Truly a Nightmare...in ANY county!

bfjrnski

Contains Spoilers!! Nightmare in Badham County was originally shown as a TV movie.But a later "theatrical" version has turned in video stores.This "theatrical" version has added only a few scenes of fronal nudity and lesbian brutality.But these scenes succeed in making "Nightmare in Badham County" little more than a sleazy,girlie-prison video flick! The TV version (which by now might air on the late-late show) remains a much more tame and more gripping drama.One that leaves the viewer shocked and saddened... The story involves two college girls-Kathy and Diane.Best friends on summer vacation touring through the "deep south".The only problem is that Kathy is white and Diane is black.They happen to encounter car trouble in a small,remote,rural town in which black folks still live in subservience and repression.After telling off the local,bigotted sheriff he arranges their incarceration in a local jailhouse.And after raping the black girl he succeeds in having them sentenced to "30 days" in the local prison farm. This squalid prison farm is run by a wealthy and sleazy warden and the "guards" are actually rifle-toting trustees.The blacks and whites are kept in separate barracks but are treated equally badly!The work is long,hot,and back-breaking.The food is virtually non-existent.Blacks and whites are forbidden to even speak to each other.The trustees are tough and

cold.In the complete absence of the nudity and lesbianism of the video version we the TV viewers are able to feel the unbearable heat,hunger,and desperation of Kathy and Diane's plight!Sex is not a way out for them.They're only hope is escape!And escape only results in Kathy's eventual freedom.Diane is killed.And we learn that she is not the only one to die at the hands of Badham County!

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bfjrnski 17 April 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0148937/