Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 13, 2018

Bill Milling's "Caged Fury" (1990) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory. The only bonus feature on the disc is a vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Ready to get away

In my favorite independent video store, which no longer exists, there was a section that gathered all kinds of odd films like Bill Milling’s Caged Fury. Basically, it was the odd corner of the store where you could pick up many of those ‘smaller’ and ‘different’ films that the big boys like Blockbuster did not bother to stock. It had everything from lesser known naziploitation films like Alain Payet’s Hitler’s Last Train to trendy mind-benders like Greg Araki’s Nowhere to over-the-top low-budget action films like Andy Sidaris’ Hard Ticket to Hawaii. However, here you could also find genuine cult films like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo and The Holy Mountain as well as classics like Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou and Jean Jenet’s Un Chant d'Amour. I used to rent a lot of these films and I don’t remember ever being disappointed. Typically, the ‘bad’ titles were so bad that they were actually enormously entertaining, while the ‘serious’ ones were mostly great undeservedly ignored jewels of world cinema. Over the years I created a large catalog where I listed these films with some notes, and since the VHS era I have picked up many of them on DVD and Blu-ray for my library.

Milling’s Caged Fury is one of those bad films that is actually incredibly entertaining. It is something of a copycat that imitates a lot of the things that the different Ilsa films did and then mixes them up with the goofy action that Sidaris’ films promoted. Of course it is utterly ridiculous, but it has that special retro charm that makes the silliness look almost irresistibly attractive.

The plot is something that the mind of Quentin Tarantino very easily could have conceived (and believe it or not, in the film there is actually a character named Tony ‘Two A Day’ Tarentino). The young, beautiful and naive Kat Collins (Roxanna Michaels) arrives in Los Angeles to become a movie star but very quickly gets arrested while ‘auditioning’ for a sleazy ‘producer’ who works for a shady group that sells ‘white slaves’ to wealthy clients around the globe. She is then thrown in a secret prison where other girls like her are being kept and marketed to prospective buyers. Soon after, her older sister Tracy (Elena Sahagun) goes looking for her, and after she makes the same mistakes ends up being arrested and sent to the same prison. Around the same time, two tough characters that Kat had met in a lousy bar (Erik Estrada and Richard Barathy) also begin asking questions and then vow to free the girls.

There are plenty of totally random and unbelievable things that happen in the film but the mayhem is a lot of fun to watch. For example, after Barathy’s character enters the prison the film basically switches into Terminator mode and he literally crumbles a wall with his bare hands. The guy is then challenged by an angry prison guard played by adult legend Ron Jeremy and -- hard to believe but it’s true -- another bodyguard played by the giant Paul L. Smith who was the brutal superintendant of that horrific Turkish prison that Alan Parker visited in Midnight Express. Of course there is also a perverted lesbian warden named Sybil Thorn (Mindi Miller) who loves to play with her inmates before she sells them to the highest bidders. You get the picture, it is pure genre fun of the kind that producers no longer have the guts to finance.

*If you enjoy Caged Fury, I recommend taking a look at Abel Ferrara’s Fear City which offers plenty of the same thrills but delivered with a different authority.

Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bill Milling's Caged Fury arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory.

The release is sourced from a very nice remaster. I don't know when it was prepared, but it has a wonderful organic appearance and I can assure you that this film has never before looked this good on a home video release. Indeed, depth and clarity remain very pleasing throughout the entire film, while fluidity has that excellent consistency that proper remasters ensure. Density could be a bit better, but I have no complaints because it is already impressive. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Colors are stable, nicely saturated, and really well balanced. Image stability is great. There is a little bit of room for encoding optimizations, but while viewing the film you will not be bothered by anomalies. Very nice presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is free of age-relation imperfections. Clarity and depth are very good. Overall balance is also outstanding. There is quite a bit of action in the film and dynamic intensity is at levels that I consider optimal. There are no transfer-specific anomalies to report.

Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Caged Fury. (2 min).

Caged Fury Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The best independent video stores used to have dedicated sections where you could browse through hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of 'different' films like Bill Milling's Caged Fury. These were the type of smaller genre films that 'professional critics' loved to demean and destroy, but the more time passes by, the more obvious it becomes that so many of them were special in their own ways. A lot of folks just did not get the type of entertainment they offered. If, like me, you always had a soft spot for them but over the years somehow missed Caged Fury, place your order now. Scream Factory's recent release is sourced from a lovely remaster that makes the film look almost brand new. If you know the film, well, you probably already have the Blu-ray in your collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.