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They Call Me Macho Woman! (1989)

User reviews

They Call Me Macho Woman!

17 reviews
6/10

This movie is dumb but not terrible.

It's hard for me to give this movie a bad review. Yes, almost every aspect of the movie was done poorly. The story is dumb, the cinematography is crappy, the chases don't make any sense, and the acting is just terrible.

But despite all of this, the movie is just incredibly entertaining. Every time you see a boom mic, or a stunt double that is clearly a forty year old man and not the female lead, your soul smiles a little bit inside.

I would say that this is a better bad movie than the Rocky Horror Picture Show. While RHPS kinda drags in the third act, this movie remains entertaining throughout.

Don't go in expecting a masterpiece or even competence and you're in for a good time.
  • clay_animator
  • Oct 28, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

Mongo And The Gang Meet the Macho Woman And Die to Regret It.

Susan (Debra Sweaney) is checking out some quite rural real estate with her wimpy real estate agent Cecil (Lory-Michael Ringuette) when they encounter Cocaine manufacturer Mongo (Brian Oldfield) who is a dead ringer for TV series Night Court's Bull (Richard Mull). Susan has a habit of escaping and then being recaptured by mongo's band of misfits lead by the mean diminutive Terk (Sean P. Donahue). Susan finds her inner MacGyver and creates a number of deadly weapons from items in an tool shed after a much needed afternoon nap. More importantly she loses her Sister wife's with shoulder pads outfit and shows off her impressive abs. Mongos Merry Men experience misfortune at the hands of Susan which adds up to an impressive kill count by the end of the movie. A very enjoyable "B" action flick with quite well placed humor and a genuinely scary physically imposing bad guy Mongo. The one misstep is the overbearing music score which is too loud and distracting at times This is a must see for for all "B" Action fans.
  • mikecanmaybee
  • Jan 22, 2020
  • Permalink
6/10

Savage Instinct represents the goofier end of the action/revenge movie.

  • tarbosh22000
  • Apr 2, 2013
  • Permalink
1/10

Maybe the most inept movie EVER!

I saw this on cable. Someone had to lose their job for greenlighting this one for air. Just because a movie is made does not mean it has to be shown! Savage Instinct should be shown in ALL film classes. It is the perfect template for how to not make a movie. The editing alone is so jumbled you'll think it was assembled by a team of trained (poorly) monkeys, traveling across unpaved canyon road in the back of a jeep, blindfolded and drunk. The audio is often not legible. Acting? I can't call anything I saw here acting. Reciting? Hmmm. Can't call it that either. Failing? That works. All that being said...IT IS HILARIOUS! I cannot stress enough that there is not one redeemable factor in this "film" other than the hilarity derived from it's own incredible ineptness. Fun, in a strictly masochistic sort of way. Watch it...if you dare.
  • supercygnus
  • Aug 9, 2003
  • Permalink
3/10

Low rent actioner shot in the Californian mountains

THEY CALL ME MACHO WOMAN! is another trashy low budget oddity put out by Troma, although this isn't one of their own films as it lacks the bizarre stuff and the humour that typifies a true Troma-made film. Instead it's a cheesy, low rent action film shot in the Santa Cruz mountains in California. Director Patrick G. Donahue made a quartet of similarly-themed action/revenge movies over the course of a decade or so and obviously had a thing for the genre.

Sadly, despite the outlandish title, this is very much par for the course as these things go. The plot is repetitive and merely consists of our heroine being repeatedly captured by the bad guys, managing to turn the tables and escape, only to repeat the scenario again. There is a kind of momentum that sees the story through on occasion but the lack of budget means that this is a cheap adventure indeed. The occasional gore effect is well achieved although limited in scope.

The cast members are probably the worst thing about this film as all of the assembled actors give non-performances. It comes as little surprise that lead actress Debra Sweaney was never heard of again. Hulking villain Brian Oldfield was a real-life shotput champion, if you can believe. Welcome to the world of low-budget filmmaking!
  • Leofwine_draca
  • Oct 29, 2016
  • Permalink
1/10

really bad

This movie really sucks. This is my second review because its so bad. The girl on the cover is hot but the girl in the movie is not. I cant believe it was rated R there is basiaclly no violence, no sex, no nudity, no swearing nothing. Really crap film.
  • wogboy-3
  • Nov 23, 2001
  • Permalink
7/10

Female equivalent of "Deadly Prey"

