The Muthers (1976)
** (out of 4)
Another insane film from director Cirio H. Santiago has a group of female pirates going into a brutal prison camp where they plan on rescuing the leader's sister who is being held captive.
The Philippines was the home to some of the craziest movies ever made and this here pretty much lives up to that. The country was used by various low-budget producers who wanted to deliver the kind of goods that you'd find in an American film but of course one advantage here was the fact that they could shoot in a jungle location. THE MUTHERS is a pretty bad movie if you want to be technical about it but at the same time there are enough wild and crazy moments to keep it entertaining.
Again, if you're looking for some sort of quality or art film then it's best you stay far away from this picture but if you just want some trashy fun then pull up a chair and enjoy. The film benefits from having a variety of very beautiful women and yes they quite often take their clothes off. As you'd expect from any women-in-prison film, there's a shower sequence with the ladies showing off all their goods as well as catfights and other things you'd expect.
The cast is led by the one and only Jeannie Bell who had also appeared in blaxploitation films like TNT JACKSON, THREE THE HARD WAY and the notorious THE KLANSMAN. She's certainly the highlight of the picture and turns in a nice performance in the lead. The rest of the cast were entertaining enough for what they were asked to do and the characters are at least interesting enough.
THE MUTHERS isn't a good film or a classic but if you enjoy these types of low-budget films then there's enough here to make it worth watching.
