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The Gratuitous B-Movie Column: Yor, the Hunter from the Future
The Gratuitous B-Movie Column Issue #497: Yor, the Hunter from the Future
DebuaryRebuary: Week 2
Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the internets movie review column that has never been attacked by a cardboard dinosaur on wheels, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column, and I am your host Bryan Kristopowitz. In this issue, issue number four hundred and ninety-seven, Debuary Rebuary continues with a look at the weird as hell fantasy flick Yor, the Hunter from the Future, which hit North American movie screens in mid-August 1983.
Yor, the Hunter from the Future
Yor, the Hunter from the Future, directed by Antonio Margheriti under the name Anthony M. Dawson and based on a comic strip from Argentina, is one of the most batshit insane fantasy movies ever made. Part weird beard pre-historic adventure movie and part low budget sci-fi Star Wars/Flash Gordon rip-off, it was originally, allegedly, a four-part TV mini-series in Italy that was edited into a ninety-minute movie. The mini-series, as far as I know, hasn’t been officially released anywhere and has only aired a few times on Italian TV, but, truthfully, I’m not sure that’s even true. There is a YouTube video showing the original Italian TV opening credits (check that out here), but beyond that no one seems to have seen this mini-series version of the movie. How is that possible? And how has that mini-series version not been officially released anywhere, or appeared as a bootleg anywhere? In this day and age, I just don’t know how that is possible.
Anyway, the 90 minute “theatrical release movie” version of Yor has Reb Brown star as Yor, a mysterious badass warrior that roams the land with his trusty axe looking for trouble and whatnot. One day, out of the blue, Yor comes upon a young woman named Kalaa (Corinne Clery) and an old guy named Pag (Alan Collins, also known as Luciano Pigozzi) being attacked by a massive cardboard triceratops on wheels. So Yor attacks the monster, killing it in graphic fashion (there’s blood everywhere, man), and Yor goes back to Kalaa’s village as a hero. There’s some sort of celebration, with dancing and eating and drinking (I’m assuming they’re eating the triceratops that Yor killed), and everything seems right with the world. Kalaa wonders about the silver locket thing that Yor wears, but Yor doesn’t know what it is, either. He just wears it. And then, out of nowhere, a group of super hairy cavemen types show up and a massive battle ensues. Yor manages to kill several of the cavemen, but the cavemen have the numbers and essentially wipe out the village, kidnapping the women and children and killing the men. The lead caveman also manages to steal Yor’s medallion.
So Yor and the surviving Pag band together to rescue Kalaa and the other women. Using their various fighting skills (Yor with the axe and club and stuff like that, while Pag is a bow and arrow man) and giant cardboard dead bat as a makeshift hang glider, Yor and Pag manage to beat back the cavemen and rescue Kalaa and the others and Yor gets his medallion back. So then some stuff happens, Yor and the others head out on their own., Yor fights off some desert marauders for some reason, and he runs into some blonde woman named Roa (Ayshe Gul) who just so happens to have the same kind of medallion around her neck. What the hell is that about?
So then some more stuff happens, Roa joins Yor and Kalaa and Pag on a raft that goes down the river. Kalaa is jealous of Roa as Roa has an immediate connection with Yor and Yor seems to be happy to be around someone else with a medallion. The hairy cavemen show up again, a battle ensues, and Roa ends up dying from a massive head wound. Yor beats back the cavemen one more time and Yor, Kalaa, and Pag head for the ocean. When they get to the ocean, Yor burns Roa’s body, he fights off another giant cardboard dinosaur, rescuing a family from certain death. Yor and his gang head to this family’s village, presumably to, once again, dance and eat and whatnot, but instead the village is attacked by lasers and shit. Lasers? What?
It’s at this point in the movie that Yor goes from being a sort of pre-historic fantasy movie to a sci-fi fantasy movie, as suddenly there’s a brutal, magical dictator named Overlord (John Steiner) that uses advanced technology and robots to rule the world. We also find out what the medallion Yor wears is all about. Sounds bizarre and confusing, doesn’t it?
You bet it does. It’s also shockingly entertaining. None of it makes any sense and, truthfully, is hard to follow. The big sci-fi turn towards the end of the movie probably should have been its own movie or it should have come sooner in the story. The Overlord villain is actually pretty cool and should have been a bigger presence throughout. Even with those problems, though, Yor, the Hunter from the Future is just fun. Everyone in the movie is committed to the nonsense unfolding on the screen and makes you believe in what’s happening.
