Saturday, April 16, 2011

YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE (1983) Theatrical Posters

Yor, The Hunter From the Future began life as a television miniseries in Italy directed by Antonio Margheretti (often credited as "Anthony Dawson"), that chronicled the adventures of a buff blond caveman named - of course - Yor (American actor Reb Brown) as he struggled to survive a savage world full of dinosaurs and other monstrous creatures - and strange, laser-wielding warriors from a mysterious, technologically-advanced island society. This 4-hour epic was then cut down to feature length and released internationally as a movie - Columbia Pictures unleashed in in the U.S. in the summer of 1983.

I actually went to see this in the theater in '83, lured in by Columbia's ad campaign, which promised everything that a teenage geek guy could possibly want to see in a movie: cavewomen, dinosaurs and laser guns & flying saucers! Unfortunately, what I got was a low-budget, badly-dubbed, disjointed disappointment. I saw it again just a few years ago on cable, and was then able to appreciate it a bit more for its camp value - but, then, I'm more open-minded about movies now than I was at age 17-18.

Margheretti was no stranger to sci-fi. Back in the Sixties, he had directed a number of popular space operas - Space Men, Wild Wild Planet, War Between the Planets, et al - but, like pretty much all of his many exploitation movies, Yor is a somewhat slapdash, sloppy - but energetic - mess. It's entertaining, but you feel guilty enjoying it.

I don't feel guilty about enjoying these posters, though; the U.S. one-sheet at the top is kinda bland - and previews the sort of static, Photoshop crap we see these days - but I really like the "underground comix" look of the second, and that third one resembles the covers of many of the fantasy paperbacks on my shelves. Interestingly, the artist of this piece has actually swiped Frank Frazetta's interpretation of the Battlestar Galactica Cylon Raiders (as seen in THIS painting) for the spaceships!

Considering how prevalent this flick was on 80s cable television, I'm surprised some cult video label hasn't released it on U.S. DVD. It can be watched/bought via Amazon Instant... but that's not really the same.

12 comments:

  1. I wonder if there's any way for the full 4 hour miniseries to be released? Maybe it's make more sense...

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  2. I love how the Cylon Raiders keep getting reused on various movie posters and covers.

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  3. I do believe that second poster was done by French comic artist (and early Heavy Metal magazine staple) Philippe Druillet. Looks like he even did the logo.

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  4. Love the French Quad, like the second, just more chaos on either side :)

    http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k25/m1ndbender/yor_alt_FR.jpg

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  5. This is a great selection of posters! I'm probably one of the seventeen fans of Yor the Hunter From The Future that wander these Internets, and its always good seeing the movie mentioned. The robots from Yor are one of my favorite Star Wars-ripoff designs. and the last two posters show it.

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  6. When I was a teen they had cheap movie night every Tuesday and Wednesday so we saw everything that came out. Usually one person make the choice so we didn't have to fight over what we wanted to see. This movie was one that my buddy Adam could never live down. To this day when he is talking about movies somehow 'Yor, Hunter from the Future' comes up and totally invalidates all his arguments. That was one movie that wasn't worth the 2 dollars I paid for my ticket. Even at that price it was pretty much unwatchable.

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  7. Dude! I'm a total Yor fan. I'm showing all my friends this awesome, awesome movie.

    Actually, it could have actually been really good, with a proper budget/writing. That third poster is epic!

    -Lukifell (facebook.com/lukifell)

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  8. Love the posters. Never seen the movie, but would love to. Even though I am sure it's total crap.

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  9. I kinda think I've seen the movie and would definitely love to see the whole thing. There's gotta be a copy out there somewhere. To the internets!!

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  10. iTunes has a widescreen version of YOR available.

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  11. Chris, wasn't there a novelization of this movie or maybe a novel featuring this character that had a different plot? It seems stuck in my head that there was, but I've not found any evidence of it online anywhere. Maybe I'm imagining it. Well, if anyone would know, it would be you and your friends here.

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    1. there werent novels but theres the comic series and it has a different plot also the mini series the film was edited and cut down from dont know if you still care about this question from about five years ago

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