New On DVD - "Machete Maidens Unleashed" (On Exploitation Cinema History)

The revealing and interesting story goes...

From the early '70s well into the '90s, the Philippines was a back-lot for a bevy of B-movie mavericks and cinema visionaries. The country was utilized for its inexpensive labour, exotic locations and distinct lack of rules. A large body of genre work emerged... These productions (a cavalcade of blaxploitation, monster movies, jungle prison movies, and kung fu hybrids) were miraculously made at a time when the country's political situation was repressive at best.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is said to be the "ultimate insiders' account of genre filmmaking during that particular time and place.

The film features a role call of local and international survivors from this period were interviewed, all adding their distinct and honest account of this "Devil-may-care" school of filmmaking, as well as a ton of outrageous film clips from key titles.

The filmmaker Mark Hartley's previous film was another similar chronicle, although of the history of exploitation film in Australia, titled Not Quite Hollywood, which can be streamed on Netflix currently.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is now out on DVD, as of today, 11/1. Amazon.com has it for about $21.

What can you expect to see?

Check out the NSFW trailer below for a sample; you should be able to identify some of the films within it, if you're up on your exploitation - specifically blaxploitation cinema.

I should note that the film will screen at the upcoming 19th annual African Diaspora Film Festival here in NYC, which begins later this month, from November 25th through December 13th. So, if you're in NYC, you can see it on the big screen instead if you prefer.