Caged Heat (alternate title: Renegade Girls) is a 1974 exploitation film in the women-in-prison genre. It was written and directed by Jonathan Demme for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. The film stars Erica Gavin, Roberta Collins, Juanita Brown, Rainbeaux Smith, Desireé Cousteau and Barbara Steele. Also introduced to the big screen in this film was the well-known character actress Adele Stasilli-Fernandez. John Cale wrote and performed the film's soundtrack, which prominently features the guitar playing of Mike Bloomfield.
The film centers on Gavin's character, Jacqueline Wilson, who is sentenced to a women's prison on drug-related charges. She bonds with a group of her fellow prisoners and fights the repressive tactics of the warden, played by Steele.
Caged Heat is Demme's directoral debut. Although he includes the fast action, catfighting, and gratuitous nudity Corman required in his exploitation films, Demme also incorporates elements of liberal politics, feminism, and social consciousness. Because of this, and because of its place in Demme's filmography, some critics consider Caged Heat to be more interesting than run-of-the-mill women-in-prison movies.
Caged Heat was filmed for $180,000.
Two sequels, Caged Heat II: Stripped of Freedom (1994) and Caged Heat 3000 (1995), borrow the Caged Heat name and women-in-prison setting, but are otherwise unrelated movies.
A girl is caught in a drug bust and sent to the hoosegow. The iron-handed superintendent takes exception to a skit performed by the girls and takes punitive steps, aided by the sadistic doctor who is doing illegal electroshock experiments and raping drugged prisoners. After a while the prisoners put away their petty differences and plan the Big Prison Escape. Written by Ed Sutton
