymous & overlooked 80's exploitation flick that only a handful of genre fanatics have heard of. The obscure status of this film honestly surprises me, as it has a fairly interesting cast (including Ray Sharkey, Judy Landers, Mary "Eating Raoul" Woronov and even Robert "Maniac Cop" Z'Dar) and a plot outline that certainly appeals to fans of rancid exploitation. Landers stars as a twenty-something and supposedly sexy young woman who witnesses her mother getting killed by cheesy and unconvincing killer Sharkey, because he's looking for "papers" that apparently are very important to him as well as to the people who hired him to kill the woman and to get rid of any other possible witnesses. Just what exactly are these papers? Damned if I know… Throughout the entire movie, the value and importance of these papers is continuously emphasized, yet not one character ever reveals anything about their content. Anyway, Sharkey fails to get rid of Landers properly, but instead she falls down a construction site and suffers from amnesia. She's brought to a sanatorium where a she faces a whole new series of issues, like sadistic wardens, lesbian and power-mad inmates and – of course – the female head doctor who submits patients to grotesque lobotomy experiments. If all that isn't enough, Sharkey shows up in the clinic as well (as a fake doctor) and uses his charms on other patients to get rid of Susan. "Hollhole" is a crazy, incompetent and overall ridiculous film. The screenplay doesn't make any sense and seriously lacks coherence as well as basic logic. There seem to be very few wardens and security personnel in the clinic. Most of the time, the patients – who are supposed to be dangerous and severely unstable – are left completely unsupervised and whenever a riot or cat-fight breaks out, it literally takes several minutes before someone in a white coat shows up. Dr. Fletcher's experiments in the basement of the asylum are quite stupid & pointless, and don't expect to see much gore or sadistic images here, neither. Admittedly there's a fair amount of sleaze and female nudity to enjoy in "Hellhole", but the same girls exclusively provide it over and over again. In case you're hoping to catch a glimpse at Judy Landers voluptuous curves, don't hold your breath… Apparently, her contracted stated that she could keep a robe on at all times. The last half hour of this movie is indescribably retarded and boring at the same time, which certainly isn't the best combination. It's fun to watch Robert Z'Dar playing a crazed sanatorium warden, but he as well as Mary Woronov are given way too few screen time. Only recommended in case you're really, really bored …. Or in case you feel the urge to check out every single variant of Women in Prison movies that ever got released.

megatone230 I remember first seeing this exploitation gem on HBO in the mid 80's, while spending the night at a friends house during 8th grade. It reminded me of a cheaper, dirtier Reform School Girls.Mary Woronov as the deliciously evil, Dr. Fletcher has some great moments. I especially love when she blows the state inspectors a kiss goodbye while they are leaving the hospital... (after nearly discovering her clandestine, underground chamber of horrors, known simply and ominously as Hell Hole.Lots of the actors look like rejects from a lame porno movie, and deliver their lines accordingly. One will find themselves alternately rolling their eyes and laughing their butts off while watching this.The movie also has one of those great, cheesy synthesizer soundtracks to add to the fun. If you enjoy watching a movie just to see how bad it is, filled with senseless violence, drugs and lesbian sex, then watch Hellhole.

BaronBl00d Judy Landers plays Susan. She jumps out of the shower, puts a pink aerobics outfit on, walks downstairs to seeing her mother strangled to death by Ray Sharkey(playing a killer named Silk). She runs out of house and into a construction site, meets up with Sharkey and falls. The fall doesn't kill her but gives her amnesia, so with some strings pulled by the man behind Silk's deeds - Susan is put into a sanatorium till she recovers her memory. Unfortunately for Susan, she is admitted to a mental institution run by Dr. Fletcher - the sultry Mary Woronov - who enjoys being sado-masochistic and experimenting on patients in a basement called Hellhole. The hospital is like no other. Most of the wards are playboy playmate caliber-looking girls. All of them disrobe quite freely. In fact this film has a lot of nudity in it with a cat-fight in the showers and a mud bath as standouts...anyway,...ah the mind wanders...Susan is being stalked by the man that killed her mother all the while learning about the atrocities committed by Dr. Fletcher. I found this film somewhat interesting for a number of reasons. It is outwardly a sleazy picture in many ways. It has a spin on the women-in-chains motif. Nudity and shock effects override storyline through much of it. The acting ranges from weird and bizarre(Sharkey) to competent(Richard Cox as the hero) to camp(Mary Woronov doing her best Dyanne Thorne impersonation) to less than credible(Judy Landers((but hey who cares right?))). There are a number of cool cameos by genre notables from the past. Terry Moore from Mighty Joe Young fame has a nice role, Marjoe Gortner has an intriguing yet thin role as a doctor in league with Woronov, and the aforementioned Dyanne Thorne has a brief cameo as a patient that thinks she is an actress. Director Pierre De Moro even has flashes of talent here and there. The opening sequence is somewhat chilling and the settings of Hellhole are very well-utilized in terms of atmosphere, lighting, etc... The ending is wholly predictable but somehow satisfying for a film of this ilk. But make no mistake, while outwardly a horror film, this is also a sexploitation film equally. Watch for Renee Vicary as Silk's girlfriend. Just lovely!