The Woman Hunt (1972)

Having done with the trashy MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND trilogy, actor Josh Ashley and director Eddie Romero, the true tag-team of cheesy Filipino exploitation, turned their attention to other projects, one of which is this variant on the '30s chase classic THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Basically, it's the story of a bunch of women being hunted through the jungle by armed men – no more plot to it than that. Those familiar with Filipino projects will know the level of skill and competence – as well as the budget – on offer; those who don't can expect a snoozy script, lots of dialogue, and plenty of cheese along the way. This is very much an exploitation flick, focusing on the nudity of the female cast members throughout, so the viewer's attention is divided between that and the offbeat characters who make up the men chasing them. These include a turbaned Indian, Filipino regular Eddie Garcia as the gang leader, '50s throwback Josh Ashley, and cult film stalwart Sid Haig, having a ball in another scene-stealing performance.The actual woman hunt of the title is surprisingly well portrayed, with some bloody shoot-outs and the inclusion of one of those classic jungle traps that Schwarzenegger popularised in PREDATOR. There's a high body count and some surprisingly nasty moments, as one wounded woman is shot through the head at close range to put her out of her misery, plus a nice twist ending. It's just a shame that it takes forever for this hunt to actually occur – it takes place in the last twenty minutes of a seventy-five minute movie. Before that, we get endless bedroom scenes with (admittedly attractive) cast members stripping to the waist on a routine basis and cheesy dialogue. Sure, this isn't good and most people will pass it over in favour of more interesting fare – but for those who enjoy so-bad-it's-good cinema, they might just get a kick out of this one.

This movie essentially begins with five attractive ladies being kidnapped and taken to an isolated place deep in the jungle with the understanding that they are to be used as sex slaves. However, upon the arrival of a few powerful and wealthy men, it is disclosed that these women are going to be hunted and killed for sport. As luck would have it, one of the abductors named "Tony" (John Ashley) has lost the confidence of his employer "Spyros" (Eddie Garcia) and decides to escape along with these women which greatly increases their chances of survival. Even so, they still must elude the hunters and cope with an equally dangerous jungle environment in the process. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film turned out to be slightly better than I expected due in large part because of the coherent plot and the smooth transition from one scene to another. Additionally, having several beautiful women like Pat Woodell (as "McGee"), Laurie Rose ("Lori") and Lisa Todd ("Magda") certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, while this clearly wasn't a great movie by any means, it managed to maintain my interest for the most part and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

While I'm certain that the intended drive-in audience wasn't paying much attention in the "passion pits","The Woman Hunt" is not totally without interest. One intriguing aspect is that the film tends to flip back and forth between night and day faster than pages in a book. Sid Haig stands out as the only semi-competent actor, the hunted in the jungle story is simple and familiar, yet there is a raw fascination to "The Woman Hunt" from a bad movie perspective. On the plus side are some semi-creative kills, decent jungle photography, and the attractive hunted women. There is even a climactic nude swim, with an unexpected ending. - MERK

The Woman Hunt is yet another version of the often copied classic The Most Dangerous Game; only this time, the main focus is on sleaze rather than horror. The film was written by Jack Hill and directed by Eddie Romero - two of the people involved in bringing us sleaze classics such as The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage; so anyone that has seen those two will have some idea of what to expect from this one. Naturally, the film was made on a low budget and as such it all feels very cheap - they couldn't afford good actors either, but apparently beautiful women don't cost much...so that's good. Naturally, the basis for the plot focuses around the idea of a bunch of women being captured; and then hunted down for sport. We focus on the group of mercenaries charged with rounding up the women needed (which are kidnapped to order). They hunt down the women and then take them back to their employers; a rich group of people that use the women as prostitutes for their rich clients.The Woman Hunt clearly does take influence from The Most Dangerous Game; although it doesn't completely rip it off and only the second half of the film is a real copy. The film is very uneven for much of the duration. Parts of it seem to be dubbed too, and the dubbing is really atrocious. The night shots are far too dark and at times I struggled to see what was going on. This also transcends to the plot, as the film is interesting in parts; and then rather boring in others, which really brings down the quality of the film. The only big name in the cast belongs to Sid Haig; and if anything he's completely wasted - especially considering how much he stood out in Jack Hill's pair of women in prison movies. The film is not very graphic either; although the version I saw ran for barely seventy five minutes, so there's a good chance that it was cut. Even so, it could have been a lot sleazier which would have improved the whole film. Overall, I'd say this might be worth seeing for fans of grindhouse cinema...but it's a long way from being a classic.