O Ataque das Mulheres Assassinas

Starting from the the 1950's war pictures and ending in 1980, this documentary covers films made in the Philippines but made for American audiences or exported to America. Bomba films are not covered as they were not exported.

Interviewed are actors, actresses, directors, producers directly involved in these films or occasionally their relatives. Director John Landis curiously appears several times but I'm not aware of any involvement he had with Filipino filmmaking.

They go thru a host of low budget films, that used the Philippines location as they explain in detail was cheap. It is those particular details plus explaining the evolving political situation that steps this documentary up a few notches. Besides the films, some directors including Cirio Santiago, Bobby Suarez & others even explaining their styles & approach to the films. This is important as they influenced American filmmakers, notably Quentin Tarantino who were fans. Even Apocalypse Now was talked about.

They really stuffed a lot of related subjects and insights into this documentary. I also liked how they sometimes edited parts of interviews together as if the next person was responding to the previous one. It does help if you know or interested in filmmaking itself as that's the main focus. As a huge film buff, I was fascinated from beginning to end.

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!

This is a very entertaining look at a specific time and place in the history of exploitation film-making. It documents the rather strange scenario where the Philippines became a hotbed of psychotronic cinema production between the 60's and early 80's. While I haven't seen more than two or three films that were made under these conditions, it didn't stop the film from being interesting and entertaining. In fact, like many similar documentaries Machete Maidens Unleashed! is most probably a lot more enjoyable than the films it features. Instead we get many, many clips from these crazy films, so it's difficult to get bored.

The films themselves range from the schlock horror of the 60's, via the women-in-prison flicks of the 70's to the martial arts action films of the 80's. It takes the form of the talking heads format where many of the participants tell us about their experiences working in the field. And perhaps unsurprisingly very different rules applied in the Philippines. There's a lot of humour in the presentation. No one is under any illusions about the seriousness of the movies, yet you will no doubt come away from this and have two or three new films you want to seek out. And I suppose with all that in mind, Machete Maidens Unleashed! has done its job.

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?

This film is a documentary that celebrates trash cinema--specifically, the terribly cheesy American films made in the Philippines in the 60s and early 70s. Why did they go to this country? Simple--it was dirt cheap! So, cheap film makers like Roger Corman and Eddie Romero went there to create tons of terrible films--and the filmmakers knew it was going to be bad. There was no pretense--the films featured silly monsters, women in prison and the like. And, the films had tons of action, violence and boobies. Ultimately, however, there actually was a GOOD movie made there ("Apocalypse Now") and soon after this, the industry came to a halt due to violence and revolution...and ultimately the fall of the Marcos regime.

So is all this worth seeing and celebrating? Well, it depends on you. If you occasionally LIKE to see a terrible film (such as "Black Mama, White Mama"), then you'll like seeing the documentary (that's me!). You'll relive trashy but fun films or get ideas for movies to rent (though only about half the ones mentioned in the film are available from Netflix). But, if you are sane, you'll probably just wonder why anyone would want to remember these terrible films! Overall, however, the film is worth seeing if you are the type who can appreciate it--and I sure did. Just beware...the film is violent and infused with breasts!