In his followup to the Ozploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood, director Mark Hartley brings the world of Filipino b-movies to life in Machete Maidens Unleashed!. During the 1970′s and 1980′s the Philippines was under the control of a ruthless dictator and as you’ll learn in the trailer “Fighting back was forbidden. Chaos was contained. Indecency was punished. There was no sign of revolution. EXCEPT IN THEIR MOVIES!” What occurred was the influx of film crews who took advantage of the exotic locale and cheap workforce to produce genre films ranging from blaxploitation to good ol’ low budget monster movies. The Movie Freak’s personal favorite is The Big Bird Cage with Pam Grier. Yeah, that’s a Roger Corman joint all right. Once Roger saw how cheaply he could produce films in the Philippines he never looked back. Thanks to Twitchfilm.net we’ve got a trailer for Machete Maidens Unleashed that’s chock full of goodies from an era of filmmaking that makes the movies of today look tame and childish. The film has its premier this month at the Melbourne Film Festival here in Australia. Unfortunately, The Movie Freak won’t make it to the festival this year but looking forward a screening here in Perth. Now, on to the trailer! Continue reading →
The third day of The Revelation Film Festival saw this Movie Freak buckle down with two great films: Of Dolls and Murder & Radio Free Albemuth. The Astor is now in full swing with the lobby constantly filled with patrons bumping elbows to find either the toilet or the cinema. In the world of film festivals both rooms are of equal importance. I’ll admit 2 films is a pretty light day for The Movie Freak, but this is a 10 day festival and one must pace themselves. Now, on to the movies! Continue reading 
