The Ridiculous Sci-Fi Fantasy Film On Streaming That Crosses He-Man And Star Wars
Sometimes a film comes along that’s so ridiculous that you can’t even put to words how insane its premise is. But after watching Yor, the Hunter from the Future, we’re going to make a wholehearted attempt to break down a film that could only be described as an ill-fated cross between He-Man and Star Wars.
Though streaming services only offer the RiffTrax commentary/parody version of the film, the original theatrical cut comes with strong recommendation if you just want to throw back a dozen beers with your friends and scream at your TV while admiring the audacity of the 1983 science fiction fantasy film.
Yor, the Hunter from the Future blends a prehistoric aesthetic with future tech, and raises a lot of questions that, as far as we know, never get answered. Reb Brown plays the role of the titular character, a roving hunter and barbarian with a mysterious amulet, who finds himself in a prehistoric desert full of cavemen.
He immediately wins a small village’s affection after heroically killing a stegoceratops, because hybrid breeds of dinosaurs with choice cuts of meat exist in this movie, and can be enjoyed by everybody after Yor drinks their blood for sustenance.
Reb Brown, who has a black belt in both Shinto-kahn and American karate, and a purple belt in Gracie Jiu-jitsu, was said to have performed all of his own stunts in Yor, the Hunter from the Future.
It doesn’t take long for a gang of blue-skinned cavemen to attack the village, and kidnap Ka-Laa, the love interest of Yor, the Hunter from the Future. Yor promises Pag, Ka-Laa’s guardian, that he will rescue her from the blue cavemen, and he does just that in a stunning action sequence that involves riding a giant bat carcass like a hang glider into their secret lair.
Yor, Pag, and Ka-Laa are able to flee to safety, but it’s worth noting that when they flooded the cave, they not only killed the blue cavemen, but also several captive villagers who were trapped in cages.
Reb Brown, who has a black belt in both Shinto-kahn and American karate, and a purple belt in Gracie Jiu-jitsu, was said to have performed all of his own stunts in Yor, the Hunter from the Future. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that the giant bat was a prop, but the fact that he risked potential injury to pull off such an audacious stunt is admirable, to say the least.
What makes this scene, and many other scenes in this film so breathtakingly stupid (read: amazing), is the theme song that proclaims, “YOR’S WORLD! He’s the maaaan!” every single time he triumphantly overpowers his opposition.
In other words, Yor, the Hunter from the Future doesn’t take place during prehistoric times, but rather after an apocalypse blew society back into the stone age.
In Yor’s travels, he meets a woman named Roa, who wears a similar amulet, which he has reason to believe has something to do with his own mysterious origin. Ka-Laa is immediately jealous of Yor’s infatuation with Roa, but this conflict is resolved rather quickly, as Roa is killed off almost immediately by more blue cavemen.
If you think this entire premise sounds absolutely bonkers, then you might want to take a deep breath, because at this point in Yor, the Hunter from the Future, we learn about the flying saucers, and the Overlord who wants to use nuclear technology to create a master race with Ka-Laa, who he believes to be a “genetically perfect” woman, and Yor, who we find out is the child of nuclear holocaust survivors.
In other words, Yor, the Hunter from the Future doesn’t take place during prehistoric times, but rather after an apocalypse blew society back into the stone age.
The entire third act of Yor, the Hunter from the Future takes place in a setting that’s more like something out of a B-movie adaptation of a Star Wars fan-fiction that was written after an ether frolic. Yor, Pag, and Ka-Laa are no longer antagonized by blue cavemen, but rather the Overlord’s army of androids for the remainder of the film. But it’s okay, because Yor, who suddenly can fly a space ship, knows just what to do to save the day.
Yor’s Director Makes No Apologies
Yor, the Hunter from the Future has garnered a sort of cult-following in recent years because of how disjointed and ridiculous its entire premise is. But despite its 14 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Antonio Margheriti, the director of the film, stands behind his work.
Margheriti has gone on record, stating that the movie was “a fun project made with almost zero budget. It was a party film and I sometimes enjoy looking at it again.”
Critics of Yor, the Hunter from the Future, weren’t so kind, however. The Washington Post suggested that “even gluttons for dumbness may find it easy to refrain from a second helping.” But if this kind of movie is what you’re into, then we strongly suggest watching the original cut, or the RiffTrax version on The Roku Channel.
