Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)

Conan the Barbarian vs. The Blue Man Group

"Yor, Hunter from the Future" is a wonderfully awful movie from 1983. Forget classics like ET and Return of the Jedi--watch Reb Brown (the lead in "Space Mutiny") as a Conan-like barbarian searching for the grail of his past! It's a spectacle of extravagant badness- from the fey chorus to the women who swoon for the leading lunkhead.

"Yor" opens in the wilderness. It was filmed in Turkey--if that's a surprise. Since this is an Italian ripoff, there's fascination with cavemen (they make appearances in "Cave Dwellers" and "Starcrash") Among the hairy cavemen, Yor is blonde, buff,and manscaped. He rescues a beautiful maiden, Kala, from a cheesy-looking dinosaur. She invites him to the dance where the women are wearing tacky outfits drag queens would envy. Yor enlists Kala and her father, the Old Geezer, in the quest to find his parents. Along the way, he battles blue-skinned cavemen (who make gratuitous appearances), S'mores fork-wielding albinos, and confronts a sorceress who brags about her virginity. After passion with Yor at a waterfall, she gets killed by said Blue Men. Yor, Kala, and the Old Geezer continue their quest. He rescues yet another maiden from a dinosaur- but Yor declines the marriage offer from her father. He's monogamous. Finally, Yor, Kala, and the Old Geezer battle Darth Vader clones, confronting the evil Overlord himself. The Overlord wants to breed Yor and Kala for a master race-- but Yor will pay the ultimate price. As soon as he inseminates Kala, he'll die (talk about a little death!) There's a final battle. And it turns out Yor's real name is Galahad (just like the knight who found the Holy Grail)

"Yor" confronts deep issues such as belief in God, monogamy vs. polygamy and genetic engineering. It blends sci-fi and fantasy in a mind-bogglingly cheesy way. It's baffling that MST3K didn't tackle this one, though they DID tackle Reb Brown's other masterpiece,"Space Mutiny",opposite the late John Philip Law. "Yor" takes you to infinity-- and beyond! June 3, 2008

Best SCI-FI camp film of the 80's

I was looking for this movie for a long time and now VHS has it WOW!!
Reb Brown is great in this role; more fun than Conan movie,and lot of fun! for B film campy SCI -FI film of the 80. Don't try to remake this one I'll be mad as hell.There's a lot of sci-fi out there like this film buy this took my heart,it was two months after Star Wars and everyone needed there sci-fi fix back that then.
The action in the film was fun not boring at all.Corrinne Clery was hot that's a bonus there already.A few SCI-FI film such as LASER BLAST and Flash Gordon and MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE were all sort of camp B films that I simply enjoyed back in the 80's thank GOD for DVD AND VHS.
I must say it I'm a SCI-FI junkie. December 16, 2006

An In Depth Philosophical Discussion About Dehumanization

There aren't many films that can treat man's struggle with his environment with the subtlety and artifice that is seen in Yor: The Hunter From The Future. It is only under the delicate hand of auteur Antonio Margheriti can cinematography so sullen-cloud hushed also capture neon-like performances from Reb Brown, Corinne Clery and John Steiner. Not to be overlooked Carole Andre and the deep mercurial complexities she imbues into her Ena character.

Margheriti's work is his pinnacle film of contrasts, as few filmmakers have had the courage or the vision to explore the relationships that result from cavemen having to battle for survival against dinosaurs, robots -- as well as holograms. Here we see in stark, and sometimes unsettling granularity, how Margheriti's characters must confront their primordial pasts, their cold futures and their gossamer present existences.

Yor is more than a science fiction film. It is a true philosophical work that somehow marries Waiting For Godot, Ulysses and Brave New World on to the same cellulloid masterpiece - and yet traps it all in an unanswerable mystery of Hitchcockian proportion.

Every film student should commit this film to memory. June 1, 2005

Unbelievable...and Unforgettable (sadly)

This has to be one of the worst movies ever made, yet it is so mindnumbingly bad, it will have you laughing throughout!

Reb Brown, who is still waiting for his first Oscar, plays the single-syllable Yor (and is mightily taxed with just that) who has a mysterious past, one that will have you guessing for a couple of minutes or so. Yor (does he get greeted, 'Yo! Yor!'?) saves a babe from a absolutely abysmally fake dinosaur, and discovers she wears the twin of the medallion that he has come into possession of. What a strange coincidence!

He is captured by men in the burning hot desert (who fight off that terrible heat by wearing full-length fur coats). However, he gets free of them, only to be captured by men and women in lab coats, who live in a cave.

They subject him to many uninteresting tests, and discover that he has parents (prompting Yor to utter the unforgettable words, 'My parents, oh, my mother and father!' Yes Yor, your parents are INDEED your mother and father. Good Yor!)

Made on a rumored budget of $243.18 ($202.56 of which went to Burger King for catering), Yor, the Hunter from the Future is bland, horrible, dull, stupid, inconceivable, shockingly unprofessional, idiotic, and....crashingly funny! (though certainly not intentionally).

How MST3K missed this one, I don't know. The rights to this film are probably tied up in the courts (small claims court).

Minus one star on a rational level, five+ stars if your idea of fun is to stick a fork in your eye, over and over again.

Recommended for devotees of really, really bad movies. Ed Woods would be jealous. December 1, 2004

"Take me with you, stranger!"

One of the greatest sci-fi epics of all time. Starring the incredibly talented Reb Brown (Captain America, Uncommon Valor), Yor is a complex character study which borrows liberally from Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces". Filled with great acting a mind blowing special effects, Yor is a must have for your film collection. I hear that the studio is about to release a special edition on DVD, with dolby 5.1 and enhanced special effects. I can't wait!!! October 20, 2004

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