Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976) - Edmonds returns with Thorne in dubious Arabia-set sequel

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Scantily dressed young women titillate from left and right on this poster for Don Edmonds' Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks

 
Ilsa, the 'She Wolf of the SS' now for some reason runs a gruesome prison for women in the Arabian desert. Here degradation and sexual satisfaction is the order of the day.

 

Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is written by Langston Stafford, a person never credited with anything else, and produced and directed by Don Edmonds (Wild Honey (1972)), who also made the popular original film which this is the first sequel to, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS (1975).

The 'plot' here is more or less an illusion as most of the film consists of episodic scenes of sex and cruelty with commentary from two seemingly unrelated men in an airplane!?! Dyanne Thorne (Up Yours (1979)) as Ilsa is still a captivating whip artist, and the film is adorned with a hot twink slave but it also delivers several atrocities such as forced feeding, breast torture and, naturally, rape. The two ninja amazons who can rip a grown man's teeth out are strong arguments in favor of the film, it would appear. But the episodic, nonsensical structure gives Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks a long character, which is also spoiled by involving a child (a boy to be precise) in its solution, which must be considered, in the context of the film at hand, incredibly tasteless and amoral.

 

Related post:

 

Don Edmonds: Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) - Edmonds' notorious Nazisploitation sensation

 

 

Watch a clip from the movie here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 200k $

Box office: Projected 5 mil. $

= Uncertain but projected a mega-hit (projected return of 25 times its cost)

[Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks was released in March (USA) and runs 85 minutes. Shooting took place in California. The film is listed as having been released in just 4 markets; North America, Japan, West Germany and in Denmark. In the latter, very small market, it sold an impressive 85,277 tickets, coming to approximately 640k $. It is not unlikely that the cheaply made film grossed upwards of 5 mil. $. Ilsa returned in two more films, though only the first of the two is with Thorne, and Edmonds no longer was involved. Edmonds returned with Southern Double Cross (1976). Thorne first returned in Chesty Anderson U.S. Navy (1976). 3.1k+ IMDb users have given Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks a 5.0/10 average rating.]

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Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) - Edmonds' notorious Nazisploitation sensation

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Promises of sensational sex and violence feature prominently on this no-holds-barred exploitative poster for Don Edmonds' Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS

In SS commandant Ilse's small concentration camp in Nazi-era Germany, women are rotting their lives away or getting trained in pain to be prepared as prostitute slaves for the German soldiers, while the male prisoners are used - and castrated. But a rebellion smoulders ...

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is written by Jonah Royston (The Starlost (1973, TV-series)) and John C.W. Saxton (Blackout (1978)) and directed by Don Edmonds (Wild Honey (1972)).

This sensationalistic and entirely sleazy and tasteless film is elevated by good camera-work (cinematography by Glenn Roland (First Strike (1984))) and a thoroughly sadistic performance by Dyanne Thorne (Hellhole (1985)) as the title character. The story is titillating (for the right audience) and the tension builds slowly despite possible confusion as to who is supposed to be the 'hero' of the tale.

 

 

Watch a clip from the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 100k $

Box office: Unknown, projected 5 mil. $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of 50 times its cost)

[Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS premiered in January (Boston) and runs 96 minutes. The story is loosely inspired by the Buchenwald camp commander's wife Ilse Koch, who was imprisoned following WWII for her crimes. Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California on the left-over set from Hogan's Heroes (1965-71), which the production was allowed to use on the condition that they demolish it after. The film was released to derisive reviews, bans in Australia, Germany and Norway, - and thunderous audience interest. Regrettably the gross numbers are not public information, but they were likely huge: The film sold 186,204 tickets in the small market of Denmark, one of its relatively few markets, coming to approximately 400k $. It may well have grossed more than 5 mil. $. It inspired three sequels, all with Thorne, and none that logically made sense in relation to each other, the first one being Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976), which was Edmonds' return. Thorne first returned in The Swinging Barmaids (1975). Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is rotten at 36 % with a 4.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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