User Reviews

Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks starts somewhere in a Middle Eastern desert as a special delivery of three crates are made to the Palace of Sheik El Sharif (Jerry Delony as Victor Alexander) where he likes to use & abuse various pretty young women before selling them to other rich oil Sheik's in slave auctions, the sadistic Ilsa (Dyanne Thorne) in her own unique way makes sure they obey his every wish without question & are fully trained to please their new owners aided by her two lesbian assistants Satin (Tanya Boyd) & Velvet (Marilyn Joi). The three crates contain kidnapped women, Nora Edward (Sharon Kelly) the daughter & sole heir of a rich American businessman, Inga Lindstrom (Uschi Digard as Elke Von) an actress dubbed the 'new Scandinavian love goddess' & Alina Cordova (Haji as Haji Cat) an equestrian champion from Europe. It's up to Ilsa to convince them to obey the Sheik's every command, Ilsa does pretty much whatever she wants to them to make them comply. Meanwhile the Sheik is expecting visitors, two Americans named Kaiser (Richard Kennedy as Wolfgang Roehm) & Commander Adam Scott (Max Thayer as Michael Thayer) who intend to blackmail the Sheik into making him give up his land which is rich in oil. However their plans don't go as they had hoped...

This Canadian American co-production was produced & directed by Don Edmonds & in my opinion is pretty worthless, surely this is the worst of the Ilsa films which lets face it are hardly brilliant anyway. This was the second out of four Ilsa film's following Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975), the fact that Ilsa died at the end of the previous film doesn't seem to matter. The script by Langston Stafford is much lighter & campier in tone than the original, which is most definitely a bad thing. It has been stated that the filmmakers intended to make a much tamer film to obtain a lower rating & appeal to a larger audience, well that's fine but the finished product ended up being very disappointing as far as I'm concerned. There is no attempt at any sort of characterisation, all the women in this film are one dimensional, are given no background, personality or feelings & are simply there to be used, abused, treated like dirt & are nothing more than objects to please men. This is simply not an attitude that I can condone or take any enjoyment from. The exception is obviously Ilsa herself, but she is little more than the comic book villain & is there only to cash in on the Ilsa name. The sleaze & violence has little impact because of the overall tone & feel of the film, there is plenty of female nudity & (very) softcore sex scenes, there are a few lame torture sequences too like pouring flesh eating ants (?!) over someones foot, a thief has his hand chopped off, an exploding stomach & in the films most brutal scene someone is set on fire. The rest of the blood & gore consists of joke shop quality fake blood & stick on rubber scars. There is a few minutes of unexciting action towards the end when the prisoners fight back but like the rest of the film director Edmonds fails to create any sort of pace or tension. I was surprised at just how well made Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is, the costumes, locations, sets, cinematography & general production values are much better than I would have expected. The acting was OK for this sort of thing I suppose but you have to be a bit suspicious when so many of the cast hide behind pseudonym's. In my opinion the worst & tamest of the Ilsa films that barely qualifies as exploitation, even Jess Franco's Ilsa, The Wicked Warden (1977) is better than this. Not even an exploding electric dildo can save it, one to avoid.

"Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks" isn't as great as the original, but it's still entertaining.

**SPOILERS**

Working in the Middle-East, Ilsa, (Dyanne Thorne) works as the keeper for El Sharif, (Jerry Delony) a powerful oil sheik that controls a vast harem. When new members Inga Lindstrom, (Uschi Digard) Nora Edward, (Colleen Brennan) and Alina Cordova, (Haji) arrive to be indoctrinated into the lifestyle and she sets out to do it for them. When US Navy Commander Adam Scott, (Max Thayer) arrives at the camp to help negotiate a treaty for the oil, she takes an immediate personal interest in him and tries to do her best to keep him while also attending to her duties inside his harem. Finally growing restless with his stubbornness and refusal to allow her to keep him around, she decides to stage a coup with the girls and him to take over the palace and exact their revenge.

