THE NASTY FILE Gestapo’s Last Orgy

Of the seventy-two films which appeared on the Department of Public Prosecutions’ list of films deemed liable to “deprave and corrupt,” all but one came from countries outside of the United Kingdom. The majority came from the United States; however, a large proportion were European horror films, many of which have since been recognised as classics in the genre.

This regular series sees subtitledonline.com take a look at the continental ‘video nasties’ which brought so much offence and uproar to an island on the fringes of Europe, nearly thirty years ago. In this entry, we look at Cesare Canevari’s Gestapo’s Last Orgy.

European Horror in the ‘Video Nasty’ Era

A former Nazi officer, Commandant von Starker, played by Adriano Micantoni (as Marc Loud) and his former Jewish prisoner, Lise Cohen, played by Daniela Poggi (as Daniela Levy), are reunited at the abandoned concentration camp where they first met.

As they explore the desolate ruins and surrounding wasteland, Lise remembers arriving at the camp for the first time, and the events which took place during her captivity.

The main body of the film consists of long, flashback sequences depicting life at the fictional camp; a camp which focussed on the sadistic torture and sexual humiliation of its female inmates.

More so even than the Italian cannibal genre, the Nazisploitation or ‘Nasty Nazi’ films remain the most controversial of all the DPP’s chosen titles.

In these flashbacks, von Starker comes across Lise for the first time, finding in her a strong minded prisoner who exhibits unusual strength and courage in the face of torture. The commandant decides his methods are ineffectual because Lise has no desire to continue living and decides to break her, psychologically, in order that she begins to fear death. This, he calculates, will result in her unwavering obedience.

Gestapo’s Last Orgy was initially released in the UK on cassette via Video Film Promotions. Despite the lack of regulation, the UK version already contained cuts of 10 minutes 48 seconds to remove one of the more gruesomely racist and squeamish sequences. Later copies of the film came with a sticker attached to further warn potential viewers of its contents but, despite this, it was added to the DDP’s list on 2nd March 1984. Video Shack also released a version of the film around the time the VFP editions were being banned and this particular pre-cert can now reportedly fetch up to £1,000.

Prime Time supposedly attempted a post-VRA release in 1985 which was rejected; the ever-conservative head of the Board, James Ferman, reportedly refusing outright to even discuss the matter. More recently, an attempt was made by Hardgore to apply for classification, but they were advised by the BBFC that the film would most likely not be granted a certificate. It remains unavailable in the UK to this day.

More so even than the Italian cannibal genre, the Nazisploitation or ‘Nasty Nazi’ films remain the most controversial of all the DPP’s chosen titles. Four such films were placed on the Video Nasty list at one stage or another – and each one was prosecuted and banned.

The one which is generally credited with exhibiting the most artistic merit, however, is Gestapo’s Last Orgy. It certainly has pretentions to being an intelligent or, at least, intellectually justifiable work, containing a quote from Nietzsche in the opening credits and using a flashback technique in the style of Liliana Cavani’s BBFC-certified Nazi Concentration Camp film The Night Porter (1974).

The Nazisploitation genre might be one of the toughest challenges faced by the anti-censorship argument regarding the video nasties. It is incredibly difficult to openly argue that films such as these deserve uncensored classification, given the tastelessness of the subject matter. However, the anti-censorship argument is complex and certainly more complicated than the pro-censorship one, which often appears infantile in its black-and-white simplicity.

Elements of the more offensive scenes are somewhat unprintable; however, the main problem is sexualised violence. Full frontal and rear nudity of both men and women is pretty much a regular occurrence throughout, as is rape, torture and the open discussion of Nazi politics. The ten minutes or so removed by VFP before the film’s release consist of said politics, in a sequence during which high ranking SS officers are served a stew made from the flesh of a Jewish baby and a naked woman is doused in Cognac and set alight.

…contemporary cinema-goers reading a description of this scene will do it more justice in their own imagination than it deserves.

As grotesque and unappealing as this all may sound, it is worth remembering that contemporary cinema-goers reading a description of this scene will do it more justice in their own imagination than it deserves. In truth, Gestapo’s Last Orgy is relatively badly made, the character acting fairly predictable and hyperbolic, and the genuine mood of the film camp and unrealistic. Lise’s character is supposed to be unperturbed by the threats from her captors; however, Levy’s acting is so un-emotive and wooden that audiences will not feel the same shock and anger as with a film like Wes Craven’s undeniably realist Last House on the Left (1972).

Nevertheless, the subject matter alone seems to have been enough to warrant films like these disappearing from UK video shelves. Don Edmonds’s Isla: She Wolf Of The SS (1975), for example, was quite a successful Nazisploitation film internationally, spawning several sequels, but was also rejected by the BBFC. One of the earliest films of this style, Lee Frost’s Love Camp 7 (1969), was also a banned video nasty, which the BBFC decided erotised and endorsed sexual violence to the extent that cutting was not a viable option. The same is true for Gestapo’s Last Orgy: cutting out the scenes which contravened the Board’s policies on eroticised violence would have left a mere shell of a film.

Relief does come in the shape of the strength and humanity of the Jewish prisoners, as well as the Nazi doctor, who is simply obeying orders yet looking after his patients to the best of his ability. He sides with Lise and essentially becomes her saviour, before she rejects him and begins courting von Starker; the man who, let’s not forget, had previously murdered her friends and threatened her with torture and mutilation. Indeed, why exactly this occurs is never satisfactorily explained, and nor are we shown the point at which, we assume, the Allies arrive to rescue the prisoners.

Concerning those video nasties which featured sexualised violence, violent retribution against the perpetrators is often somewhat overlooked by the Board nowadays; treated as much-needed catharsis for audience’s benefit. A case-in-point is Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On You Grave (1978), in which the rape scenes remain trimmed by the BBFC, but the horrendous violence inflicted upon the rapists in question does not. Perhaps similar retribution upon the Nazi officials by Allied forces would have worked in the film’s favour, as far as the BBFC was concerned anyway. As it is, we don’t really get to feel a sense of revenge or closure for the film’s Jewish characters, save the Nuremberg trials which we are told are taking place during the present-day sequences.

The film’s most and perhaps only redeeming quality is as an instigation to debate regarding whether or not titles such as these deserve to be banned, and whether the anti-censorious can indeed argue on principle in favour of their being released to the general public. In the case of violent zombie films, or even rape-revenge films, for that matter, the case can be more coherently argued. Nevertheless, more positive viewers will treat these films for what they are and relish their questionable morality as an existential perplexity.

Read each entry in The Nasty File series here.

By Iain Todd

Iain Todd is a writer, critic and reviewer who has been published on
ulstermusic.com, culturenorthernireland.org, and insideireland.ie. He is…

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