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Wonder Women
[Somehing Weird]
1973; color
Directed by Robert Vincent O'Neill
Starring: Nancy Kwan, Ross Hagen, Maria de Aragon, Sid Haig & Vic Diaz
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Not to be confused with the similarly named Marvel comic book character, or even the Linda Carter TV version, there is much, much more than a single vowel separating American icon Wonder Woman from today's example of fantastical Filipino filmmaking, Wonder Women. Including but not limited to the as-promised-on-the-box-cover "karate-chopping sex kittens, organ transplants, zombie sex slaves, monster mutants, go-go boots & Sid Haig." Needless to say, we here at the B-Movie Buffet would not want it any other way. (I mean it sounds like a winner already, right?) Believe it or not, I learned about this film from a somewhat more intellectual pastime, watching PBS. No, seriously! It was during the Hollywood Chinese episode of their American Masters series. One of the actresses they featured was Nancy Kwan and while they did, of course, spend much of the time talking about Flower Drum Song, they also touched on some of her other, shall we say, less legendary entries into her filmography - like her role as Yu Rang in the final Matt Helm movie, The Wrecking Crew. During the segment they showed a brief clip of this uber obscure oddity, where Kwan plays a maniacal mad doctor who harvests organs, operates on old people to make them young again, kidnaps famous athletes, famous musicians and other, uh, famous people - by way of her ass kicking army of hot pant / mini skirt wearing super vixens - in order to experiment on them. (That Dr. Tsu - she is quite the multi-tasker!) Not so surprisingly, when I went to look it up online I was reminded no movie is too obscure to wind up in the Something Weird catalog at some point so, one phone call and however long it took for that media package to travel from Seattle to Philly later, here we are. And I have to say, in it's entirety it did not disappoint! In addition to the highlights listed above, viewers get educated in the rarely discussed amorous adventure known as brain sex and are treated to such sights as a pillow that can stop a bullet, a girl on girl karate fight in the dark where the only action you see is in the form of flying hair and flapping sleeves and the slowest action cock fight ever committed to celluloid. Plus this movie has more awesomely outrageous early '70s fashion than I can even list! (Honorable mentions go to the awesome see through plastic jackets they wear in the lab, the one African American chick's hair, another's white leather gold studded pyramid belt and the purple green and white Pucci mini-dress in the very first scene.) And I didn't even mention it co-stars Ross Hagen, of Mini Skirt Mob fame, as the private dick hired by Lloyd's of London to rescue a kidnapped jai-alai player, as well as perennial BMB faves Vic Diaz, as the easily frightened constantly giggling cab driver (classic!), and Sid Haig, looking particularly un-swarthy and at one point donning something akin to a Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit made for the world's tallest man, as Dr. Tsu's trusted financial advisor. You already know whether or not this movie is your kind of movie - proceed accordingly.
—Bunny
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