SS Experiment Love Camp

source: SS Experiment Love Camp

Sergio Garrone's SS Experiment Camp is one of the most infamous entries in that rather dodgy sub-genre known to fans as Nazisploitation, mostly thanks to its inclusion in the official UK video nasties list during the 1980s. And whilst it is certainly a film that is in very poor taste, using a Nazi torture camp as a backdrop for its tawdry tale of sex and violence, it is also a very silly one and one still worth watching if you're an exploitation completist. Giorgio Cerioni plays Colonel von Kleiben, head of a team of scientists who are experimenting on female political prisoners in an effort to advance the Arian race. But von Kleiben secretly has his own agenda: by conducting sex experiments using the Third Reich's most physically perfect soldiers, he is also hoping to locate the ideal donor for his intended 'testicle' transplant (his own knackers were bitten off!). After quite a lot of soft-core sex and the occasional nastier moment (a woman is boiled and then frozen, others have their eardrums burst, and one girl is shot and then hung upside-down), the film finally gets to deliver some truly memorable (and unintentionally funny) scenes. The testicle transplant is guaranteed to get men crossing their legs (particularly when the surgeon pops each nad out, snips and then places them in a tray) and the point when unwilling donor Helmut discovers, mid-shag, that his nuts are missing is hilarious. SS Experiment Camp may not the best example of the genre (both Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and Gestapo's Last Orgy are better), but the film is still worth seeing, partly because of its infamy, but mostly because it includes the classic line, 'how have you been doing with my balls?'. 5.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 6 for IMDb).

If you like the worst of the worst (Or is it the best of the best?) you simply have to check out the Nazisploitation genre. They will NEVER make movies like this again. Thank God. If you want to imagine what these films are like, just drop your jaw and keep it there for two hours. SS Experiment, aka SS Experiment Camp, was, like many of the more notorious Nazisploitationers, made in Italy. The explosion of this type of material was the result of the success(?) of other films like "Ilsa She Wolf of the SS", the ultra-crap "Night Porter" and Pasolini's "Salo", three films that couldn't have been further apart in intent if they tried. Ilsa is noteworthy because it is the ONLY film legendary soft-core producer David F. Friedman took his name OFF (Though he also made a strangely nascent precursor to the genre with Love Camp 7 where he actually played an SS officer. (Isn't he Jewish?)) Regardless, everyone involved with these films, be they producers or consumers, (including this viewer), should be ashamed of themselves. Of all the Italian Nazisploitationers, this one isn't the best, nor is it the worst. (Others include SS Girls, Gestopo's Last Orgy, SS Hell Camp and Tinto Brass's super-stupid Salon Kitty, which like his pathetic Caligula, has a weird soft-core sheen that makes it extra-unbelievable.) How these actors and actresses performed these roles without running straight out of the studio is beyond me. I guess money talks. But isn't there a point where you look at a script and go, "Sheesh, 100 million people died in WW2. Isn't this slightly insulting to their memory? Let alone the memory of those who died in the death camps of Auschwitz, Ravensbruck and Belson?" I guess not. After all, once you've signed on to do a movie called SS Experiment Camp all bets are off. Interestingly, these films very rarely acknowledge the Holocaust or the "Jewish" angle at all, and few of them are blatantly racist, which I suppose redeems them a little. But isn't it uncomfortable to think they were made in a nation that actually sided with the Nazis? Isn't this a connection you WOULDN'T want to emphasis? These movies, by the way, would NEVER have been made in Germany. (Could you imagine?!?) By the way, for those of you who didn't go to film school, Pasolini's Salo was NOT AN EXPLOITATION FILM!!! I cannot stress this enough. It was an appendix to his Trilogy of Life which also included his adaptations of The Decameron, Arabian Nights and Canterbury Tales. Salo is closer to its original text, (Sade's 120 Days of Sodom) than anything else. Actually, most of Salo is verbatim from De Sade's book, with only minor alterations. Please, for the love of God, don't confuse that film with this one! Though I find it somewhat funny that so many people make this connection, I forgive them, because they obviously haven't seen SS Experiment Camp. Believe me, it's not coming to a Cinematheque near you anytime soon!

