Electric Boogaloo and Machete Maidens – Blu-ray Review

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films and Machete Maidens Unleashed!
April 2017

Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons

I love film/entertainment documentaries because I love movies and the more I can learn about their behind-the-scenes stories, the better. Of the specific subgenre of docs, I especially love the films from writer/director Mark Hartley. Here are two of his best, one focusing on the late, great Cannon Films and the other on all the crazy genre films to come out of the Philippines. Any horror fan worth their blood should be highly interested in both of these subjects, as they gave a lot of groovy, gory movies to us, but they also expanded and championed sci-fi flicks, action movies, sexy cinema, exploitation films of all sorts, and uhm…break dancing? You know, all the good stuff. So without further ado, let’s jump onto this two-pack of those awesome documentaries brought to us, region free, from the land Down Under and the awesome Umbrella Entertainment.

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films is the newer of the two and also my favorite. Not that the other film is bad, but I am a child of the 80s and I loved, loved, LOVED Cannon Films. When you saw that Cannon logo you knew you were going to get something good. Sure it might be low budget, weird, strange, cool, sexy, scary, but most importantly of all, they were fun. Some of my favorites (of non-horror) are the three Ninja movies (Enter, Return, and The Domination), the Chuck Norris movies (especially Invasion U.S.A.), Cobra, Bloodsport, Death Wish II, Avenging Force, Mannequin (yeah, shut it), and American Ninja (always with the ninjas). I could go on and on. Some of these were legit good movies, some were so cheesy they were awesome, but all of them were a good time.

But for you horror lovers if you want to see that genre represented, well Cannon had some real classics. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Lifeforce, Blood on Satan’s Claw, Savage Weekend, The Godsend, Deathhouse, Schizoid – takes a breath – New Year’s Evil, Hospital Massacre, 10 to Midnight, House of the Long Shadows, Roots of Evil, The Company of Wolves, Night Terrors… Okay, you get the idea. If you are only a fan of horror there’s enough here for you to want to check it out.

Add to all that a ton of interviews from so many Hollywood actors, directors, writers, critics, etc., and you’ve got a top-notch documentary that’s a lot of fun to watch. Now let’s all go to the lobby and then on to the second documentary.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is about the large contribution to genre entertainment, and groovy movies in general, from the Philippines. Mostly for the low-budget drive-in lovers out there, like me. Some of these movies are well-known, many are not, but far more often than not they are a lot of fun and a lot more people should know about them and see them. Firstly there were a ton of Roger Corman movies were made there because filming and actors were cheap. There are the pure exploitation beast classics such as Blood Beast, Beast of Blood (yes, different films), and Beast of the Yellow Night. There are a bunch of women in prison flicks covered in this if that’s your thing, a whole bunch of jungle war movies, Blaxploitation, and much more. There are interviews here with Roger Corman, Joe Dante, John Landis, Sid Haig, Dick Miller, Pam Grier, R. Lee Ermey, and more. Other little-known horror flicks such as Night of the Cobra Woman and The Mad Doctor of Blood Island are also covered, but admittedly for horror fans there is not as much here as with the other documentary. Also the films covered are not as good as the Cannon classics, but this is still a great doc and entertaining as hell.

Let’s get to the extras on this two-pack Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment. Now most multi-packs come devoid of special features, or they might have a token few, but this one-two punch of awesome is the exception to that rule. For Electric Boogaloo there are a bunch of deleted and extended scenes from the doc, an extended interview with American Ninja himself, Michael Dudikoff, an interview with producer Frank Yablans, and a bunch of trailers for Cannon Films from back in the day that runs a staggering one hour and fifty minutes. There is a six-minute red carpet short from the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, an interview with super tool Brett Ratner (oh, bad timing) and Mark Hartley, a UK press interview with writer/director Mark Hartley, a Cannon poster and stills gallery, a behind-the-scenes gallery, and a theatrical trailer. That’s quite a lot, but now on to the second feature’s goodies.

For Machete Maidens Unleashed!, things begin with an audio commentary with writer/director Mark Hartley and crew; there is a collection of bonus and extended interviews from the doc, and a Filipino trailer reel that runs an hour and eight minutes. There are three things from Fantastic Fest: a red carpet report, an interview with the director, and a 13-minute Q&A session. Director Mark returns yet again for an audio interview with Rue Morgue Radio that runs for 30 minutes, there is some test footage from the movie Up from the Depths, the “Oath of the Green Blood” for the movie The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Filipino poster and still galleries, a behind-the-scenes gallery, and a theatrical trailer.

This is a great two-pack, well worth the price alone for the Cannon doc, but the Machete Maidens Unleashed! is really good too. I’ve seen both of these many times and they always leave me with a big smile and if you think these films sound like fun above everything else, they are the documentaries for you. Yeah, I can very highly recommend this one, it’s great.