This 1973 grindhouse product, which is also known as NIGHTMARE CIRCUS, TERROR CIRCUS and CAGED WOMEN, is a nothing movie of note primarily because it was directed by future arthouse auteur Alan Rudolph. At the time an experienced assistant director with one feature directorial credit (1972’s PREMONITION), Rudolph has since done his best to distance himself from THE BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD, contending that he was a fill-in director and never saw the finished film. The film’s star Andrew Prine backed up Rudolph’s claims, and further asserted that Prine directed a great deal of the film himself.
The late Mr. Prine (1936-2022), FYI, was something of a grindhouse movie mainstay. Following a solid career in big studio westerns, he graced films like SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES (1971), THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS (1974), GRIZZLY, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (both 1976) and THE EVIL (1978), with THE BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD being the only film he claimed to have ever regretted appearing in.
Simone, Sheri and Corrine (Manuella Thiess, Sherry Alberoni and Gyl Roland) are exotic dancers on a road trip to Las Vegas. Their car breaks down in a portion of the Nevada desert (actually Lancaster, CA) where nuclear weapons were tested. After a night spent in the vehicle they’re approached by a creepy old guy named Andre (Prine), who whisks them off in his jeep to a secluded house. Exploring the place, the gals enter an adjoining barn housing several chained-up women, whose ranks they soon join.
Andre, it seems, is a nut who seeks to control these ladies’ every action. He forces his captives to take periodic walks around a backyard watchtower, whips them regularly and emcees a deranged circus in which the gals take the form of various animals. Andre comes to believe that Simone is his long-deceased mother, and invites her into the house, giving her an opportunity to find the key to unlocking the chains binding the women.
Back in the civilized world Simone, Sheri and Corrine’s agent Derek Moore (Chuck Niles) goes searching for his clients. A chance encounter with Sherrif Stanford (Al Cormier) in a diner sets Derek on the right path, just as Simone is helping her fellow captives escape their confinement—and Andre’s heretofore unseen father, who’s been severely mutated by radiation from the nuclear tests and confined to an outdoor cage, finally makes himself seen.
Viewers looking for hints of the jazzy style of Alan Rudolph’s later films will be in for a disappointment. There are instances of what might have been intended as artful compositions, such as a shot of a woman leaning against a board in the eponymous barn that emits sunlight through its edges, and attempts at the type of suspense that characterized later Rudolph films like ENDANGERED SPECIES (1982) and MORTAL THOUGHTS (1991), but those attempts simply don’t come off.
So no, Rudolph fans won’t be stated, but viewers interested in early 1970s grindhouse filmmaking will be well rewarded, as this film is a textbook example. It contains a highly derivative non-narrative (with PSYCHO cribbed from quite extensively), overexposed cinematography, oft-inaudible sound recording and promises of lasciviousness that aren’t delivered upon; nudity is quite sparse, there’s no sexual content to speak of and the mutant make-up seen at the end is barely shown.
Also of the grindhouse ilk is a concept that, as in most women in prison flicks, can function as both misogynistic exploitation and a trenchant commentary on female subjugation. It’s the former category that ultimately wins out.
Vital Statistics
THE BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD (TERROR CIRCUS, NIGTMARE CIRCUS, CAGED WOMEN)
C.M.C. Pictures Corporation
Director: Alan Rudolph
Producer: Gerald Cormier
Screenplay: Roman Valenti
Cinematography: E. Lynn
Editing: “M K Productions, Inc.”
Cast: Andrew Prine, Manuella Thiess, Sherry Alberoni, Gyl Roland, Shiela Bromley, Gil Lamb, Al Cormier, Chuck Niles, Jennifer Ashley, Laura Campbell, Sonja Dunson, Karene Fredrik, Lin Henson, Jolene Lontere, Jean Manson, Leslie Oliver, Marlene Tracy, Byrd Holland