Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010) – Not rated but lots of nudity and gore.
In the 1970s and ’80s, makers of exploitation films loved to shoot in the Philippines, which offered gorgeous scenery, beautiful extras and cheap fun in the sun for the crew. This intriguing documentary examines the real face of Hollywood in Manila. Directors such as Roger Corman and Eddie Romero shot in the Southeast Asian nation, and their movies overflowed with sex, gore and action. Plentiful movie clips and in-depth interviews are featured.
“I wasn’t supposed to be a karate-kicking stewardess”
“They wanted love. He gave them terror and death.”
Mark Hartley follows up his terrific Not Quite Hollywood: The Untold Story of Ozploitation with what is essentially the same film. He takes his proven formula and moves his story from Australia to The Philippines. That sounds lazy but it’s actually wonderful.
Hartley intersperses great well-chosen clips with interviews from both people who worked on the films and experienced directors and writers like John Landis, Joe Dante, Allan Arkush, and Brian Trenchard Smith. If you notice that that is the crew from Trailers from Hell, that is not a surprise. If you don’t then you should go to Trailers from Hell and watch a few. They post vintage trailers with new commentary every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Hartley covers the films in a mostly sequential manner, clustering some films together for topic sake. A lot of the film is taken up with New World Pictures and Roger Corman, which is understandable given his sheer volume. There are innumerable shots of quaint 70s gore, naked breasts, and real death-defying stunts.
Machete Maidens Unleashed covers the filming of Apocalypse Now. Martin Sheen’s heart attack, Marlon Brando’s weight issues, fights with the military and a typhoon were only some of the problems encountered by Francis Ford Coppola.
The only reason that I consider Not Quite Hollywood the better film is because the Australian exploitation films are more recognizable than the Philippine ones.
People Watch: Keep watching through the credits for a lot of fascinating interview bits.