The special effects move between being pretty good to fucking ludicrous. The big battle scenes are well done and exciting, with lots of carnage happening all over the place. The close up brawls that Brown engages in showcase Brown’s athleticism. The cardboard monsters, though, are just insane. Everyone is scared of them, which makes those scenes sort of work, but, still, they’re cardboard monsters on goddamn wheels. You can shoot blood everywhere while Yor kills them, but they still look ridiculous. The dead bat hang glider scene is kind of brilliant, though. The sci-fi stuff looks cheap but it works anyway. The only real issue I see with the sci-fi part of the movie is the laser optical effects. They just don’t look right. I will say that the miniature sections are very cool, especially the scene where Yor and Pag engage in what amounts to a circus trapeze act. It’s not quite seamless but it’s still awesome.
The set design is also quite good throughout. The exterior scenes look like a prehistoric world, and the interior cave scenes, amazingly, don’t look like they’re made out of foam. They sort of look like actual caves. And the sci-fi scenes look like your typical water plant somewhere that’s always used for this kind of movie. Even the control room scenes look good.
Reb Brown does a fabulous job as Yor. He’s got the physical aspects of the role down pat, and he’s totally committed to the idea that the cardboard dinosaur will kill him and so he fights the thing like it’s real. Brown also does a good job interacting with the other cast members. I would like to know why Brown’s voice was dubbed. I mean, sure, dubbing voices is a standard practice when it comes to Italian cinema, but why didn’t the production just use Brown’s voice as Brown’s voice?
Corinne Clery does a good job as Kalaa, Yor’s love interest. Kalaa is a strong, badass hunter that has a thing for the mysterious Yor, sort of a “love at first sight” deal. She has excellent chemistry with Brown, and you totally buy them as a badass couple.
Luciano Pigozzi is terrific as Pag, the old man charged with protecting Kalaa at all costs. He may be old, sure, but you don’t want to mess with this guy. If he doesn’t take your ass out with a bow and arrow he will beat the shit out of you. He also makes that ridiculous furry loincloth thing he has to wear not as ridiculous as it could have been.
John Steiner does a great job as Overlord, the sci-fi bad guy at the end of the movie. Sure, he’s sort of doing a combination of Max Von Sydow’s The Emperor Ming from Flash Gordon and Nicol Williamson’s Merlin from Excalibur, but it works and he’s just dastardly. He goes out like a chump but I’d imagine hew would have been more formidable in a sequel had a sequel been made.
And kudos to the great Oliver Onions for coming up with the “Yor’s World” song that we hear over the opening credits. It’s both awesome and ridiculous at the same time. Why the heck don’t we get this kind of music in movies anymore?
I know that Yor didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but I’m still surprised that there wasn’t a sequel. If a sequel had been made I’m sure it would have kicked ass on home video. And why the hell hasn’t it been remade as a TV show or another movie? With today’s advances in special effects I’m sure a better movie could be made. Well, a more technically proficient movie. I don’t know if a modern remake would be as much fun.
Because, in the end, despite the movie’s problems, Yor, the Hunter from the Future is fun. More often than not, that’s what matters most.
See Yor, the Hunter from the Future. See it, see it, see it.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: If it’s less than 50 I’d be shocked.
Explosions: Several.
Nudity?: None, which is pretty shocking considering how little clothing the people wear in this movie.
Doobage: People setting fire to honor the gods, hunting, a giant cardboard triceratops on wheels, axe to the head with gushing blood, dramatic jumping, blood drinking, mysterious medallion hooey, neck breaking, club to the face, a full on village attack, a gigantic net, bow and arrow hooey, rope climbing, more fire making, club to the back, medallion stealing, body dumping, kidnapping, a moat filled with snakes, giant turkey leg eating, a group brawl to see who will have sex with a captured woman, a cardboard flying bat, face slapping, hang glider hooey, human skeletons, dam busting, slow motion rushing water destruction, miniature hooey, fur coat hooey, flaming tree branch hooey, giant net attack, stone bondage, a giant flaming sword, body paint, flying flaming sword, jealousy, raft building, rock to the head, man thrown into water, burning, birds, someone looking inside a dead fish’s mouth, another giant cardboard dinosaur attack, a very gross tongue, laser attack, exploding village, multiple other explosions, technology, decapitation via rock, talk of genetic engineering, crystal ball hooey, a room full of stone statues and mirrors, multiple cyborgs, multiple low budget laser fights, a hilarious miniature trapeze act, a glowing hand, candy cane colored pole through the midsection, space ship hooey, and the promise of a sequel.
