Review of Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) by Melvin W — 30 Mar 2012

Jonathan Kaplan: We want frontal nudity from the waist up. Total nudity from behind. No pubic hair, go to work.

"The Ultimate B-Movie Feast From The Far, Far East!".

Machete Maidens Unleashed!, besides being an awesome title, is an entertaining look at the horrible and cheap movies that were made in the Philippines. I'd much rather watch a documentary that talks about the behind the scenes stuff than actually watch any of the movies that were talked about. Other than Apocalypse Now, I haven't seen one of the movies that was made in the Philippines, nor do I wish to. This documentary does a good job summarizing what every cheap movie that was made over there was trying to accomplish. Their going to show a lot of breasts, a lot of blood, a lot of terrible looking monsters, rape, torture, and any other tasteless form of bodily harm or sexual acts they can.

Where this movie gets it's entertainment value from is with the interviewees. Joe Dante and John Landis in particular. These are two guys that I could listen to all day. Plus their real filmmakers that have good movies to their credit, that just know so much about these types of movies. Mostly because those B-Movies are what gave them their start. Then there's the man himself, Roger Corman. He has quite a bit of screen time as well, where he describes different projects that went on. Corman talking about the movies is much more interesting then the movies themselves. There's plenty of other interesting interviews also, such as Pam Grier and Sid Haig, plus a lot of no name actors, actresses, and directors that took part in the movies.

This is a short fast paced look at filmmaking in the Philippines. It's definitely worth a look even if you're not a fan of the particular movies that this is describing. It sure isn't going to make you one, but it is going to give you an entertaining and humorous look at them nonetheless.