Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves villainous Nazis committing criminal acts of a sexual nature, often as camp or prison overseers in World War II settings. Most follow the standard women-in-prison formula, only relocated to a concentration camp, death camp or a Nazi brothel, with an added emphasis on sadism, gore, and degradation. The most infamous and influential title (and the one that set the standards of the genre) is perhaps Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1974), a Canadian production. Its surprise success and sequels led European film-makers, mostly in Italy, to produce dozens of similar films depicting Nazi atrocities. While the Ilsa series were profitable, the other films were mostly box-office flops and the genre all but vanished by the mid-1980s.
In Italy, these films are known as part of the "il sadiconazista" cycle which is largely inspired by such art-house films as Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò (1975). Prominent directors of the genre include Paolo Solvay (La Bestia in Calore, aka The Beast in Heat, SS Hell Camp), Cesare Canevari (L'ultima orgia del III Reich, aka Last Orgy of the Third Reich), and Alain Payet (Train spécial pour SS, aka Hitler's Lust Train, Love Train for The SS), all from 1977.
Read more about Nazi Exploitation: History, Themes, Legal Status in Britain, Israeli Literature
Famous quotes containing the words nazi and/or exploitation:
“Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. So if it is correct to say that humor was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or anything of that sort, but something much deeper and more important.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The elements of success in this business do not differ from the elements of success in any other. Competition is keen and bitter. Advertising is as large an element as in any other business, and since the usual avenues of successful exploitation are closed to the profession, the adage that the best advertisement is a pleased customer is doubly true for this business.”
—Madeleine [Blair], U.S. prostitute and “madam.” Madeleine, ch. 5 (1919)