Woodyanders Review of Machete Maidens Unleashed!

Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)

An immensely entertaining and informative documentary

[9/10 · 20 November 2011]

Taking us on a deliriously wild, rowdy, and often enjoyable whirlwind journey of the extremely crazy and colorful history of Filipino exploitation cinema, this energetic documentary covers everything from war films to women-in-prison sleaze to blaxploitation fare and martial arts entries, with fun detours on John Ashley, Weng Weng, Cleopatra Wang, and the movies of such local talent as Eddie Romero, Cirio H. Santiago, and Bobby Suarez along with the expected plethora of tasty gratuitous distaff nudity (done in the name of advancing feminism and female empowerment in motion pictures -- yeah, right!), excessive graphic violence, mucho explosions (the flagrant disregard for safety is quite openly addressed), and cheesy (far from) special effects. Various actresses who include Laurie Rose, Jayne Kennedy, Margaret Markov, Celeste Yarnall, Andrea Cagan, Marlene Clark, Marrie Lee, and Gloria Hendry honestly discuss working under the most deplorable conditions imaginable in a strife-ridden country under martial law and ruled by a fascist dictatorship (ironically, several B-flicks short there are about revolutionaries attempting to overthrow said dictatorship and were made with the full cooperation of the oppressive government!), New World trailer editors Allan Arkush and Joe Dante reveal the cunning trick of inserting an exploding helicopter into a trailer in order to make a shoddy film look and seem better than it really was, R. Lee Ermey openly admits that "Apocalypse Now" is a grossly inaccurate depiction of Vietnam, Roger Corman confesses he made movies in the Philippines because it was cheap to crank 'em out there, and we hear about the peak of this trend in the 70's and its eventual inevitable decline in the 80's. Of course, we've got such grindhouse luminaries as Jack Hill, Sid Haig, Brian Trenchard-Smith, and Chris Mitchum on board to relate delightfully loopy anecdotes on their misadventures toiling away on movies in this wacky third world country, plus noted cinematic historians like Pete Tombs and Danny Peary throw in their cents in for good measure. Jamie Blanks' funky-grooving score hits the right-on happening spot while the numerous clips from outrageously trashy exploitation movies are a total schlocky hoot to watch. Essential viewing.