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Has the ongoing environmental collapse that’s scorched the planet and turned marine life against us got you feeling down? Do you pine for the days when our fears of Armageddon were driven more by nukes than nature? Do you dream of post-apocalyptic wastelands dotted with palm trees and pristine beaches? Then come join us at Spectacle this August for a look at the work of Filipino filmmaker and master of “Maxsploitation” cinema, Willy Milan.
Milan came up among the same wave of Filipino filmmakers that included Eddie Romero, Bobby Suarez, and Cirio Santiago, whose careers were boosted by foreign studios’ interest in the Philippines as a haven of lax regulation and low-cost labor in the 1970s and 80s. Yet while his contemporaries’ work was shepherded by the likes of Roger Corman and Samuel Arkoff for distribution to North America’s drive-in and grindhouse circuits, Milan’s films were largely domestic affairs, produced and distributed primarily for Pinoy audiences.
Milan was arguably the Philippines’ earliest adopter of “Maxsploitation” cinema— The subgenre of dystopian action movies sparked by the success of MAD MAX and its sequel— at a time when the genre was dominated by Australian and Italian filmmakers. Milan’s early films helped put the Philippines on the post-apocalyptic map, with the country’s beaches and jungles making for a fascinating alternative setting to the barren deserts and decimated cityscapes preferred by the Aussies and Italians.
Surprisingly, to this day much of Milan’s output has yet to see stateside theatrical or home video releases, with many of his films surviving solely via dusty Paragon VHS releases from over 30 years ago. In other words, perfect Spectacle summer viewing, replete with high body counts, logic-defying action, awkward dubbing, and killer soundtracks.