Despite a recent and growing cult following, Brit hack director Pete Walker's gory oeuvre can hardly claim the touch of genius. But a couple of films sure are fun. And disturbing. Along with Walker's Frightmare, House of Whipcord succinctly encapsulates the filmmaker's particular Midlands milieu, or horror in the home counties, as some have dubbed his own slender niche of suburban English grand guignol.
A women's' prison film heavy on actual and implied sadism and perversion, House of Whipcord is a slightly sly satire of the era's growing generation gap: a retired judge and a coterie of cruel older women operate a "private" prison, designed to punish the lax "morals" of modern youth. Dripping lurid atmosphere and maintaining a somber quality throughout, the film is made even more grim by a wonderful performance from Shelia Keith. As a particularly vicious warden eager to whip and hang offending female prisoners, after caressing their bodies quite ickily, Keith steps again (and again in other Pete Walker horror films) away from her beloved roles as sweet Scots aunties on British sitcoms.
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