Machete Sharpened

I've been working my way through Gieferg's Grindhouse releases with great pleasure, and I've finally arrived at one of his first efforts.

This film felt like an extended version of Machete with added grindhouse effects and re-scoring. I have to admit that I would have preferred a shorter runtime around 70 minutes, as the original film's plot itself doesn't last two hours. Even though I give the narrative a lower score, one has to be honest enough to admit that this is more due to the source material than the editor.

But it was fun to watch out for the easter eggs, and Gieferg won me right over with the Last Action Hero skit. That was a lot of fun. As I've watched a few of his edits before, I can tell he has a great feel for these mash-ups.

I'm pretty sure with his nowadays abilities and editing knowledge, this would be a different monster. But who knows - maybe one day he'll give us Machete Kills. I'd watch it straight through.

Very enjoyable take on the genre. Very well put together on all fronts. The additional material was much appreciated.
My only observation is the run time, slightly contradictory, but may have benefited from a shorter run time.

Exploitation films are perfect for fanedits. Most of them are chopped up, rearranged and censored as is, and I have seen many impressive recontructions. Many modern "exploitation throwback" type films are terrible, though. They mimic some of the style, but pull their punches when it comes to content.

Machete was alright, but as Gieferg says, I too felt there was something missing. It didn't live up to its trailer. This version is undoubtably superior, the quality of the audio and video is good and the film grain and scratches are well applied. The choice of trailers at the begining was good. Nude Nuns with Big Guns is a rare worthwhile modern explotation film. Run Bitch Run (09), Halfway House (04) and Jailbait (14) are also good btw.

The visual editing was excellent. Special note should be taken of the almost seemless integration of trailer scenes into the film. The audio editing was good as well, a well chosen group of songs applied well.

My only real critiques are almost just a matter of taste: Robert Rodriguez has a good visual sense, but his writing is sometimes left wanting. Characters often say in three paragraphs what should only take one and sometimes plot information given is redundent or unneeded. The restoration of certain deleted scenes was good overall, but I feel some of it could have been trimmed more. Not to spol anything, but there is a point at which a certain scene goes out of focus and then the 4th wall is broken to transition past it, I think "Out of focus -> "Reel Missing" message might have done the job better. Just my own taste.

Overall a great fanedit. I truly think more "grindhouse' style fanedits are needed and I hope the series continues. On that note, I might suggest a 'sword and sorcery' edition at a later date? "Deathstalker' may be the gold standard, but 'Barbarian Queen' is good too. Its sequel is very similar in plot and cast, perhaps lending itself to combination as could be Amazons (86), Sorceress (82) or even Golden Temple Amazons (86) Just a suggestion!

Thank you again for all your hard work!

This is a fun alternative to the original Machete. Great to see the deleted scenes seamlessly added and appreciated the new scoring. The stated purpose of this I think was to watch more nudity while drunk, and it delivers. The added Steven Segal footage was done well although it was random sex and violence not really connected with the main story. My God I didn't realize he made so many movies while being quite a bit on the heavy side. The soft color grade of one scene where Segal is about to have sex didn't really quite match up visually with the rest, though it was not jarring.

Blood VFX were well placed and done, not sure what was the editor's blood VFX vs the original, so hat's off to you, sir. The movie theater VFX in the middle of the edit were a tad wonky with the motion tracking not staying right where it was supposed to be. That whole fourth wall breaking stuff where we leave the movie to see it being played in a theater wasn't my cup of tea.

While I really enjoyed this crazy, extra-grindhoused edit, I still do prefer the original. Now if the new porno scene and the extra Segal scenes were removed, this edit would be a huge improvement over the original theatrical version (in my opinion). The added score, blood VFX, deleted scenes, screen dirt FX, and cuts alone are enough to make it better than the original. This is a fine job though can't say I will be showing this version to my mother.

Oh, and one thing I always wished someone would put back into a Machete edit but has not done it yet:
restore Jeff Fahey's performance from the movie trailer when he's screaming that Machete is a "goddamned Federale!" In the theatrical version he's says it so wimpy it's disappointing. But this edit is not! It's quite good check it out while imbibing.