Her Private Hell

70’s cult director Norman J Warren is famous mainly for his horror films, including Inseminoid and Satan’s Slave. However, it is his 1968 sexploitation flick Her Private Hell which has been re-discovered, and released as a Dual Format Edition by BFI’s Flipside label.

Although relatively mild by 21st century perceptions of the word ‘sexploitation’, the s/w film broke taboos and caused quite a stir upon its initial release – not least due its nudity and sex scenes (which appear mild indeed by nowadays standards). But this was the 1960’s, and it was time to move on – and move away – from the harmless and cliché-heavy bawdiness of British Carry On films.

Although no masterpiece technically speaking, due to the film’s low budget – Her Private Hell should nonetheless be regarded as a milestone as far as British exploitation films go. With the exception of fellow director Pete Walker (House Of Whipcord), precious few dared to boldly go where no man had gone before.

The plot concerns a naïve young model from Italy, Marisa, (the sumptuous Lucia Modugno – Danger: Diabolik), who arrives in Swinging London in search of fame and well-paid assignments. As it so happens, she’s spotted by dashing photographer Bernie (Terry Skelton), who invites her to a test shoot during which she also makes the acquaintance of another photographer, Matt (Daniel Ollier).
Predictably enough, it’s not only a ménage à trois which develops, but the initial bout of glamour modelling turns out to be not so glamorous after all… Meanwhile, the unscrupulous magazine proprietor Neville (Robert Crewdson) functions as the puppet master. When someone sells explicit photos that depict Marisa and Bernie in bed, things seemingly take a turn for the worse, at least as far as the Italian model is concerned. Who is behind it, and is Marisa clever enough to bounce back and get on top of the game?
A killer jazz-beat score by John Scott perfectly underpins the general mood as well as mood swings.

While the story is nothing new, it provides an honest and even gritty take on the supposedly glamorous world of modelling – something which was only hinted at in M. Antonioni’s Blow Up, which was released two years earlier.

While sets are sparse and double and triple in function (once again due to the low budget), director Warren makes the most of available camera angles, and directs the actors with much competence. Having said that, French actor Daniel Ollier’s English skills proved so bad he had to be dubbed beginning to end. German cult actor Udo Kier (who back then was still unknown to UK audiences) was initially considered for the part of ‘Matt’, but external reason’s intervened.

The dual format set contains both Blu-ray as well as DVD version, and a multitude of bonus features, including the NJ Warren shorts ‘Incident’ and ‘Fragment’, Interviews, Trailer, Screen tests, as well as the insightful David Cohen docu ‘Anatomy Of A Pin-Up’ from 1971.

(Please also read my interview with Norman J. Warren)