SS Experiment Camp was one of the films to kick-start the video nasty furor in the UK. As a result, for the past 25 years or so, it has been considered a notorious film. However, like The Driller Killer, it primarily attained it's infamous status due to the crude cover art used on it's video box. Those people who actually watched the film discovered that it was nowhere near as shocking as it's reputation suggested. Furthermore, it is actually unintentionally hilarious on a number of occasions. SS Experiment Camp is a bit of an enigma. The story involves a group of women who are delivered to the aforementioned SS Experiment Camp. While there they are subjected to some inexplicable experiments, which often seem to involve forced copulation with a group of Nazi studs (who it has to be said all look strangely Italian). The purpose of the experiments is to find the best stud from this Aryan select and transfer his balls onto the camp commandant who, as we discover, lost his when a Russian woman he was raping bit his off. Now, the above synopsis may well make the film sound deeply depraved and offensive. Well, it is sleazy and in highly dubious taste but the execution of the film is so amateurish and unrealistic that it really sounds a lot worse than it actually is. The depiction of the camp is more Butlins than Belsen at times. The inmates seem relatively unconcerned for the most part and the Nazi baddies are often hilariously unconvincing. That said, there are some nasty moments, particularly the treatment meted out to the young girl at the orgy; she ends up hanging naked upside down in a shot that recalls the aforementioned distasteful cover shot. But, generally speaking, sequences that achieve such offense are uncommon here. The scenes showing the experiments, while certainly tasteless, are often more strange than anything else. The copulation in a tank of water idea being an example where it is too bizarre to take altogether seriously. The film does, however, have two uproariously funny sequences. In neither case is the humour intentional... Funny scene #1: In the first scene we have one of the Nazi studs returning to the dorm and saying how much he is looking forward to banging some hot women in the next experiment. The good Nazi, Helmut, takes offense at this and says, "I think every time you open your mouth you talk sh*t", to which the bad Nazi replies, after a long pregnant pause, "Hey, I don't like that last remark you made....about sh*t". Cue a silly fight. Funny scene #2: The second hilarious scene begins when Helmut discovers, just as he is about to have sex, that he has no balls. He then runs naked through the camp in search of the commandant. Once he finally confronts him, he delivers the truly immortal line, "OK you bastard...what have you done to my balls?". Both of the above scenes make the film worth enduring in a comedy sense. It's very sleazy. There's acres of full-frontal naked female flesh. It's occasionally gratuitously violent. But above all, the notorious SS Experiment Camp is, in the final analysis, a rather silly film.

Yet another nazi-prison movie, that followed after Ilses success. This one has the usual stuff;lesbian warden, sadistic guards, forced co-workers and lotsa young women in shower/softcore sex scenes. The only highlight in this movie, is when the hero has his testicles removed, so the Kommandant can have them implanted (he lost them on the front, to a russian girl). Rather predictable and the torture scenes are kindda boring - for anyone who have seen this type of movie before.

Sergio Garrone's "SS Experiment Camp" is a total failure on every possible level.This film was banned in Britain as a video nasty,but it surely isn't as outrageous as many people claim.In fact it's pretty tame even by today's standards.There is some torture and humiliation and lots of nudity and soft-core sex.Some scenes are pretty mean-spirited for example one woman who refuses to go through the experiments is put into the tank.The temperature is first put up to almost boiling point and then the dial is turned the other way making it icy cold.Still the film is extremely dull,so fans of Italian exploitation may be disappointed.Avoid this one like the plague-watch "Beast in Heat" or "Gestapo's Last Orgy" instead!

