The Direct to Video Connoisseur

I'm a huge fan of action, horror, sci-fi, and comedy, especially of the Direct to Video variety. In this blog I review some of my favorites and not so favorites, and encourage people to comment and add to the discussion. For announcements and updates, don't forget to Follow us on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. If you're the director, producer, distributor, etc. of a low-budget feature length film and you'd like to send me a copy to review, you can contact me at dtvconnoisseur[at]yahoo.com. I'd love to check out what you got. And check out my book, Chad in Accounting, over on Amazon.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Yor, the Hunter from the Future aka Il mondo di Yor (1983)

Photobucket

I've been meaning to review this one for a long time now. I mean, look at that cover. And that title. And it's starring Reb Brown! It's like a trifecta of awesome. Finally, a buddy managed to hook me up with a copy, and here we are. Let's hope it lived up to expectations.

Yor, the Hunter from the Future has DTVC favorite Reb Brown as Yor, a mysterious cave man who appears among other cavepeople and kills a triceratops. Not a bad deal. Then he saves a woman from some bad, dirty cavemen raiders. Even better, right? The thing is though, Mr. Brown-- err, Yor-- wants to know where he comes from, and he hopes to find it on a mysterious island the natives keep telling him about.

Photobucket

This is every bit as amazing as I could've hoped, maybe even more. I mean really, you're going into bad Italian Z-movie Reb Brown schlockfest with a set level of expectations, and I daresay this exceeded them. Animatronic dinosaurs? Check. Star Wars rip-off? Huh? Um yeah, check. Androids? Um, okay, sure, we got those too. Hot chicks and beefcake dudes in hot cavepeople attire? Absolutely. A total fun time? Yes! I could go on and on about how fantastic this is, from the Psychedelic Furs rip-off band doing the opening credits, to some really great stuff that I don't want to ruin for you, top to bottom Yor fulfills your bad movie needs, and then some.

One thing I missed was some too sweet Reb Brown screaming. He had a good one at the beginning as he dispatched that triceratops, but after that it was over. He actually had a couple lines that were dubbed by some dude with a much deeper voice, which were pretty funny. Overall though, this is some pretty sweet Reb Brown, maybe not quite Space Mutiny, Strike Commando, or Robowar levels, but as a movie, Yor is a better watch than those, so it makes up for a slightly understated Reb Brown.

Photobucket

This is directed by Antonio Margheriti (under the name Anthony M. Dawson). He has a pretty solid B-movie filmography, including a couple with DTVC Hall of Famer Klaus Kinski. With Yor, he managed to gross over $2 million at the US box office, which was pretty big for 1983. If Yor is any indication of what we can expect from Margheriti, then I'm ready to get after it with him-- and I have a few titles in mind. Hello Mr. Kinski...

This is one of those ones that I could write volumes on, but I'm afraid to rob you of some of the great surprises I found when I watched it for the first time. I almost feel I've given too much away as it is, because this movie takes a sudden left turn around the hour mark, which made it all the more fantastic, but my posting pictures of it and telling you about it will have you expecting it. On the other hand, I'd feel remiss if I didn't tell you that there were androids that looked like Darth Vader, right?

Photobucket

Always have to have European hotties in any movie like this. I picked her as my favorite. Reb turns down her hand in marriage because he already has a wife, even though everyone thinks he should have two. The thing is, all of these societies seem to be living hand-to-mouth, or in nomadic food foraging bands, which in either case the people probably wouldn't want multiple wives in order to keep the population manageable. Oh yeah, and there were dinosaurs. Yes, I'm exploring the Polygyny Threshold of Reb Brown's tribe, considering the fact that his character killed a dinosaur.

And with that digression, it's time to bow out, but we do so reluctantly, because this truly is a gift that keeps on giving. Gather up your buddies, and make this the focal point of a bad movie night. Hell, make it a Reb Brown-centric bad movie night. I believe this is out there on DVD, but used VHS is probably your best bet. It's worth it.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084935/

11 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to see this one for years and years, I remember, when I was a kid, that cover grabbed me, but I never got around to renting it at the video shop because I wasnt familiar with anyone in it. Now that I want to see it, I cant find it anywhere...sounds like a blast, something along the lines of Lucio Fulci's Conquest eh?

    That pic you posted of the caveman cracks me up.

    Do those cool looking spaceships actually make it into the film man? Cause I know some of these Italian movie posters can take you for a ride...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent write-up! Always wanted to see this one! Reb Brown rules.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This would make a great double feature with Gor!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've got the original Aussie VHS of this sitting on my shelf waiting for the best opportunity to watch. Gonna be a real blast, I just know it. There's actually a TV cut of the movie too that runs for over 3 hours, in Italian!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This movie is simply AMAZING. My first Reb Brown experience was Robowar. And From there Straight to Yor: The Hunter From The Future. It changed my life! Since then I've pretty much bought his entire library. He's just so awesome.

    The greatest thing is this movie's theme song. They kick it in at all the right times and it'll make you laugh EVERY time.

    YOR'S WORLD! HE'S THE MAN!!

    And did you know that this movie is actually a butchered 4 HOUR MINISERIES that aired over seas? I really wish I could afford to piss away $25 to buy it from this guy. It's the only place I've been able to find it.

    http://www.ioffer.com/offer_transactions/show/12162503

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, Ioffer is a truly amazing website, it's about the eonly place you can get Bruno Mattei's films for a reasonable price.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Believe it or not, this has been on Turner Classic Movies as part of their TCM Underground late night programming. That's where I saw it. I didn't quite "like" it, but it was fairly entertaining; as most Reb Brown movies are.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh man, I haven't seen this since I was a little kid. I remember loving it though, I think that it was one of the first films I ever saw more than once along with The Last Starfighter and Conan the Destroyer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Film Connoisseur, I think you'll love this, and yes, some space ships make it into the film-- I'll let you determine how cool they look! The whole thing is a trip though.

    Total agreement Mr. Gable, I'd be curious to check out the miniseries, and definitely Ty and Explosive Action, this is worth your checking out, especially if it's already on your shelf. Same for you Ed, if you haven't seen this in a while, I imagine it gets better with age.

    Video Vacuum, I'm glad you brought up the TCM thing, because I'd heard that from a friend, and I totally forgot to mention it in the post. Thanks for picking me up there.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, thanks for the flashback! This was a regular rental for me back when I was a kid and watched anything with a dinosaur or spaceship on it. I remember seeing this and "Planet of the Dinosaurs" on the same day and enjoy this one a lot more.

    Sadly I'd completely forgotten about it, until now. And now that I'm familiar with Reb from "Space Mutiny", well that just makes this even more awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's excellent, it's always great to rediscover one you loved in your childhood, and I don't doubt this has stood the test of time.

    ReplyDelete