Color, 1976, 94 mins. 55 secs.
Directed by Sergio Garrone
Starring Mircha Carven, Paola Corazzi, Giorgio Cerioni, Patrizia Melega, Serafino Profumo, Attilio Dottesio
88 Films (UHD & Blu-ray) (US R0 4K/HD), Media Blasters (DVD) (US R1 NTSC) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9)


After the Nazisploitation wave in Italy kicked SS Experiment Love Campoff on a semi-respectable note with films like The Night Porter, The Damned, and Salon Kitty, it SS Experiment Love Campwasn't long before much cheaper, grungier, and nastier cash-ins tried to get in on the action. While competitors in North America and elsewhere in Europe tried on occasion, namely the Ilsa films, Italy remained at the front of the pack with this disreputable trend that managed to outdo the cannibal and nunsploitation cycle for sheer tastelessness. One director who contributed multiple times was onetime spaghetti western factory Sergio Garrone, who ended up shooting two Nazi atrocity sexploitation films back to back with several repeating cast members. The second one, SS Camp: Women's Hell, remains confined to DVD as of this writing, while the first, SS Experiment Love Camp, has had an extensive and bizarre history on home video we'll get to in a minute.

Near the end of World War II in Germany, women are forced to adhere to the Nazi party or suffer the consequences, mostly involving immolation and electroshock treatment. One of the more benevolent Nazis (ahem), Helmut (Candido Erotico's Carven), is reluctantly willing to undertake experiments involving sex with prisoners under the supervision of superior officer Col. von Kleiben (Cerioni). Among the deranged tests are copulation in a big vat of water, slowly freezing inmates, and so on. SS Experiment Love CampMeanwhile a lesbian doctor (Melega) conducts her own experiments on female inmates (who plot their escape SS Experiment Love Campby sneaking goodies out of the cabinets while getting undressed), as the SS officers entertain themselves pretty girls dancing around red-schemed rooms. Of course, Helmut ends up getting too close to one of the subjects (Mirelle) which could spell doom for everyone involved.

Far too ludicrous to be taken seriously, SS Experiment Love Camp was a major player in the idiotic video nasty panic of the 1980s thanks to its perverse artwork; one can only wonder whether anyone at the BBFC really watched the actual film, which plays more like a John Waters film in SS uniforms. Though it offers no nutritional value whatsoever, the film does feature a couple of competent performances, with Carven (a decent actor with a very strange career) making the most of a completely stupid character.

Circulated on VHS numerous times with varying degrees of censorship of its contents and artwork, SS Experiment Love Camp turned up on DVD in the U.S. from Media Blasters' Exploitation Digital imprint in 2005 (following a dire bootleg from a VHS source by the dreaded Substance Films). The film looked okay at the time (apart from being interlaced) in its English-dubbed version and was completely uncut. Garrone turns up for a 9m44s interview recalling the ignorance in Italy about the German SS Experiment Love Campatrocities when they were occurring, his research for the script, the cathartic nature of these films, and the insertion SS Experiment Love Campof spicier footage without his knowledge. A trailer (which shows pretty much the entire ending) and photo gallery are also included. In 2015, 88 Films somehow brought the film out on Blu-ray in the U.K. uncensored featuring the English and Italian audio (LPCM 2.0 mono) with optional translated English subtitles. Looking really drab, the main feature has the English title sequences with the Italian included as an extra along with unrelated bonus trailers like Spasmo and Children of the Corn. 88 Films tried to keep the Nazisploitation series going after this with Gestapo's Last Orgy, which pushed things too far with the BBFC and ended up being released exclusively in the U.S. instead.

In 2025, 88 Films revisited the title as an extraordinarily unlikely UHD upgrade with a Blu-ray included as well. The new scan from the original negative looks ridiculously good and improves significantly on every prior release with more image info, far better color, much more detail, etc. The UHD looks especially impressive with the HDR10-compatible Dolby Vision making the most out of those red room scenes. The framing is also better here at 1.85:1 compared to the cropped 1.78:1 we had on the previous Blu-ray and DVD. The English and Italian LPCM mono audio options both sound fine and feature English SDH or translated subtitles. Generally the English track is more entertaining and closer to what the actors were actually saying, while the Italian is more serious and professionally done.

Also, 88 has finally given this film the in-depth scholarly analysis it's deserved for so long with a batch of new extras starting with an audio commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Nanni SS Experiment Love CampCobretti who cover Garrone's career, the major actors, the rise of Nazisploitation in Italy, the theatrical venues for these films, the production history, and plenty more. "Sadistically Yours, Sergio G." (30m24s) is a new chat with Garrone about the insane productivity of the Italian film industry around this time, the commercial demands that led him down this path after his westerns, his process of working with producers, the prevalence of directors named Sergio, and lots more. In SS Experiment Love Camp"SSadist Sound" (28m26s), music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis examines the Roberto Pregadio synth score and its place in his very broad, wide-ranging career starting in the '50s with many significant contributions that remain underappreciated. In "The Alibisio Dynasty" (25m52s), editor Eugenio Alabiso talks about his family's history in the industry, shows off some family belongings, and charts his course in the business with his brother helping him become an assistant editor and spending much time around legends at the time as well as those who fell into "shabby little flicks." Finally in "Framing Exploitation" (11m42s), cinematographer Maurizio Centini explains how he came up through the ranks via various means including documentary funding, his big break through Alberto Cavallone, the subsequent titans who educated him, and memories of various '70s projects with a contrasting range of personalities. Also included are the Italian main and end titles and the English trailer, plus a slipcase with art by Joel Robinson and an insert booklet with a "Nazisploitation, Punks and the Nasties..." essay by Tim Murray covering the history of censorship hassles with the subgenre (including another notorious U.S. entry, Love Camp 7) and the connections to the burgeoning '70s punk culture, which filtered through well into the video nasty era.

88 Films (2025 Blu-ray)
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88 Films (2015 Blu-ray)
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Media Blasters (DVD)
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Reviewed on October 26, 2025