Kim Richards?: Attempted.
Gratuitous: An opening theme that’s both awesome and ridiculous, Reb Brown, Reb Brown in a loincloth, Reb Brown running, Reb Brown fighting a giant cardboard dinosaur, dubbed voices, a dancing celebration, meat eating, Reb Brown using a giant dead cardboard bat as a hang glider, Reb Brown fighting people with a flaming sword, a defense of polygamy, an admonition not to drink the salt water, fish cooking, fish on a stick, sci-fi shit, cyborgs, a miniature trapeze act, a gorilla press slam, an awesome space ship, and the promise of a sequel.
Best lines: “The blood of your enemy makes you stronger!,” “Help me cut the choice meats,” “Come, you, welcome to our village,” “Good!,” “Kill all the men!,” “Am I the son of fire?,” “The Gods must be appeased with fresh blood!,” “A lake!,” “Pag, why is yours so different from other men?,” “Where does that steam come from?,” “Bring him to me!,” “Where did you get that medallion?,” “Why did you come to this land of death?,” “There must be some place in this world where we can live in peace with our people,” “We’re going to need a lot more hemp before we’re through,” “Yor!,” “Get up! Only one of us can belong to him!,” “Damn you, Khan!,” “Dreams are only dreams,” “Kiss me! Kiss me awkwardly! I hear the gods calling me!,” “A part of me will always remain here,” “A generous man does what his heart commands,” “It’s truly beautiful,” “My father. My mother. How beautiful she is,” “What did you call him? The Overlord? Why is that?,” “You believe you’re a god but you think like a murderer!,” “Are you ready to fight? Yes. Let’s go, Yor! Yes!,” “Block all access to the atomic pile!,” and “You can’t shoot somebody who is an illusion!”
Rating: 7.0/10.0
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Things to Watch Out For This Week
–American Nightmares: This low budget horror anthology flick, originally known as Mr. Malevolent made by the great Rusty Cundief and Darin Scott, has a pretty good assembled cast and a fairly decent look. Danny Trejo seems to be the Mr. Malevolent character, sort of the Crypt Keeper of the movie, and Chris Kattan (he apparently plays a psycho clown), Jay Mohr, Clarence Williams III, Michelle Nichols, and Vivica Fox also appear. I wonder why the title was changed to American Nightmares. That title is cool and all, but the Mr. Malevolent title is cooler. Perhaps the title was changed because the Malevolent one made it sound like it was a slasher movie? Definitely want to check this out.
–Valentine Collector’s Edition: The folks at Shout! Factory/Scream Factory are behind this loaded Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of the mystery slasher movie that came out in the aftermath of the wake of the whole Scream thing. I remember seeing it in the theatre back in 2001 and liking it. It wasn’t anything particularly special, but I remember it having some god suspense and I liked the look of the mask of the killer. It was both ridiculous and just creepy enough to spawn a franchise, which it didn’t. This Blu-ray is, again, loaded to the gills with all sorts of special features, both old ones and new ones, like a commentary track with director Jamie Blanks and, holy shit, Don Coscarelli and a bunch of interviews with the people involved. Just based on the special features this is a must own for sure. Any Valentine fans out there?
–Horror Express: This Blu-ray comes to us from the fine folks at Arrow Video and, from the look of the special features listed on Amazon, it’s a must own for fans. I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve read about it and it sounds pretty cool. An old frozen monster thaws out on a train and starts killing people, and Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Tully Savalas are involved somehow. I’ve been meaning to check out more of the old, classic horror flicks I’ve never seen/haven’t seen in a while. I think this Blu-ray might get me moving in that direction. I really think I need to see this. Any Horror Express fans out there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiLzoXt1aFc
–Hunter: This great, new low budget horror flick, which I reviewed here, is now available via various Video On Demand outfits, including iTunes. Be sure to check out my review, the movie’s website here, and then check it out on whatever Video On Demand service you have access to. If you’re a low budget horror movie fan, a Nick Searcy fan, or just a plain old movie fan looking for something col to watch, give Hunter a try.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9SctsDbous
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Do you like Cult TV?
The 1970’s TV thriller Kolchak: The Night Stalker is first up! Check out what I think about the show with the links below!
Issue #1
Issue #2
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… and coming very soon: Street Hawk!
