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Machete Maidens Unleashed (DVD)
Year: 2011
Rating: MA
Director: Mark Hartley
Cast: Alan Arkush , Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Chris Mitchum
Release Date: May 15, 2011
Distributor: Umbrella
The Film: 4.5
The Disc: 5.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5"...a no-arguments must for all film fans."
In 2008, director Mark Hartley ripped back the curtains on Australia's lurid history of exploitation cinema with the dazzling doco, Not Quite Hollywood. Retaining that wonderful film's rollicking style and winning way with talking head interviews, Hartley now turns his eye to an equally wild and dangerous cinematic colony, namely the sleazy celluloid cottage industry that sprang up in the Philippines under the rule of corrupt dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the seventies. Seeking new ways to make films (and make money), B-grade impresario Roger Corman used the country like a cheap backlot to churn out tropical women-in-prison flicks and horror extravaganzas. Using both American and local directors, Corman helped turn the Philippines into a bustling mecca of exploitation cinema.
As with Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed is filled with clips from bizarre bottom-feeding films; crazed anecdotes (Filipino directors with guns in their belts and no respect for human safety; rampant bugs and illness; oddball military involvement) from the likes of Pam Grier, Sid Haig and others; and finely judged commentary from critics (including FILMINK's Danny Peary) and other filmmakers (John Landis is a standout). Boasting a massive haul of extras (commentary, deleted scenes, Q&As, and the entire Philippines-shot feature, The Muthers), this is a no-arguments must for all film fans.
