The Interchangeability of Race in Machete Joe: A Movie Review

*full disclosure: a DVD screener of this film was provided by Phase 4 Films.

Director: Sasha Krane.

Writer: Gordon Greene.

Cast: Monique Barajas, Chris Blasman and Malika Blessing.

Machete Joe is only the second horror film that this reviewer has seen with a primarily African American cast. Inheritance is the other and like this second film a Caucasian character dies first. This is a reverse of the usual black man dying early trope. However, Machete Joe does not offer any of the unique struggles inherent in African American cultural. Instead, this is a routine serial killer thriller with a spoof of filmmaking the only interesting element.

Two producers have gathered a cast of actors to an isolated ranch to film "Machete Man." There is trouble on the set as only thirty pages of the script have been written. The other sixty pages have to be improvised. But that is not a problem when you have a deformed killer already living on the set. The cast of characters dwindles while the killer's father shows up just in time to be offed via fire poker. The rest of the film follows a typical horror formula including the killer's body disappearing in the end. Will Machete Joe try for a sequel?

Let us hope not. Unfortunately, much of this film is dubbed and that is a detriment to the film's realism. As well, there is a missed opportunity here. In the film Inheritance, the filmmakers take a look at slavery and African American magic or curses. This made the film stand out from the crowd. Machete Joe offers very little in the realm of uniqueness. As well, the commentary on creativity versus capitalism regarding filmmaking in Machete Joe should have stayed throughout the film. The satirizing of indie filmmaking is forgotten in the second half and unsurprisingly, the second half of the film is also the most predictable. But, after all: "it is just a horror movie" as one character reminds us and that is all that this film is.

This title has just released on DVD as of February 7th through Phase 4 Films and this is a horror film that you will want to skip; see Inheritance instead. The film reviewed here does not look at any of the unique elements of African American culture and the characters here could easily have been substituted with Caucasian or Asian characters instead. The ADR is poor and at seventy-five minutes, the film might feel like it is cutting you at the knees with such a short runtime.

Overall: 5.5 out of 10 (lots of dubbing, some backstory for characters, short runtime, a good satire of indie filmmaking, too predictable and formulaic).

More info' on this film is available at Phase 4 Films:

Machete Joe at Phase 4 Films

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