House of Whipcord

Many young girls have entered these gates… none have yet to come out!

House of Whipcord (1974) follows a group of women who become trapped in a remote prison under the control of a cruel warden and her enforcers. As punishment and sadistic games escalate, the prisoners struggle to survive the night. This British horror thriller blends suspenseful tension, psychological cruelty, and grim atmosphere in a tale of vengeance, corruption, and terror.

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  This is the first of Walker’s grimly effective horror gems (followed by Frightmare and House of Mortal Sin). Working with screenwriter David McGillivray and conceiving roles for the marvellously dour Sheila Keith seems to have galvanized Walker away from the tawdry sexploitation (Cool it, Carol) and bloodless thrillers (Die Screaming, Marianne) with which he’d made his name. Walker’s sleaze background is evident here, the film playing like corporal-punishment porn with climaxes replaced by hangings and no opportunity spared to display the more nubile characters’ bare breasts. … Yet there’s much to enjoy here: the grimy atmosphere of the prison, with its petty guard rivalries, arbitrary rules and trestle-table mealtimes, is horribly evocative of an English boarding school; Keith is magnificent in her first major role, all mannered delivery and twitchy gaze subtly conveying the sadism fuelled by self-loathing and lust that drives the female jailers; and the film’s surprisingly brutal tone, offset by the gaudy fashion crimes of its party scenes, sets it apart from similar women-in-prison scenarios as a genuinely unsettling experience.