Donald Wrye | USA 1974 | 98mins. | 16mm film – rare uncut, original broadcast version
Courtesy of The Cosmic Hex Archive
Linda Blair plays Christine Parker, a 14-year old soft-spoken runaway who is deposited in a state school for juvenile delinquents when her parents sign her over as a ward of the court. A good girl in a bad situation, Chris undergoes a series of humiliations including aggressive body-searches and de-lousing, but when one of the staff exhibits signs of favoritism toward her, she is punished by the other girls who rape her in the showers with a toilet plunger. There are many women-in-prison films that depict the transformation of a good girl into a hardened criminal, but Born Innocent remains one of the best.
This screening is part of the sidebar:
SPOTLIGHT ON: HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN
As part of its 2013 programming, SF Indie will be hosting a House of Psychotic Women sidebar, with rare prints of two films hosted by author Kier-la Janisse, who will be introducing each show and signing copies of her book afterwards. House of Psychotic Women is an autobiographical exploration of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films. Anecdotes and memories interweave with film history, criticism, trivia and confrontational imagery to create a reflective personal history and examination of female madness, both onscreen and off.