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B-Movie News
–Daughter of the Wolf starring Gina Carano and Richard Dreyfuss coming this May: I saw this story over at Action Flix and, well, why hasn’t there been more hooha about this movie? Badass Gina Carano has to rescue her kidnapped son who has apparently been taken by some backwoods weirdo gang leader played by Richard Dreyfuss. That sounds goddamn awesome! I mean, when was the last time Dreyfuss played a real deal villain in a movie? I mean, sure, this is obviously a low budget movie made in Canada and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out Dreyfuss only did it for the money, but, still, Richard Dreyfuss is playing a villain in this thing. And with David Hackl, the director of the fifth Saw movie, behind the camera, wow, what a low budget action flick package. Hopefully we get a trailer for this thing soon.
Anyone else out there think this thing, at least, sounds cool? Anyone at all?
–The next Terminator movie will be called?: Well, according to various outlets (I also saw this over at Action Flix, the next Terminator flick might be called Terminator: Dark Fate. The title could change to something else, but James Cameron let it out that Dark Fate is the Terminator 6 title right now, and I’m okay with it. Dark Fate is a much better title than Genisys, mostly because we don’t have to figure out what the fuck Genisys goddamn means. Dark Fate feels like it belongs as part of the real Terminator franchise.
Ahnold is coming back. Linda Hamilton is back. Gabriel Luna is the new Terminator. I didn’t really care for Genisys at all, but I went and saw it. I’m a Terminator nerd. I will definitely see this Dark Fate thing whenever the hell it comes out.
Now, with this sixth one ignoring Rise of the Machines, Salvation, and Genisys, how many timelines does the franchise have? Do we have to include that Universal Studios ride in all of this? Has anyone figured this out yet?
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Check out my Widow’s Point set visit report!
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Who is the Douchebag of the Week? Go here and find out!
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Next Issue: Debuary Rebuary continues with the low budget horror flick Doom Room starring Debbie Rochon!
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Interviews
david j. moore
Jino Kang
Vladimir Kulich
Paul Mormando
Michael Matteo Rossi
Tyrone Magnus
Hector Barron
Jeffrey Orgill
Michael Baumgarten
R. Marcos Taylor
Don “The Dragon” Wilson
Paul Kyriazi
Eric Jacobus
Juju Chan
Luke LaFontaine
Marco Siedlemann
Sam Firstenberg
Amariah Olson
Alexander Nevsky
Mathias Hues
Kristanna Loken
Steve Mitchell
Albert Pyun
Brad Thornton
Mathieu Ratthe
Damien Power
Kelsey Carlisle
Mike Dwyer
Nicholas Bushman
Brahim Achabbakhe
Etcetera
Richard LeMay
Andrew David Barker
Cynthia Rothrock
Leslie Simpson
C. Courtney Joyner
Eric Miller
Alexander Nevsky (2)
Christopher Lawrence Chapman
James Mark
Casper Van Dien
Chris Mark
James E. Wilson
Barry Hunt
Vincent J. Roth
Mathew Ziff
Brandon Tyler Russell
Barry Hunt (2)
Lobsang Tenzin
Dylan Reynolds
Paul Kyriazi(2)
Lincoln Bevers
Nassasin Nuri
Hannah Janssen
Harry Mok
Daniel Roebuck
Sage Croft
Stephen van Vuuren
Cheryl Wheeler Sanders
Eric Jacobus (2)
David William No
Nicholas Verdi
Luke LaFontaine (2)
Roger Yuan
Dominik Starck
Tamas Nadas
Tyler Savage
Robert McGinley
Tim Gouran
Billy Ray Brewton
Leo Scherman
Harley Di Nardo
Jino Kang(2)
Alexander Nevsky (3)
Steve Latshaw
Rick Hurst
Douglas Burke
Jeff Farley
Fred “The Hammer” Williamson
Nico Sentner
Everett Ray Aponte
Max Martini
Tom Huckabee
Jason Kellerman
David Tarleton
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Well, I think that’ll be about it for now. Don’t forget to sign up with disqus if you want to comment on this article and any other 411 article. You know you want to, so just go do it.
B-movies rule. Always remember that.
Yor, the Hunter from the Future
Reb Brown– Yor
Corinne Clery– Kalaa
Luciano Pigozzi– Pag
John Steiner– Overlord
Ayshe Gul– Roa
Carole Andre– Ena
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony M. Dawson)
Screenplay by Robert Bailey and Antonio Margheriti, based on the graphic novel by Juan Zanotto and Ray Collins
Rated PG for violence
Runtime– 90 minutes
Buy it here
