Olga's Girls/Review

The film opens with a scintillating sequence of a woman (Looking to be a candidate for a "Lady of the night") slowly strutting towards the camera in a darkly lit hallway. A lush, inviting musical score booms over the imagery as the woman stops at her desired room in the dark hall. The door to the room opens and in she goes, planting herself on the bed and disrobing in ecstacy in front of what appears to be a paying customer. Though this immoral and demeaning act of prostitution might come across as highly seductive to the viewers, what lies ahead will be a disturbing and shocking exposé into this world run by Olga Saglo.

Olga (Audrey Campbell) is a dominating pimptress, so to say. A member of the syndicate who specializes in pushing both narcotics and sex by way of her girls--And as we'll soon see, it's quite a high stable of girls. After the opening credits, a narrator (Joel Holt) gives us information on the day-to-day life and routines of Olga's business. Today, Olga recieves a shipment via "White Slave Trade" and makes her purchase of two more "Olga's Girls". As we go around the other rooms of the Olga fortress, we see two of Olga's Girls getting their fix on heroin. We're told by the narrator that this is often the relaxation that some of the girls prefer to do after a long day's work of turning out johns. Elsewhere, Olga goes to her closet and slip on her "Cape of Persuasion" (A twisted take on a surgeon's robe) and takes a trip to the basement--Or what's probably known best as the torture dungeon. This is where she disciplines any of the girls who happen to break rules. Even if it happens to be the simplest of rules like a servant accidentally spilling a cup of coffee on Olga! There's tons of torture methods to choose from. All borrowing a thing or two from the days of the witchcraft hunts. More and more torture scenes take place once Olga recieves word of an informer in the house. This calls for the most barbaric method seen yet...Removal of one's tongue! After the brutality winds down, Olga's most trusted girl, Colette (Ricky Bell) has ideas of her own. Which is to go through with a plan of revenge on Olga and allow the girls to create their own type of organization. Though the plan of giving Olga a taste of her own medicine succeeds, the viewer is in for a surprise when the unexpected occurs. Bringing forth more horrifying adventures of Olga Saglo.

This being a sequel/spin-off to White Slaves of Chinatown, not too many people would have thought that the character of Olga would become such a huge draw at the exploitation box office. But history was made and there was a demand to see the beautiful Audrey Campbell morph into this despicable, but also beloved character. Campbell would reprise the role one last time in the third film, Olga's House of Shame before leaving the series. But before she had left, the films she made became a benchmark on how things were looking in the sexploitation landscape. Gone were the innocent, playful productions of the nudie cutie. Now there was a new breed of sexualized cinema in town. And what had made the series so interesting was it's blending of the Mondo film and the Roughie. The Olga films (Certainly the first few) could hide behind the mondo (i.e, eductional) moniker while at the same time, it could still keep it's validity as a smutty roughie. But there's no denying that the envelope was pushed here. Allowing new degrees of sex, drug use and violence to show up on screen.

As a feature by itself, Olga's Girls may still come up short to one's expectations on being a great film because they may not prefer the constantly narrated direction. But this was common for nudies/roughies at the time. Budgetary reasons. But part of it's charm is the narration. Which isn't just done by the male news anchor-type, but by Olga herself! Who often joins in on the narration explaining her thoughts. I personally found this method to be a welcomed addition. Lastly, the short-running time could be another complaint, but never did I feel that any moment was wasted. For it's minimal budget and one-dimensional story, Olga's Girls still attains it's ability to shock and amuse. Not too many grindhouse relics can hold on to that claim.

Reviewed by Laydback