I can accept every rate or review giving this one a rate of 1 - for sure one got to have taste for sick badness to appreciate a movie like this one. But I can also accept a rate of 10. SS Experiment Camp aka SS Experiment Love Camp aka Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur is pure schund but also a highly entertaining mess - but with vision and a great shot of provocation. Obviously, this is not a movie for someone who grew up with Disney and regards Get Out to be a horror movie. Also I doubt that many of those negative reviewers watched an uncut copy, and I doubt one could make a movie like this these days.

If you are looking at this page and reading about this film you probably know what you're getting, or should be getting. It is what it is. At best it should be entertaining or at least of some interest to those who have an interest in these films. I should be one of them but this is not good. I watch plenty of similar fodder and am happy to be entertained by many exploitation films of questionable taste. There's a certain pleasure to be gained by leaving your brain in neutral and plopping down in front of some trashy exploitation film or similar. If you watch this genre you have to forgive a lot and just go with it - there's no point picking these films apart - they were never meant to be worthy and few are well-made. Nothing is theoretically off-limits as far as subject matter goes. The "S.S." exploitation films are not generally offensive to me as they inhabit an entirely different universe to the real world or actual events and are completely separate things. The supposed settings are just an excuse (I'd hesitate to call it a plot device) for a procession of sex/violence/torture-type scenes. Even these are not well done. This film is fairly boring. The 90 minute run time feels like a long time. There are many things covered by other reviewers, which I won't repeat here, about the quality/dialogue/acting/"plot" etc. This doesn't have the campy charm of some exploitation films. It won't surprise you that there are multiple sex scenes. These can only be considered rape but the victims are almost all portrayed as willing participants who enjoy it. Two things stand out to me and discomfort me. Firstly I've seen an interview with the director where he seems to suggest that he had extensively researched for this film. He seems to think his film is researched and verging on historical and the tone of his interview suggests he has done the world a service by showing us this. Come on mate!!! Really!!! That makes it more offensive to me than if he just accepted it is a straight-up, bad taste, low budget exploitation film. The testicle transplant mentioned by others is obviously not the only b*llocks associated with the film. The second thing I found odd and jarring is the use of burning scenes - they are so badly done it is hard to see why they are included. The only reason would be to shock but these corpses (surrounded by fake superimposed flames that don't mark them) all start to dance about like some modern interpretive dance troupe. Any potential shock value is gone. (As an aside, I suspect this is part of the "research" - burning corpses DO flex and can sit up etc. What they don't do is flex and extend and move to-and-fro in silly jerky dances - think Peter Crouch's robot goal celebrations - like is portrayed here) So, in summary - duller than it should be, not well done, no humour or campy charm as you almost always have in exploitation - even inadvertently. The interview with the director has probably made me judge it more harshly than others of its ilk - it is hard to keep your brain in neutral when he seems to suggest his film is so much more worthy than it so obviously is. Completists will watch whatever anyone else says. No-one else should be bothering with this. It is arguably the most notorious of the S.S. films but is one of the worst. If you only watch one or two consider Ilsa, or even Hellcamp/Beast in Heat before you get to this.

I'm not marking this film so low (as some would) because of it being part of the grubby, 'Italian Nazi Exploitation' genre; as I have seen way better and superior examples. I'm not sure exactly, how you can make such a boring film concerning the subject of both Nazis and sex but 'SS Experimental' seems to be just that (and dull + dim to). In fact all of my 2 stars are for the impacting poster; a fine example of Exploitation art work. Ironically the same director Sergio Garrone, made one of the best Italian Westerns, 'Django the Bastard', though with this, it's all gone so terribly wrong.

I did not think much of the film SS Experiment Camp This is a sleazy WW2 Nazi horror film which is more like a comedy in parts In this horror film the poor female POW's get raped and groped by The prison guards at the camp. In an amusing part of the film the commandant decides he wants a new pair of testicles and so removes them from one of the hunky guards. The guard doesn't seem to realise he's been castrated until he goes to have sex one of the French prisoners. SS Experiment Camp was banned in th UK from 1976-2005 because it was thought to controversial. it was eventually passed uncut in 2006 because there was not anything in the film that was thought unsuitable.