The News: This wasn't that bad, but it's certainly good enough at times. The main issue with this one is that this one is just as good as the original in the sleaze department when it tries to. There's a generous helping of nudity in here, delivered with plenty of opportunities to show some really nice moments. There's the usual inspection of all the slaves sequence here, where they spend the time going over every inch of their body and giving clear looks at everything on display to their training sequences for the harem, which include sexual favors, performances and more, all done with emphasis on the sleaze and nudity presented in the situation. Usually reserved for the dirtier side, yet there's a matter of doing the scenes for their best at giving off a great, dirty feel while also doing it's best to feel romantic and sensuous as well. These work from the film's several sex scenes or massages that occur throughout. There's even some from the various tortures inflicted in here, which are suitably disgusting without being too graphic. The biggest one, the ants over the legs while gnawing away on the flesh is a really gruesome sight and really does a lot of good for the brutality stakes with tons of closeups of the creatures crawling all over the skin and the wounds that occur from the bites. It's all wonderfully exploitative and works wonders for the film. There's also the wonderfully cruel forms of torture dished out along the way, including the rebel who gets set on fire in a spectacular scene that's the best moment in the film by a large majority, a thief has their hand amputated in full view of everyone at a party and an incredibly squirm-inducing one with rats-in-a-cage. There's a couple other great parts to this, mainly the really fun action scenes at the end. This one gets a little more thrilling and exciting than the previous one, which is a great feat in that it gets one over on the original, and the huge body count is a lot of fun. There's a few problems with it, though, mainly in the fact that it doesn't really feel as dirty as the first one. It's a lot more toned down in the sleaze, with the violence being quite removed from where it was, there's a lot less amount of nudity than before despite it feeling like there's a lot, and the sleaze amounts are much lower, leaving very little in the way of the original. The only other problem to be had with this one is the more relaxed pace, with a lot more scenes that appear thrown in for the sole purpose of expanding the film out. The conversations about what to do with the harem girls didn't need to be done so often, as often-times it was just for a couple quick lines with no progression made in the time, and it sort of makes the middle drag a little bit. These, though, are minor problems and don't distract enough to ruin this one completely.

The Final Verdict: Not as good or as sleazy as the original, but it's still enough to make it a watchable entry in the exploitation cannon. Give it a shot if you liked the first one, are interested in the genre or have a deep appreciation for these kinds of films, but if you weren't a fan of the first heed caution.

Rated R: Full Nudity, Graphic Violence, some mild sex scenes and some Language

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

I can't say enough good things about Ilsa, (Dyanne Thorne). Her outrageous German accent and voluptuous body make this flick a stellar exploitation movie. "My name....is ILSA!" I want her to be my harem keeper. First I would need a harem though. Details, details.

Ilsa isn't so much a character as she is a historical figure. Whenever there are strong women throughout history dominating other women for sadistic pleasure, they shall all be called "Ilsa". The Ilsa from the first movie was in Nazi Germany and was killed at the end of the flick. So clearly this is not the exact same Ilsa. The new Ilsa runs a harem for a depraved "Oil Sheik".

Ilsa runs the harem efficiently, telling girls the right way to lick a body, disciplining traitors with flesh eating ants and presiding over topless kung fu fighting sessions. There are a lot of breasts in this flick. The harem likes to go topless. Ilsa also comes up with a plastic explosive that you place in a girl's private area that will detonate when having sex. Yes. Exploding vaginas. The sleaze was working overtime.

"Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks" promises nasty sleaze and does not disappoint. Every other scene had either blood or breasts or both. It's a great exploitation movie. I recommend it.

Yes, Ilsa died at the end of the first movie but when has that ever stopped a sequel?

Directed again by Don Edmonds, written by Langston Stafford and again featuring Dyanne Thorne as Ilsa, this film starts with three crates arriving for Ilsa to process. They three chastity belt-confined women. They are the sole heiress of a chain store king of the United States, an actress who is a Scandinavian love goddess and an Asian-European equestrian champion. Working for Sheikh El-Sharif (Jerry Delony), she is to prepare them for sale, which means forcing them to make love to her lesbian bodyguards and crush the body parts of spies who are working for the American commander (Max Thayer) who is spying on her.

This is a movie that has exploding diaphragms and belly button cameras, so it is much more Eurospy than the original. It is just as ridiculous. It also steals the theme from Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

It also has a formidable cast, including Russ Meyer supervixens Uschi Digard and Haji, Tanya Boyd, Colleen Brennan, Marilyn Joi, Su Ling and the returning George Buck Flower. There's also a plot where the commander and Ilsa save the prince and she still gets condemned to starvation. Don't worry. She'll be back.

This is a much slicker looking movie with cardboard sets but somehow, it has more of a spirit of fun, even if it has dialogue like "Let's see how she dances with no feet."

The exploitation worlds female Black Adder is back.

This time its modern day and she looks as good today as she did in WW2. And she is just as nasty. This time she is working for an oil sheik (well some white guy with a tan, who is rumoured to be Spalding Gray). Her jobs seem to involve kidnap, rape, torture and making girls fat.

Not as in bad taste as She Wolf of the SS but more enjoyable and faster moving. It looks bigger budget with grand sets and brilliant locations. Great costumes and surprisingly good acting.

It does have a few downsides. Such as Ilsa turning good and the very fake looking air plane interior.

Still it is brilliant and very enjoyable. But its not going to be for everyone...