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Sounds promising, right? Kind of like one of those old school sexploitation/women in prison type of films from the 1970's. Now, who isn't up for one of those? The only problem is that this is a movie from 2013. A time not known for its high level of exploitation output. Well, I was a little intrigued to see how such a thing would play out, so I decided to give it a go. Well, I should have known better. The movie is called Jailbait and it is maybe half of a good effort. It is hardly a film to get all nuts about.
Looking back, I should have known better than to expect much of anything from this. It was written and directed by Jared Cohn, a regular of the Asylum, having helmed films such as 12/12/12, Atlantic Rim, and Bikini Spring Break. With Jailbait, also known as 17 and Life, he attempts to create a disturbing women in prison flick, but the result is much more bland than unsettling. That is unless you are easily unsettled or not used to seeing this manner of staged depravity.
As the movie begins, we see a city scene, the credits appear and we hear cello music. The scene cuts to the inside of a teenager's bedroom. Already at this early stage you can tell that this is not going to go well. We first see our star, Anna (Sara Malakul Lane), in an overly sexualized fashion playing the cello (well, simulating it anyway). Who we learn to be her stepfather enters the room and sits down on the bed next to her. He reaches over and takes the cello from her hands. We know where this is going to go. A struggle ensues and the man is kicked backwards, he falls, and is inadvertently killed.
This act of self defense lands Anna in a juvenile detention, her sentence is 4 years for involuntary manslaughter. We do not see the trial, hell, we barely see any buildup to the initial murder, before we are rushed into the prison. Despite the description above, we do not witness any buildup of abuse, just one fateful instance with the rest merely stated in dialogue later on. The movie is all about rushing into the prison.
Once we are in the prison we are shown the standard tropes of the women in prison genre. There is the abusive warden, the drug abuse (forced or otherwise), the gangs, the lesbianism, the fights. It is all there, presented in bite size, easy to digest chunks. It is clearly intended to be unsettling, a glimpse behind the curtain of badness, if you will. The problem is that everything is overly sexualized and presented not unlike a late night MTV show, but with nudity. Much of it could be shown in a variety of orders and still led to the same outcome.
We watch Anna as she looks like the scared new girl, as she is engaged in a lesbian act with her cell mate, the approach and offers of the gangs, the retribution for not playing along, more lesbianism, some more fights, a warden taking advantage of his wards, it is all standard fare. It comes nowhere near the likes of House of Whipcord, The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, or Switchblade Sisters. It has all of the elements, but it just puts them out there devoid of any real context and without really having a voice of its own. It is more of an example of putting the pieces together, rather than making a movie.
Don't get me wrong, the stuff they delve into is not the stuff of happy thoughts, it just fails to really deliver on its promise. The plot is secondary to the set pieces, the set pieces are presented in too shallow a fashion to have much of an impact. Actually, the way they shot some of the scenes and the music that was paired with them was more disturbing than the actual content. At times it felt they were trying to, I don't know, romanticize the moment rather then present it as the terrible act it is. Kind of a new wave exploitation which seeks to rob it of any actual impact.
I have certainly seen worse films, I just am not sure who the target for this really is. It almost exists on an island all by itself.
Not Recommended.
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