Warrior of the Lost World (1983)

"Are the meek inheriting the earth?", 13 November 2007

If the 80s were anything as far as movies goes, it was a decade of imitation. How many imitators did movies like Halloween and Conan "inspire" in the 80s? Another influential movie that would see a number of imitators was The Road Warrior. From Escape from the Bronx to 2019: After the Fall of New York, there were scores of mainly Italian post-apocalyptic rip-offs. Some good, some bad, but Warrior of the Lost World is easily one of the worst of the bunch. Plainly put, it's a dreadful movie. Forget about a plot – the movie doesn't have one. Characters we don't know (much less care to know) drive around on ridiculously modified motorcycles, cars, and trucks shooting at each other while dressed like some sort of Cyndi Lauper/New Wave wannabes. It's pathetic.

Warrior of the Lost World "stars" Robert Ginty, Donald Pleasence, and Fred Williamson. Ginty is The Rider – a character with marbles in his mouth who spends most of the movie with his nausea-inducing, talking motorcycle. One of the lone highlights of the movie is when the motorcycle gets crushed by a rather large truck (not to fear – much to my dismay, the motorcycle reappears later in the movie). Pleasence is obviously in it for a paycheck. By the looks of things, his scenes were filmed separately and probably shot in a day at the most. Williamson does what he always seems to do – make goofy faces at the camera. His character, like the rest of the movie, is utterly pointless.

There's really only one way to stomach something as bad as Warrior of the Lost World – catch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the movie. It's not the best episode, but it sure beats watching the movie on its own. While I've rated the movie a 1/10, I'll give this episode a 3/5 on my MST3K rating scale.

1/10