Having taken a break from his poorly-made horror films of the late 1960s, Filipino director Eddie Romero here treats us to one of those popular '70s exploitation movies, which depict multi-national women as ass-kicking heroines. This cheaply-shot, competently-made movie is a lot of fun for fans of such genre films. I would, however, only recommend this to people who are acutely aware of the many flaws of the Filipino exploitation movie; namely their lack of effects, their sometimes poor pacing, and of course bad acting everywhere you look. But fear not, as SAVAGE SISTERS is actually one of Romero's better movies and contains a wealth of action and incident to keep things moving nicely along.
The plot is pretty lightweight and consists of the basic "hunt for stolen gold" storyline overused so much over the years, with all the expected double-crossing, gender humour, and guys acting badly in silly costumes you would expect. Heck, they even throw in a prison scenario to appease W.I.P. fans. SAVAGE SISTERS is a pretty sexy film but tends to tease rather than bombard the viewer with explicit shots, exemplified by the unfinished strip-tease in a bar (a scene that goes on forever but gets nowhere!). It is a violent film but not very gory at all, aside from a couple of cheaply amusing effects shots.
The leading cast members are attractive enough girls but good performances are few and far between. The only semi-professional turn comes from Gloria Hendry, who excels in her clichéd role of the sassy, dominating woman who doesn't take nonsense from any man! Romero regular John Ashley lurks around the scenery as W.P. Billingsley (?!) but instead of being the hero as usual he's instead a swarthy, sweating anti-hero for a change with a fine line in sexism and double-crossing. All of the usual Filipino character actors can be spotted fleshing out minor roles here, particularly the omnipotent Vic Diaz who really seems to be enjoying himself as a one-eyed bandit. Even cult favourite Sid Haig shows his face beneath a bushy beard as an overacting terrorist. With lots of action, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, SAVAGE SISTERS can hardly be called high art but it is pretty entertaining for what its worth.
The plot is pretty lightweight and consists of the basic "hunt for stolen gold" storyline overused so much over the years, with all the expected double-crossing, gender humour, and guys acting badly in silly costumes you would expect. Heck, they even throw in a prison scenario to appease W.I.P. fans. SAVAGE SISTERS is a pretty sexy film but tends to tease rather than bombard the viewer with explicit shots, exemplified by the unfinished strip-tease in a bar (a scene that goes on forever but gets nowhere!). It is a violent film but not very gory at all, aside from a couple of cheaply amusing effects shots.
The leading cast members are attractive enough girls but good performances are few and far between. The only semi-professional turn comes from Gloria Hendry, who excels in her clichéd role of the sassy, dominating woman who doesn't take nonsense from any man! Romero regular John Ashley lurks around the scenery as W.P. Billingsley (?!) but instead of being the hero as usual he's instead a swarthy, sweating anti-hero for a change with a fine line in sexism and double-crossing. All of the usual Filipino character actors can be spotted fleshing out minor roles here, particularly the omnipotent Vic Diaz who really seems to be enjoying himself as a one-eyed bandit. Even cult favourite Sid Haig shows his face beneath a bushy beard as an overacting terrorist. With lots of action, gun battles, explosions, and car chases, SAVAGE SISTERS can hardly be called high art but it is pretty entertaining for what its worth.