Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks 4K Review (Kino Cult)

Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (aKa Ilsa 2) is a 1976 exploitation film produced and directed by Don Edmonds (Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, Tender Loving Care, Wild Honey, Tomcat Angels, Bare Knuckles, Southern Double Cross, Silk Stalkings, and Terror on Tour). It was written by Langston Stafford. It’s the sequel to Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS. It’s followed by Ilsa, the Wicked Warden and Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia. In the vast deserts of the Middle East, the evil Ilsa (played by: Dyanne Thorne from the Ilsa franchise, Hellhole, Blood Sabbath, Point of Terror, and Real Men) is assisted by her twin assassins Satin (played by: Tanya Boyd from Black Shampoo, Days of Our Lives, For da Love of Money, and Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling) and Velvet (played by: Marilyn Joi from Black Samurai, The Kentucky Fried Movie, Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend, Hit Man, Nurse Sherri, and Mansion of the Doomed). She serves the perverted pleasures of a decadent oil baron and sex-trafficker, El Sharif (played by: Jerry Delony from Nazi Sex Experiments, Step Fast, The Invitation, and Violated!). When an American diplomat Dr. Kaiser (played by: Richard Kennedy from Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, Fangs, Invasion of the Blood Farmers, The Candy Tangerine Man, and The Love Butcher) and Commander Adam Scott (played by: Max Thayer from S.W.A.T., Martial Law II: Undercover, Iron Eagle, Sworn to Justice, and No Retreat, No Surrender 2) try to gain access to El Sharif’s oil. They end up witnessing all of the horrible pleasures of his devious desert playground, will they be able to escape from it all???? Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is the follow up to 1975’s Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS. I love the fact that every Ilsa film in the franchise is completely different from each other. They have all their own unique atmosphere and their own interesting themes to them. Director Don Edmonds returns to the series behind the camera with his partner in cinema, the stunning Dyanne Thorne. They made an excellent team when it came to exploitation. The script created to first time screenwriter Langston Stafford. Apparently, it’s a seasoned writer under a fake alias. There’s basically no plot or consistent story for Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks. This sequel makes up for the absence of a narrative structure with all of it’s sleaze, gore, torture, dark humor, and violence. The audience doesn’t really miss it after all of that. This one tries have more comedy compared to the original. Dyanne Thorne is back as the menacing and powerful Ilsa. She weaseled her way into the wealthy El Sharif’s life as his own personal enforcer. She has her own squad of bad ass women that do all of her dirty deeds including kidnapping and torturing important victims that help build their destructive empire. She trains them to be sex slaves. She’s amazing with this iconic role, she has no problem going back to this infamous villain. Jerry Delony as the greedy El Sharif manages to make Ilsa become more likeable because he’s a total scumbag with no remorse and he always abuses his power over everyone including her. He makes the audience root for him fall apart and possibly face death as he pushes his limits all the time. The rest of the supporting cast includes Tanya Boyd, Marilyn Joi, Richard Kennedy, Max Thayer, George ‘Buck’ Flower (Back to the Future franchise), Uschi Digard (Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens), Colleen Brennan (Supervixens), Haji (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), Su Ling (UP!), Speed Stearns (Truck Stop Women), John F. Goff (The Fog), Joyce Mandel (Weird Science), Howard Maurer (Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia), Ray Myles (Satan’s Black Wedding), Derna Wylde (Wonder Woman), and Bobby Woods. Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is loaded with so many beautiful women. Good news, all of the eye candy here shows off their phenomenal bodies in this. This series goes from Germany to the Middle East, there’s so much variety here. Ilsa starts to enjoy the company of Commander Adam Scott and it changes her a little bit. She decides to try to overthrow the ruthless El Sharif. This causes a war within this dangerous group. Everyone is facing off and no one is safe. The finale is action packed and it has some creative surprises thrown in. Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is very brutal and it never shys away from it’s gruesome moments. I mean it features exploding vaginas so nothing is left untouched. Plus it has fatal snakes, tarantulas, and flesh eating ants. Ironically, it’s still tamer than Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS. This follow up is extremely underrated. It’s so much fun and morbidly entertaining with it’s non stop over the top visuals. It has strong replay value to it. This grindhouse movie is perfect for a crowd or a group of friends. It deserves more appreciation and attention, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Kino Cult! This 2160p (1.66:1) transfer with HDR10 from a newer 4K restoration. I will say that the Blu Ray version looks slightly different when I compared both discs so you basically get multiple options for this exploitation sequel. I previously owned it on DVD from Anchor Bay from their 2000 home video release and a more recent Blu Ray upgrade from Sloppy Second Sales. This Kino Cult transfer blows all of them away, it’s the best it’s ever going to look for what they have to work with. It’s very low budget and it was made in 1976 so it’s much better than expected on UHD. It’s much sharper and it really brings out visuals that I didn’t even notice before. It was shot by legendary DP Dean Cundey (Jurassic Park, Escape from New York, Halloween franchise, The Fog, Back to the Future franchise, Big Trouble in Little China, Psycho II, and The Thing). It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks here. The audio really settles in for it’s crazy final act. The score also sounds fantastic for this. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the torture is elevated, and the music has a big boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an archive “Audio Commentary” with Don Edmonds, Dyanne Thorne, and Howard Maurer that’s moderated by film critic Martin Lewis. They provide plenty of detailed, honest, and funny stories about this independent production. They chat about the cast, characters, torture scenes, and locations. Apparently this was shot during an awful heatwave in California. I learned something new that the screenwriter was actually newcomer Langston Stafford, it was an experienced writer that just didn’t want credit for this follow up. Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks did amazing at the box office for the states and overseas. It has brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with film critics Kat Ellinger and Evgueni Mlodik. They joke about this not being Lawrence of Arabia. They say it’s probably an influence on future slasher villains with this series always bringing back the villain in a variety of different situations. They have fun with the location posing as the Middle East when it’s California. They point out lots of the women that appeared here did porn or softcore projects. They show their appreciation for Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks here. It’s loaded with all kinds of information related to this exploitation feature. It’s a fun track that has a blast revisiting this wild universe. These are the only extras on the UHD, the rest of the special features are located on the Blu Ray disc. It has the almost 28 minute archive “Interview” with director Don Edmonds from 2007. He says they didn’t want this sequel to be as serious and they wanted more humor thrown in. A few of the original producers stepped away from it. He chats about the rough shooting conditions for Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks for some desert scenes. It was extremely hot and uncomfortable when they filmed in California. He mentions it was like 197 degrees. No one wanted to come out of the trailers because it was so brutal outside but they managed to pull it off. He got a brand new vehicle before doing this. It went through a sand storm and it got destroyed. He tells a funny story about the women auction scenes with a difficult extra. He goes over the cast a little bit. It has a “Trailer” for Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks. It has the 6 minute “Stills Gallery” for the film. It has promotional stills, production shots, film pictures, and publicity material from all over the world. It comes with a slipcover and reversible artwork. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!