brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Absolutely brilliant

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This movie essentially begins with five attractive ladies being kidnapped and taken to an isolated place deep in the jungle with the understanding that they are to be used as sex slaves. However, upon the arrival of a few powerful and wealthy men, it is disclosed that these women are going to be hunted and killed for sport. As luck would have it, one of the abductors named "Tony" (John Ashley) has lost the confidence of his employer "Spyros" (Eddie Garcia) and decides to escape along with these women which greatly increases their chances of survival. Even so, they still must elude the hunters and cope with an equally dangerous jungle environment in the process. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film turned out to be slightly better than I expected due in large part because of the coherent plot and the smooth transition from one scene to another. Additionally, having several beautiful women like Pat Woodell (as "McGee"), Laurie Rose ("Lori") and Lisa Todd ("Magda") certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, while this clearly wasn't a great movie by any means, it managed to maintain my interest for the most part and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

A bunch of women are abducted so they can be hunted down like animals by depraved wealthy perverts in the remote Filipino jungle. Director Eddie Romero, working from a suitably lurid script by David Hoover (who also co-wrote the story with none other than Jack Hill), relates the sleazy plot at a steady pace, delivers a handy helping of tasty gratuitous female nudity, further enlivens the proceedings with startling moments of bloody violence, and pulls out all the stops in the exciting last third when the titular hunt kicks in. The cast of familiar B-flick regulars play the material with real gusto: the always great Sid Haig cops the top acting honors with his splendidly slimy and spirited portrayal of leering and lecherous dirtbag Silas, "Hee Haw" honey Lisa Todd likewise hits it out of the ballpark with her perfectly icy portrayal of cold and ruthless lesbian Magda, John Ashley does well as the laid-back and basically decent Tony, plus there are sound contributions from Pat Woodell as the assertive McGee, Charlene Jones as the sassy Billie, Laurie Rose as the feisty Lori, Ken Metcalfe as the vicious Karp, and Eddie Garcia as evil rich sadist Spyros. Better still, we've also got a foul misogynistic sensibility evident throughout which gives this picture an extra scuzzy edge. Justo Paulino's cinematography is rather plain, but overall acceptable. Jerry Dadap's groovy and lively score does the get-down funky trick. Fun schlock.

As you can derive from the title as well as from the tagline "Set your sights on the Tastiest Game of all", this is a cheap and extremely anti-feminist exploitation version of the legendary cinema classic "The Most Dangerous Game", with abducted slave girls (of all ethnics) instead of shipwrecked passengers and constant sexist dialogs instead of genuine suspense. But hey, who's complaining, because "The Woman Hunt" is one of the most wondrously tasteless and vastly entertaining movies of its kind. With a team including Eddie Romero (director), Jack Hill (writer) and star Sid Haig, you simply know not to expect a masterpiece of plotting or sophistication, but you definitely are guaranteed to witness thrills, bloody action and loads of nudity. Ironically enough, the titular hunt never comes … or at least not as it was intended. The first three quarters of the film revolve on the "recruitment" of the unsuspecting ladies (for example, luring two innocent girls on a yacht) and the second half focuses on their escape alongside an employee rebelling against his boss. The big chief and his wealthy businessmen guests go after them, of course, but the hunt is unprepared and hectic. Meanwhile, there are large amounts of mutual intrigues between the hunters as well as the preys. The obscurity status of "The Woman Hunt" is very undeserved, if you ask me, as it's definitely much better than the majority of contemporary (s)exploitation movies. The tropical island setting is magnificent, all female cast members (either good or bad) are stunningly gorgeous, Sid Haig obviously had a fun time sprouting offensive lines and there are some highly memorable moments of gratuitous violence to enjoy. Of course you've seen this premise several times before already, and probably better, but "The Woman Hunt" somehow feels refreshing and at least the script attempts to add ingenious little story elements, like for instance the sex-identity crisis of Lisa Todd's character and the unexpected anti-climax end shot. I'm probably way too generous in my praising and rating for this movie, but what the hell, it's sensational and super-rancid 70's goodness that comes with the highest possible recommendation.

The best thing about this movie is the opening credits, with an animated target centering on the names of the leads. The second best thing is a funny Sid Haig line: "My nose ain't the thing that grows!". The third is the (brief) female nudity. The fourth COULD be Pat Woodell, who was striking in "The Big Doll House", but here she is almost unrecognizable with that awful haircut. The fifth COULD be the lesbian villainess, but it's pretty clear that the actress who plays her doesn't have her heart into it. And that's it for the good or could-be good things. The "woman hunt" of the title doesn't begin until after about 50 minutes, and it's totally unexciting like the rest of the movie. Those who saw this at the drive-ins back in 1975 must have been asleep in their cars, or at least otherwise "occupied". I can't imagine them paying any attention to the screen. (*)