Color, 1989, 82 mins. 10 secs.
Directed by Patrick G. Donahue
Starring Debra Sweaney, Brian Oldfield, Sean P. Donahue, Mike Donahue, Jerry Johnson, Lory-Michael Ringuette
Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray) (US R0 HD) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9), Troma (DVD) (US R0 NTSC)


Action fans who They Call Me Macho Woman!spent their youths scouring through the deepest, darkest corners of video stores They Call Me Macho Woman!may have had their minds pulverized at some point by the work of entertaining and wholly unique California filmmaker Patrick G. Donahue, who recruited any actors around (including various family members) to help compete with all the punching and gunfire pouring out of major studios in the '80s and '90s. He also acted in his son's projects, and though he isn't exactly the most prolific filmmaker around (with only five feature films officially to his credit along with lots of commercials and his own local stunt company), everything he turned out is outrageous party viewing all the way. His undeniable masterpiece is easily his outrageous crackpot debut, 1981's delirious Kill Squad, with other later efforts including Parole Violators and Ground Rules. Then there's 1989's They Call Me Macho Woman!, an insane action revenge film shot in the forests of Northern California with an unknown cast and featuring an avalanche of crazed combat and kill sequences. The indie feature was picked up by Troma who They Call Me Macho Woman!plugged it with the poster tagline "Born to shop... I learned to kill!," which barely gives you an They Call Me Macho Woman!idea of what to actually expect here.

While out for a drive in the country with her realtor looking for a secluded piece of property, young widow Susan Morris (Sweaney) ends up in trouble when their vehicle gets run off the road and becomes the target of a ragtag band of drug dealers. Led by the brutal Mongo (Oldfield), this band of rejects from The Road Warrior and Death Wish III (who are involved in a major coke deal for this businessman overseer) decides to take care of Susan one way or another, leading to a lengthy cat and mouse chase through the woods. However, it turns out that Susan has quite the inner warrior inside her, one that doesn't take too kindly to criminals out to wreck her house hunting or any random rednecks who stand in her way.

Though the average viewer would never call this a "good" movie, well, this isn't a movie made for them. Utterly ridiculous and packed with baffling but quotable dialogue, this feels like an attempt to ride the action star wave of the time (Stallone, Schwarzenegger, etc.) with a female lead, and the result is insanely fun with They Call Me Macho Woman!a final 20 minutes you really have to see to believe. It's a shame Donahue's work after this was distributed so poorly since he They Call Me Macho Woman!clearly had a flair for delivering the drive-in goods, with plenty of personality and enthusiasm that money simply can't buy. Though this has remained with Troma essentially since 1989 (with a barely acceptable full frame DVD in 2005), it also took a detour on VHS in the early '90s from AIP as Savage Instinct to cash in on a certain smash erotic thriller of the era. One can only imagine the reactions of unsuspecting viewers while watching what they actually got, something positioned somewhere between I Spit on Your Grave and You're Next but with lots of outrageous action gags and no nudity.

Pretty much the textbook example of a film designed for the Vinegar Syndrome Archive line of oddball Blu-ray exploitation titles ("celebrating forgotten cinematic oddities from the video store era"), They Call Me Macho Woman! comes with the usual insert double-sided poster and numbered slipcase limited to 4,000 units. The new 2K scan from the 35mm original camera negative is, as expected, a gargantuan leap over any presentation of this film before, looking pristine here with excellent detail and color without a smidgen of film They Call Me Macho Woman!damage. The DTS-HD MA English mono track is also in perfect They Call Me Macho Woman!shape and features optional English SDH subtitles. A new commentary track by The Oscarbate Film Collective & Podcast's William Morris and John Dickson finds them in enthusiastic fan mode as they offer a spirited tour of the film including its status as ideal video store fodder, the joys of Donahue's action cinema, and the ins and outs of offbeat action films around the turn of the '90s. In "Shoot Her!" (17m7s), cinematographer Mike Pierce recalls the local cast recruited around the Santa Cruz area, the stunt coordinator, the varying levels of expertise on the set, the depth he tried to give the imagery, and the "campiness" of the film's approach. Finally "They Call Me Uncle Lloyd" (8m24s) features Troma President Lloyd Kaufman in his usual cheerful mode chatting about his admiration for Vinegar Syndrome and the history behind his company's acquisition of the film as part of their line of "strong women" titles. Also included are a very lo-res video trailer and an insert booklet with an appreciative essay by W. Richard Benash.

Reviewed on October 20, 2024.