Several courageous attempts to escape or reach out to the outside world fail because everybody in Badham County appears to be corrupt and/or petrified of the local "legal" system. They are subjected to hard labor and the harsh and often perverted commands of the guards, while the slightest sign of disobedience results in an increase of their punishment. The girls become separated because of their skin color and are prohibited to contact the outside world. A trial follows, but seeing that in this Southern part of the nation everyone is related to everyone, the girls are sentenced to 30 days in Badham County's women prison called "The Farm" and that's where the nightmare truly begins. So badly even that he finds a cheap excuse to place them under arrest and then, at night, sneak into Diane's cell to rape her. The liberated and free-spirited girls they are, they quickly offend and publicly humiliate the chauvinistic pig Sheriff Danen. Whilst on a road trip through the South, interracial college girlfriends Cathy and Diane are forced to make a stop in a small community in Badham County due to car trouble. "Nightmare in Badham County" is a genuinely moving drama with identifiable lead characters, a disturbing portrait about the abuse of authority and generally speaking also a professionally directed and astoundingly shot but modest film. But this is also more than just a shocking exploitation hybrid. Combinations of the two genres aren't manifold, but "Nightmare in Badham County" illustrates that it's perfectly possible and even almost logical to amalgamate the characteristics of both. "Hicksploitation" routinely revolves on civilized people getting stuck, for whatever reason, in isolated backwoods villages inhabited by primitive and exaggeratedly hostile people with horrible dental hygiene. The latter is probably my personal favorite sub genre of horror and like no other one it truly reflects the essence of 70's horror film-making. The former is pretty self-explaining and handles about defenseless girls being locked away in corrupt and filthy jails where they are confronted with perverted guards and aggressive prisoner gangs. This undeservedly and sadly obscure made-for-TV 70's thriller successfully combines elements and ambiances from two of the most commonly used and popular horror sub genres of the mid 70's, namely the so-called "Women in Prison" films and "Hicksploitation" movies. Perhaps the depicted violence isn't as graphical and the sleaze isn't as explicit, but the suggestive material and insinuations here are far more shocking than the gratuitous footage in most other contemporary flicks. "Nightmare in Badham County" is one of them examples, because the themes featuring in this movie are definitely not what you would call "soft". Usually I try and avoid watching TV-movies because I keep thinking they hold back on shocking content and grisly images, but lately I've encountered several titles that actually proved my way of thinking is entirely incorrect and even quite shallow.
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