Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Naked Cage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 19, 2017

Paul Nicholas' "The Naked Cage" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Shout Factory. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A drink before the war

The Naked Cage is a classic it-is-so-bad-it-is-actually-good ‘80s picture. Paul Nicholas directed it for the Cannon Group a couple of years after his equally sleazy Chained Heat. Both pictures borrow plenty from Jack Hill’s playbook, but it is pretty obvious that at the time Nicholas was also paying close attention to what some of the Italian directors were doing with different exploitation hits on the other side of the big pond.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Willy (John Terlesky), a horny cowboy, picks up Rita (Christina Whitaker), a beautiful hitchhiker with a sharp tongue, and they end up in a rundown motel. After a few quick rounds of coke and sex, they kill a bored cop who accidentally discovers that Willy is driving a stolen Corvette. The two then decide to rob the small community bank where Willy’s girlfriend Michelle (Shari Shattuck) works, but the whole thing turns into a huge mess and during the chaos Willy dies while Michelle gets arrested together with the unconscious Rita.

The girls are promptly transported to some wild prison whose warden, Diane (Angel Tompkins), frequently engages in intense kinky games with a few of its inhabitants. Michelle quickly attracts her attention and she advises her that it would be in her best interest if she accepts her protection and agrees to be her newest toy, but the proud girl vows to prove that she has what it takes to survive on her own. Very soon, however, it becomes painfully obvious that there are other power players in the prison that also like to bend the rules, with the most uncompromising one being a large brutish girl (Faith Minton) who is also serving a long sentence for her part in a botched robbery.

The plot is far from brilliant, but Nicholas infuses The Naked Cage with just about the perfect atmosphere that these types of pictures need in order to be effective. Here’s how he does it: There is a good dose of kitsch but also legit character building, and the group fights as well as the big riot at the end are controlled in a way that gives the material an important sense of coherence that the traditional women-behind-bars exploitation pictures lack. Compare The Naked Cage with Sergio Garrone's notorious SS Experiment Camp, for instance, and you will immediately notice how the latter has absolutely no interest in character building and the kitsch in it quickly wipes out its credibility. So the one and only way in which a genre picture like SS Experiment Camp can make an impression is by trying to offend its audience. (This happens to be precisely the reason why SS Experiment Camp is actually remembered, but even an as an offensive picture it is notably poor because it lacks that important sense of coherence). The Naked Cage is on the opposite end. It has decent characters, really good atmosphere, and the attitude of a gifted striptease player that is willing to go the extra mile so that its clients do not walk away disappointed.

The main actors have plenty of energy but do not overdo their characters. There are quite a few of these films that have prolonged cat fights that can be pretty awful, but here there are only a couple of tough brawls that seem appropriate for the desired exotic atmosphere.

Whitaker acts like a real psycho that should be kept behind bars so it is really disappointing to see that her career did not take off. Shattuck looks a bit too sweet but it is nevertheless fun to watch her dealing with the crazies. Tompkins, one of the truly great B-movie starlets, looks terrific as the insatiable warden.

The Naked Cage 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, Paul Nicholas' The Naked Cage arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory.

The release is sourced from a nice organic master. It could have been encoded a bit better, but there are no serious anomalies to report. Depth, clarity, and fluidity are very good. There are two segments -- both featuring darker indoor footage -- where some optimizations could have been made to ensure that grain appears firmer, but overall density remains very pleasing. Colors are stable and natural. There is a good selection of primaries and a solid range of proper nuances. Some extremely light crush can be spotted, but it is never distracting and delineation actually does not appear awkwardly compromised. There are no traces of recent sharpening adjustments. Image stability is excellent. There are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, and warped or torn frames, but I noticed a few tiny scratches and small stains. All in all, while there is room for some minor cosmetic improvement, this is indeed a nice organic presentation of The Naked Cage. (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).

The Naked Cage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

Prior to receiving the Blu-ray release I had only seen The Naked Cage on a pretty average DVD release, and it is not the one that we have in our database. So I have not seen the film in a theater and do not know what the original sound mix should be. However, it seems to me that if it should be Stereo, then the current audio probably needs to be remastered because it comes out as dual mono. This being said, clarity and depth are indeed very good. The overall dynamic intensity is also solid for a film of this caliber.

The Naked Cage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Naked Cage. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

The Naked Cage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I was hoping that the technical presentation of The Naked Cage will be similar to that of Invasion of the Bee Girls, because the recent release of Never Too Young to Die actually turned out to be quite disappointing. Fortunately, Shout Factory have used a very nice organic master and The Naked Cage looks about as good as I hoped it would on Blu-ray. I encourage the label to bring more of these '70s and '80s genre pictures to Blu-ray as there is a huge gap on the market, and many of them do not even have decent DVD releases. RECOMMENDED. (If you enjoy The Naked Cage, the following Shout Factory releases are also worth exploring: The Women in Cages Collection, Women's Prison Massacre, and Hellhole).