It's not that I don't "get" Ilsa. It's pure exploitation, a movie that's about nothing so much as delivering breasts, sex, and gore in as plentiful a degree as possible. And, yes, Ilsa delivers on that promise. From busty Nazis in uniforms that probably weren't all that historically accurate (when they can be bothered to put on shirts) to any number of horrific torture scenes and mutilations, Ilsa gives the people what they want, I guess. But there's so much wrong with and about Ilsa that the whole thing just left me feeling grungy and needing a shower. You could start, I guess, with the lack of any fun or entertaining spirit about the whole thing. To me, much of the best exploitation is fun to watch because it's, well, fun - everyone involved is having a blast, or the movie is just presented with a grin, even a wicked one. But Ilsa just feels grungy and horrifying, and the unpleasantness is hard to escape. And that doesn't even touch on the repurposing of Nazi atrocities to make a T&A gore film, whether you're talking about the way it opens with the most disingenuous disclaimer ever (one that tries to argue that Ilsa is only intended to warn people about the evils of the Holocaust) or the shameless trading on Nazi crimes, the whole thing is just disgusting and hard to take. So, look, as an exploitation movie, I "get" why Ilsa is famous. But that doesn't make it any less disgusting and offensive, and even as I know that's kinda the point, I can't say that any of it makes the movie worth seeing or even fun as trash cinema.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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