Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is a 1975 Canadian exploitation film about Ilsa, a sadistic and sexually voracious Nazi prison camp commandant. The film is directed by American filmmaker Don Edmonds and produced by David F. Friedman for CinÃĐpix Film Properties in Montreal. The film stars Dyanne Thorne in the title role, who is loosely based on Ilse Koch, a convicted war criminal and overseer at the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Upon its release in early 1975, the film was immediately met with widespread controversy and critical derision, with Gene Siskel calling it "the most degenerate picture I have seen to play downtown". Particular criticism was directed at the film's graphic violence; which includes depictions of castration, flogging, human experimentation, and many other forms of torture. Word of mouth quickly spread, and the film was a considerable financial success, becoming a staple of grindhouse and drive-in theatres.
The popularity of the film led to the creation of three sequels, each of which saw Thorne reprise her role.