With every successful film there always comes a knock off and seeing as the Police Academy movies were a commercial success it shouldn't be all that surprising that copycat films appeared shortly after. Rick Sloane's six Vice Academy movies didn't have the presence of the all mighty Steve Gutenburg to coast on and instead they went for low brow humor and novelty casting to make up for the lack of true star power. The results were decidedly mixed but those who enjoy bad exploitation comedies or who have a curious interest in the mainstream (and by mainstream I mean non-porno movie) career of one Ginger Lynn should find something to enjoy in these three movies, no matter how bad the humor is – and brother, it's bad. Really bad.

Vice Academy:

This first film introduces us to a batch of misfits who are all in training to become members of the vice squad in Los Angeles. The star student of the class, Holly (Ginger Lynn), is pretty much a shoe in as her daddy is the chief of police and he's not above pulling a few strings for her. What Holly doesn't realize is that she'll have to compete with Didi (Linnea Quigley of Return Of The Living Dead) for the top spot in the class. Didi and her classmate Shawnee (Karen Russell) are going to go undercover to bust a porno movie operation and a prostitution racket wide open whether Holly thinks it's fair or not.

This first film in the series is horrible, but it is watchable in the way that only horrible movies can be. As stupid as it is, the film manages to be an entertaining and somewhat sleazy little movie that in present day works best as a time capsule of when it was made more than as an actually funny comedy. The fashions and wardrobe (much of which was provided by the actresses themselves) all scream late 80s as does the bad score and the bad hair. Large portions of the movie were shot on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles so the adult bookstores and porno movie theaters that you see in the movie are definitely authentic and they add some interesting charm to the film.

Ginger Lynn (credited throughout the series as Ginger Lynn Allen in a veiled attempt to distance herself from her adult film career, though shortly after she left she'd return) and Linnea Quigley are enjoyable enough to look at here, both in their prime, and the cattiness between them is quite heartfelt and genuinely dumb. Look for Viper, the adult film star who mysteriously disappeared years ago never to be seen again, in a small supporting role as a smut movie director as well as Tamara Clatterbuck of Days Of Our Lives and General Hospital as a lady of the evening.

Vice Academy II:

Picking up where the first movie left off, Didi and Holly have both passed from the Vice Academy with flying colors and are now working on their first assignment which unfortunately finds them working the switchboard which is not at all what they envisioned when they signed up for this gig. Eventually, however, they get a chance at the action they crave when one of their fellow vice cops is almost killed and they have to go undercover to figure out what exactly is going on. How does this scenario make use of their special talents? Well, it requires them to pose as strippers for one!

A few bumbling investigations lead the girls to uncover an illegal aphrodisiac ring lead by a woman named Spanish Fly (Marina Benvenga) that they must stop before the world becomes a horny hell on earth. All the while, a new recruit to the team named 'Bimbocop' (Teagan Clive who had a bit part in Jumpin' Jack Flash) is making things even more difficult for our heroines.

If you dug the first film you'll enjoy this one too as it really is more of the same. The supporting characters aren't as funny this time out but with people like Bimbocop running around it's hard not to at least finish the film just to satiate your own morbid curiosity as to where all of this retardedness is going to wind up. Ginger and Linnea once again do a fine job as the air headed catty partners in the lead roles, delivering dialogue with about as much acting ability as a rock. Duane Whitaker, who recently appeared in Feast has a small part in this film, as does Melissa Moore who some might recognize from Evil Spawn, and Sorority House Massacre II. Once again, the humor is painfully horrible but it does sort of manage to transcend its own limitations to the point where it's so bad that it becomes almost funny again in spite of itself.

Vice Academy III:

Linnea Quigley bailed on the series for this third film, but Ginger Lynn stuck around for another round and this time Holly finds herself teaming up with Didi's sister Candy (Elizabeth Kaitan who would reprise the roll for the rest of the series and who also appears in Friday The 13th Part VII – The New Blood).

With a little bit of experience now under their belts, the girls find themselves tasked with the rather difficult job of bringing in a gang of escaped female convicts. The leader of this gang, the vicious Malathion (Julia Parton, better known in the adult film world as Nina Alexander – she was still doing smut as recently as 2002 which would have put her close to forty – she's also Dolly's cousin!), is obviously not really down with the idea of heading back to the big house and thanks to some mutant powers that she developed after getting toxic waste dumped on her, she's able to put up much more of a fight than the girls were expecting.

While Kaitan is a fine replacement for Linnea the chemistry isn't quite as interesting in that you don't get the impression that the girls really dislike each other off screen like you did with the first two films in the series. This takes something away from the film, even if the story is goofy enough and trashy enough to hold your attention. Jay Richardson, who seems to have made a comeback of sorts in a bunch of the Sci-Fi Channel originals like Komodo Vs. Cobra shows up here as he did in all last movie as the Police Commissioner. He's best known for Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (which also starred Miss Quigley) and about a zillion other B-movies.

Video:

Each of the three Vice Academy films in this set appears to have been composed for a full frame presentation and that's how they appear in this collection. Framing looks fine throughout and the presentation, while not mind blowing, really isn't bad for a trio of older, low budget exploitation comedies. There's some fairly heavy grain in a few spots and bits and pieces of mild print damage are present but the color reproduction is decent and there aren't any issues with edge enhancement or mpeg compression artifacts.