I picked up "Locked Up" a few years ago and like most everyone else who's commented, I was kind of shocked to discover it was frequently on the verge of veering into porn. Watching the deleted scenes and interviews, it was clear that they'd shot some hardcore scenes but other than thinking it was typical that they'd cut the hardcore footage from the American print, I didn't give it much more thought. "Locked Up" has more than its fair share of flaws, but as a movie I've certainly seen much worse, and as a softcore flick it wasn't bad.
Totally by happenstance, I just stumbled onto "Eingelocht" (aka "In the Hole"), the XXX version of the film. I did a bit of a double-take when I saw the cover, so I had to give it a viewing. Not since "Superman II" have I seen two such radically different versions of the same movie! I was expecting a longer version of the same film, but instead the hardcore version is almost a completely different movie with a slightly shorter running time.
"Locked Up" has a very clear and concise plot revolving around prison newbie Marcel Schlutt's romance with fellow inmate Mike Sale. While there are still remnants of that in "In the Hole," there's really only splinters of the story left. Many of the remaining scenes are edited in a completely different order, and it includes several extended scenes (the timid inmate who gets spit upon in "Locked Up" is further humiliated by being urinated upon in "In the Hole") and seemingly random hardcore scenes with the prisoners and guards (hinted at in the deleted scenes of the "Locked Up" disc). Schlutt and Sale's romance is still the through-line, but the bulk of the dialogue/confrontation scenes are missing (along with a few actors!) and instead of (*ahem*) climaxing with Schlutt's release from prison, the story merely builds to him having sex with Sale, which is how the film ends (Schlutt never even gets released in the hardcore version).
Having seen "Locked Up" first, I thought "In the Hole" had the potential to be an above average, plot-filled porn flick. Nope -- though as mere prison porn it's probably above average. Contrarily, if I'd seen the hardcore version first, I never would've known there was enough material there for an actual movie.
Totally by happenstance, I just stumbled onto "Eingelocht" (aka "In the Hole"), the XXX version of the film. I did a bit of a double-take when I saw the cover, so I had to give it a viewing. Not since "Superman II" have I seen two such radically different versions of the same movie! I was expecting a longer version of the same film, but instead the hardcore version is almost a completely different movie with a slightly shorter running time.
"Locked Up" has a very clear and concise plot revolving around prison newbie Marcel Schlutt's romance with fellow inmate Mike Sale. While there are still remnants of that in "In the Hole," there's really only splinters of the story left. Many of the remaining scenes are edited in a completely different order, and it includes several extended scenes (the timid inmate who gets spit upon in "Locked Up" is further humiliated by being urinated upon in "In the Hole") and seemingly random hardcore scenes with the prisoners and guards (hinted at in the deleted scenes of the "Locked Up" disc). Schlutt and Sale's romance is still the through-line, but the bulk of the dialogue/confrontation scenes are missing (along with a few actors!) and instead of (*ahem*) climaxing with Schlutt's release from prison, the story merely builds to him having sex with Sale, which is how the film ends (Schlutt never even gets released in the hardcore version).
Having seen "Locked Up" first, I thought "In the Hole" had the potential to be an above average, plot-filled porn flick. Nope -- though as mere prison porn it's probably above average. Contrarily, if I'd seen the hardcore version first, I never would've known there was enough material there for an actual movie.