Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)

Very well made, thoughtful with plenty of fun clips. Always great to hear from ever delightful insiders Jack Hill, Roger Corman, Joe Dante and Sid Haig. Not to mention the still very gorgeous Marlene Clark, Judy Brown and Celeste Yarnell! Woulda loved to see even more of the goddess Pam Grier. Nice to see Filipino artistes I only read about, like Eddie Romero and Garcia. Obviously, fans of this genre have great patience and sense of humor and the film appeals at both levels. It runs at such a fast clip; I almost wanted to slow it down to digest and savor it all. The only downside is admittedly very subjective, that being the inclusion of John Landis. Regardless of the outcome the trial re: the Twilight Zone film: JUST GO AWAY!! It's Stomach Churning to see him laughing on camera in Any interview. WHAT?! Landis gushes on the fun of " Irresponsible Filmmakers" and actresses showing T&A....Eeeewwww. Sure, he made some great films. However, plenty of people are just as enthusiastic and knowledgeable on B-movies. Mr. Holcomb and DeoCampo contributed erudite commentary and historical perspective. Does this dude not realize that 3 FAMILIES are still affected by the Very Preventable deaths that occurred under his watch?!?. Without Landis' presence, this film is Aces!

A fast moving odyssey into the subterranean world of the rarely explored province of Filipino genre filmmaking.I love horror films and exploitation films and consider myself both a critic and historian (having now reviewed over 2000 films and written numerous articles). Yet, I must confess, I was not aware of the hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of films that were made in the Philippines. I knew about some of them, of course, but did not know just how huge the output was. Wow! This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen on exploitation films (and I have seen my share). John Landis never disappoints, and some unusual suspects show up, too. R. Lee Ermey? Who knew?

I watched a couple of women-in-prison movies the other day. Both were made in the Philippines. This documentary goes behind the scenes to show why and how Roger Corman type films were made there. Cheap actors and lax safety rules made for an ideal situation for making low budget films.Blood, breasts, and beasts were the staples of films like Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Beast of Blood, The Big Doll House, Women in Cages, Black mama, White Mama,The Big Bird Cage, and the classic Vampire Hookers.We see stars like Pam Grier learning the craft in these cheap films. Part of a new wave of women as action heroes, which was new to moviegoers.The documentary was invaluable in understanding the background of filmmaking.

I don't usually give out such high ratings but Mark Hartley's new doco about the Filipino exploitation films of the 70's and 80's by way of Corman's New World Pictures is wonderful.The interviews with former directors and stars are many and all entertaining. The clips and trailers shown are even better.Any fan of B movies will love this.I hope that this gets some sort of cinema release as Hartley and Co have clearly put much work and passion into this. His last doco NOT QUITE Hollywood was criminally ignored in this country.After seeing the wretched INCEPTION (with a ridiculous budget of $150 Million) earlier in the evening, MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED was a fine celebration of purely entertaining cinema made on low budgets.More please Mr Hartley. How about Italian exploitation flicks of the 70's and 80's next? I wish cinema could be this fun again.