Sweet innocent Kathie Collins (foxy Roxanna Michaels) and her rowdy gal pal Rhonda Wallace (a delightfully raucous April Dawn Dollarhide) are wrongfully incarcerated in a brutal women's penitentiary where the vicious staff led by sadistic lesbian Warden Sybil Thorn (essayed with lip-smacking wicked aplomb by Mindi Miller) grossly mistreat the fetching female inmates. It's up to rough'n'tumble nonstop one man a**kicking martial arts machine Dick Ramsey (beefy wonder Richard Barathy, who sports a truly hideous mullet) to rescue the lovely ladies. Writer/director Bill Milling really pours on the entertainingly outrageous cheese something scrumptious: we've got ineptly staged fight scenes aplenty (including the inevitable wild barroom brawl),slick cinematography by Kenneth H. Wiatrak, a constant snappy pace, a wailin' 80's head-banging rock soundtrack, a pleasingly leering protracted shower scene, vigorously hammy overacting from a game cast, one doozy of a surprise plot twist (the prison is actually a front for a nefarious white slavery ring!),a funky, pumping score by Joe Delia, an exciting last reel jailbreak sequence, and a handy helping of tasty distaff gratuitous nudity (the gorgeous Elena Sahagun in particular looks positively delectable in her birthday suit). Popping up in nifty supporting roles are Erik Estrada as Ramsey's rugged buddy Victor, Michael Parks as Kathie's overbearing dad Mr. Collins, Greg Cummins as slimy guard Spyder, Paul L. Smith as the hulking brute head guard, Jack Carter as smarmy modeling agency big shot Mr. Castaglia, and James Hong as weary Detective Randall Stoner. A total over-the-top ridiculous and hence hugely enjoyable schlocky hoot.

I actually never heard about Bill Milling before, but solely based on this movie he is already a true cult/exploitation hero in my book! Why? Because if you single-handedly realize the production of a film like "Caged Fury", which is basically a montage of severely perverted masculine fantasies, and then still manage to cast a handful of respectable actors (like Michael Parks, Paul Smith, James Hong and Erik Estrada),well then you are one cool bastard; and that's a fact! Milling had been making adult-entertainment movies since the mid-70s already, but ended his career in the late 80s and early 90s with a couple of cheap and sleazy exploitation movies. "Caged Fury" is clearly inspired by the successful trend of so- called "Women in Prison" movies, even though the heyday of that particular cult sub-genre was already long over by then, and that basically means that the plot and logic are subordinate to showing naked flesh and gratuitous violence! The artistic high points in the film thus exist of scantily clad blond babes worming themselves through narrow ventilation shafts and images of the lesbian head- warden parading around in kinky S&M outfits. And yet, somehow I'm deeply persuaded that "Caged Fury" could have been a much better film and even a sleeper hit if only Milling & Co tried a bit harder. The plot contains a few inventive ideas, ambitiously attempts to blend martial arts elements and even comes with a surprise-twist ending. The cute and innocent Kathie Collins leaves her countryside home and overbearing father to make it as an actress in Hollywood! She naturally meets up with the wrong people, wrongfully gets accused of prostitution and ends up for 3-6 months in a secluded woman's prison. When she hasn't checked in with her family for weeks, her older sister Tracy goes looking for her, but she falls for the same false promises and unrealistic dreams as her sister. Their fate lies in the hands of Kung-Fu macho duo Victor (Ponch from "CHiPs") and Dirk Ramsey (a weirdo with an impressive mullet and mustache),as they slowly discover that the prison is merely just a cover-up for a girl-slaves trading organization. Apart from the couple of impressive aforementioned names, the cast mainly just exists of adult film stars, like the inevitable Ron Jeremy or the luscious Janine Lindemulder. There are some excellently repulsive roles for Gregory S. Cummins and Paul Smith as misogynist prison guards, but the real hero obviously remains Dirk "Mullet" Ramsey. He's a late 80s action symbol who kicks in cement walls with his bare feet and seduces all the pretty women even though he's one of the ugliest people in the world. Best part of the film is unquestionably the ending, when it suddenly gets revealed that this so-called prison institution is located right in the center of Hollywood Boulevard! Sensational!

Trashy late-'80s/early-'90s American women-in-prison flick Caged Fury stars Roxanna Michaels as naive wannabe actress Kathie Collins, who travels from Utah to Los Angeles looking for fame and fortune, but who only finds misery and suffering after falling for a scam that sees her sent to a women's prison where the inmates are sold as sex slaves. When Kathie fails to call home after a few days, her big sister Tracy (Elena Sahagun) decides to try and find the missing girl, putting her own life in jeopardy in the process.

Unlike the majority of women-in-prison movies, which are usually keen to get to the sleazy prison action as quickly as possible, Caged Fury spends a good third of its running time following Kathie as she falls in with drifter Rhonda (April Dawn Dollarhide),meets slimy Hollywood photographer Buck (Blake Bahner),goes sightseeing in downtown L.A., visits a scuzzy rock bar, almost gets raped by a gang of bikers, is rescued by friendly mercenaries Victor (C.H.I.P.s star Erik Estrada) and Dirk Ramsey (mulletted martial artist Richard Barathy),and auditions for a movie that turns out to be a porno (which forms part of the scam that results in her and Rhonda getting banged up). All of this is mildly entertaining, particularly with all the ghastly 90s fashion and music on display, but nowhere near as much fun as the action that takes place after the poor girl is thrown behind bars…

Ruled by lesbian dominatrix Warden Sybil Thorn (Ty Randolph),Honeywell State Prison is home to numerous unfortunates who are forced to saunter around in sexy lingerie, take regular communal showers, and satisfy the wicked guards' needs, meaning that the film is loaded with nudity from desperate aspiring starlets and a handful of porn-stars masquerading as actresses (including Kascha, Tyffany Million, and Janine Lindemulder). Some of these women are complete bitches and cause trouble for Kathie, but this is swiftly dealt with by mean guard Spyder (Gregory Scott Cummins),who delights in punishing the inmates. Already stunned by her terrible predicament, Kathie is even more shocked when Tracey also gets herself thrown into jail as part of her ill-considered rescue plan.

Things look up for the girls when Dirk, a veritable one-man killing machine, storms the prison (which turns out to be directly opposite Mann's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard!); he karate chops and kicks his way through numerous guards (including porn legend Ron Jeremy),is overpowered and locked up, kicks his way through a solid brick wall, and squares off against the prison's massive head guard (played by Paul L. Smith, Bluto from Popeye!). Meanwhile, the sisters manage to escape and free many of the other inmates; with chaos all around, Warden Thorn orders her men to kill all of the prisoners. While they're busy blasting unarmed women in their cells, Spyder pursues Kathie, gets a fork jammed in his eye for his trouble, and is ultimately impaled on a crowbar by Rhonda.

While not quite as mean-spirited or as sexually graphic as some women-in-prison movies (especially those from Europe and South America),this cheesy, nudity-filled, karate choppin' dollop of low-budget silliness still offers enough random sleaze and violence to make it a good time for B-movie fans and women-in-prison aficionados.

6.5 out 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.