The main character of "They Call Me Macho Woman" is Susan Morris(Deborah Sweaney),a nubile young woman,who is being stalked by Mongo "Unicorn",big bad drug lord and his cohorts of merciless criminals.But Susan ain't gonna become easy victim.It's not in her style.After visiting some kind of tool shed and sleeping there she arms herself with instruments of steel and begins to kill gang members one by one.Hilariously funny action flick with bad acting and hysterical death scenes.There are a couple of really dumb scenes that made my jaw wide open.There is also a lot of running through the woods and a bit of gore.If you like non-stop action with hatches,blades and axes give this funny Troma release a chance.7 nine inch nails out of 10.
  • HumanoidOfFlesh
  • Jul 28, 2012
  • Permalink
2/10

ridiculous

  • movieman_kev
  • Mar 8, 2009
  • Permalink
7/10

I have to stick up for this movie

This is one of my favorite bad movies. Yes it's badly made, but it's such a fun movie. I was never bored at all while watching it. In my opinion, this has "cult flick" written all over it. My only gripe is that the main character should've been recast and the axe was way too brand new and shiny-looking all the time, but still it's not that big a deal in a movie like this. There's a brief impressive stunt involving a car and a character that very well-done, and you rarely see that in movie like this, not to mention in the rest of the film, period. I love this flick, and I've actually bought it for 2 of my friends, and they loved it, too. Maybe you have to be a bad-movie-troll like me to appreciate movies like this. I'm picky, even with bad movies, but this flick is a real gem to me.
  • runemesa
  • Dec 15, 2007
  • Permalink
1/10

RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN

If you like really shocking movies this is for you. The acting is the worst I've ever seen and the story line goes no-where. If you come across this film in your video shop don't even consider borrowing it. The chick on the front cover isn't even the one in the movie.I gave this movie 1/10 only because I couldn't vote 0. Avoid it at all costs.
  • wogboy-3
  • Jan 25, 2001
  • Permalink
10/10

Bad yet endlessly entertaining!

City girl Susan Morris (Debra Sweaney) and her Realtor head down a country road to check out some property, but run afoul of Mongo (Brian Oldfield) and his drug peddling gang. Like any good movie villain, Mongo can't let them live and Susan endures a long series of chases, captures and escapes before she puts her foot down and fights back RAMBO-style. Wielding two axes, a whip and some nine inch nails, our heroine takes out the crew of 80s looking thugs.

If I whisper "Joseph needs you" in your ear and it gets you all excited, then you need to see SAVAGE INSTINCT. Director Patrick Donahue delivered the bad-yet-amazing actioner KILL SQUAD in 1982 and this was his sophomore feature, which is just as goofy. Sweaney is a terrible actress and her transformation is about as convincing as Olivia Newton-John's in GREASE. There are some good stunt bits (the Donahues always deliver in that arena as co-star son Sean is also the stunt coordinator) but they are almost always undermined by some seriously wonky staging. Look for the scene where Susan escapes by running on top of the heads (!) of the gang and then adds insult to injury by flicking them off and grabbing her crotch. On top of this is some seriously priceless dialog. For example, Susan is saved by three partying dudes who don't heed her warning about the killers after her. Sure enough, the gang members kill the dudes and, while viewing their corpses, Susan says, "I bet you never listened to your mothers either." What?
  • udar55
  • Aug 24, 2009
  • Permalink
7/10

Nobody calls her that

No pun intended - and I also don't think that the Macho Man (for example) would take issue with the movie and the character calling herself that. But let's backtrack to a movie that seems to have non actors - not just in the smaller roles, but also the lead roles. And you can tell ... the question is if you care or not? As you can tell I did not - at least not to the degree where it influenced my vote/rating negatively.

Then come the special and blood effects ... really well done. Especially for a low budget movie ... add some clever camera angles and you have a fine movie - especially for those who like stuff like that ... crazy dialog ... and as one of the characters says at one moment ... you will also say during and after the movie: What the f was that? Well, not easy to answer ... watch and figure out for yourself.
  • kosmasp
  • Sep 28, 2024
  • Permalink
2/10

All rather silly.

Anyone wanting to find out what it is like to waste one hour and twenty minutes of their life, time that is gone for ever and never to be reclaimed, is advised to watch this movie.

A sweet young woman accidentally encounters a gang of thuggish drug dealers, falls in and out of their coarse and evil hands a few ties and is transformed overnight into a female killing machine.
  • david_barnett1
  • Oct 7, 2018
  • Permalink
1/10

If you love to make fun of movies...

Bad editing, bad production values, bad continuity, implausible, bad dialogue... this movies is bad, bad, bad. However, if you want a movie to poke fun at (a la MST3000), this is your movie. I wouldn't suggest spending much money on it, but if you do see this movie, make sure it's with plenty of witty, like-minded buddies.
  • drmomentum
  • Mar 27, 2000
  • Permalink
2/10

Please dont watch this boring movie! (minor spoilers)

  • patrick_koestermann
  • Dec 31, 2019
  • Permalink
10/10

one of the funniest movies I've ever seen!

  • tigermilk87
  • Jun 19, 2007
  • Permalink
10/10

The weirdest and crappiest movie I´ve seen in my life

  • moviefan-85
  • Feb 24, 2004
  • Permalink

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