Jailhouse Wardress

Therese, a beautiful but naive young girl, who finds herself being passed around from depraved pervert to depraved pervert, enduring just about every kind of sexual degradation there is while still believing that some kind stranger will eventually help her.

Despite being drastically cut, this exceptionally rare tape still commands sky-high prices in excess of £500, typically from die-hard collectors, keen to acquire everything from the Go catalogue. That said though, this guide price estimate could be very much out of synch as it has been so long since one publicly changed hands, the reality could double in an open auction.

This kinky, but faithful screen adaptation of the infamous de Sade novel was directed by the late Claude Pierson, a French filmmaker who started making a number of film shorts before shooting the 1964 Black & White television series “Bayard” with French star René Roussel.

Pierson’s film was a lot more polished than most of its kind, as adapted jointly for the screen by Huguette Boisvert and Pierson himself. The filmmaker went on to direct no less than 40 features, all of which were of an adult theme. The Violation of Justine (original title “Justine de Sade“) was the only such film to feature French actress Alice Arno, who was later inexplicably given star billing in Jess Franco’s unfinished “Justine de Sade” which was hijacked and completed by Italian filmmaker Joe D’Amato. This obscure 1975 reworking of the de Sade novel, drastically re-edited by D’Amato, transformed Franco’s unfinished work by inserting hardcore footage throughout is 104 running time. Alice Arno was nowhere to be seen, yet cheekily D’Amato added her name to the credits, leading to confusion between D’Amato’s sexploitation edit and Claude Pierson’s earlier film, both of which are completely unrelated.

When Go Video released this film, they used a heavily cut cinema print, which was missing around 25m of footage! The Violation of Justine was also promoted in an early 1982 issue of Continental Film & Video Review, as offered by London based wholesaler, Garpalm Video - who offered a mail order "Full Unabridged Version" for the now bargain price of £39.95. Very little is known about this particular release however. More recently, DVD releasing company Orinoco Entertainment issued an uncut edition, which clocks in at 104m 11s.

Pre-Cert Video Label: Go Video

A bizarre mixture of crime, eroticism and strange complications at a rural castle.

After Celestine this is the next most difficult title to source and some even claim it to be no 1. Deep pockets and almost deeper levels of patience are required to obtain this delightful tape. Only a handful are known to exist, the pre cert forums database only references six owners, although this is by no means any indication of total numbers, it does give an indication of its rarity due to the density of the pre cert collectors community membership of the site.

After a stint producing the Jean Brismée Euro-schlock epic The Devil’s Nightmare, would-be first time filmmaker, Pierre-Claude Garnier took to directing his own film. This daring first effort was written by Patrice Rhomm, (under the pseudonym Mike Starr) who would also soon turn his hand at directing, later coming up with “Captive Women 4”, which is perhaps better known to UK viewers as “Elsa Fräulein SS”. This was one of the better Nazi-exploitation films, appearing briefly on Peter Burr and Aubrey Ross’ Modern Films, which was a subsidiary of Mountain Video.

This French/Belgium co-production was touted as “Erotic sex drama at its best!!” which was emblazoned across the front of the minimalistic, yet strangely alluring UK video sleeve. Our story follows the shenanigans of greedy wife Loretta (Valérie Boisgel), who kills her first hubby in a supposed “hunting accident”, while her second, who suffers from a heart condition, is introduced to a trio of Euro lovelies (a cast headed by Euro starlet Erica Blanc) who take it in turns to produce the desired effect of a heart attack by literally shagging the poor guy to death! By the time her third husband croaks, local police Inspector Garner muscles’ in, seeking to foil her plans, spelling blackmail & intrigue… During production, Rhomm was re-united with Blanc – an Italian actress who has worked with a number of prominent filmmakers throughout her career, spanning nearly five decades, who started as an extra in the farcical Tinto Brass space drama, The Flying Saucer (original title “Il disco volante”).

Garnier’s first film appeared in French cinemas as “Le tango de la perversion”, premiering in March 1974. His work never saw the light of day in UK theaters, so it was just as well that Go acquired the film for release on tape, where it appeared as ‘House of Perversity’ sometime in 1981 in a subtitled variant alondside the French audio. This exceptionally rare video unspooled to UK viewers in an abridged edition, which was missing some six minutes of sleazy footage. Miraculous therefore that it is this same censored tape that should command such high prices from collectors, whom are literally queuing-up to scoop these rarest of Go tapes in order to complete their collections. Likewise, this title has been known to occasionally command prices in excess of £500 within collector’s circles.

Pre-cert Video Label: Go Video

A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.

Pre-Cert Video Label: Intervision (A-A0390)

Malpertuis is the name of an old, rambling mansion which is in reality a labyrinth where characters from Greek mythology are imprisoned by the bedridden Cassavius. He manages to keep them, as well as his nephew and niece, prisoners even after his death, through a binding testament. As Jan, the nephew, unravels the mystery, he discovers that he cannot escape the house because Malpertuis is far more significant than he was led to believe.

Pre-Cert Video Label: Intervision (F20)

After being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.

AKA: Ganja & Hess

Pre-Cert Video Label: IFS (Iver Film Services) (FF30100)