User Reviews

For some reason never explained, half of the earths population go mad and decide to wear leather for the rest of their lives.

The others are either really bad European cannibal actors, or the posh one from AWOL (or Lionheart), and some bloke who is acting about ten years younger than he should be.

These leather clad people pillage villages and just run about being downright rotters.

Having seen Mad Max and any other post apocalyptic movie before 1985, the heroes go on a quest to defeat the uber-leather villain. We can single this guy out because he has the wild hair and a mask.

It's pretty vile stuff, with no one really having a clue whats going on, just riding round with some weird frame on their bikes and cars looking foe something thats never explained.

The writers couldn't have had a clue either, because the ending is just awful.

The only reason why this film did not get a one from me is because it keeps you guessing as to how people are clean shaven and also how the lead keeps her hair looking so god....

Another post-apocalyptic movie with the usual trappings, elaborate motorcycles, leather bondage clothing, a crazy leader of an even crazier band, lots of pillaging and interfering. Instead of a lone male hero we have a lone female one, though she hooks up with a lone male hero later, making them a duo looking for Shangri-La or something. The action is not staged well, the dialogue is poorly written and the acting varies from bland to wildly over the top but not in a fun way. The last third of the film is just plain silly. (The flame thrower!) The open ending is most irritating. One doesn't even have the satisfaction of seeing the two main villains offed.

The only strong feature was the wonderful location shooting in Turkey. The landscape was the best actor in the film, always watchable unlike the cast.

A low budget but good-looking US/Turkish MAD MAX 2 rip-off in which the hero this time is a woman who has a pathological hatred of all men - that is until she meets the charming and courageous male lead Anderson, who of course comes to make her love him. It's cheesy stuff to be sure, and although it follows very closely in the steps of MAD MAX 2 it cannot come close because the budget and cast and crew just aren't skilled enough. Although lacking, this American production (making a change from the usual slew of Italian imitations) has its moments and offers up plenty of action fun for undemanding fans.

Director Peter Maris (who incredibly also directed the PHANTASMAGORIA horror video game back in the mid-'90s which was pretty popular) knows his roots but his direction, although he tries, is nothing above average. At least the film is in focus and well-lit at all moments, something that can't be said for those B-movies at the lower end of the spectrum. When somebody can create a near-professional look out of an almost-amateur production, they deserve credit.

We're off to a good start with a well-choreographed attack on a small village by a gang of pillaging outlaws, who proceed to murder all the men and rape all the women. The only person to escape is Harmony, a man-hating female warrior armed with a nifty crossbow (which I don't think she actually shoots anybody with). Harmony is played by Deborah Rennard (A.W.O.L.), although it's clear her future lies more in the likes of American soap operas such as DALLAS. However, Rennard invests Harmony with a feisty hard edge, and is definitely someone you wouldn't want to mess with. It's good to see such a strong female role in a world in which the women are most often helpless victims (cf. any number of slasher films from the past two decades).

At this point we are introduced to the myriad of villains, who all like to wear black hockey masks in the style of Jason Voorhees and who quite possibly have cornered the market in studded leather, as seemingly each and every one of them is dressed in this particular style of homoerotic outfit - sounds familiar huh? The chief villain is Slater, and we know he's the boss and not somebody to be messed with as he's got a mask on his face and a bionic arm to boot. Sadly the acting of these delinquents is pretty bad, but not the worst I've seen. The bad guys ride around on modified bikes with huge plastic fins at the front, vehicles also ripped from MAD MAX 2 except on a much smaller, cheaper scale.

Harmony escapes from their clutches and makes her way to a cave in the mountains where she discovers the mortally wounded Anderson. He teams up with her for a long trek across the mountains in search of a new land, and soon forget about his apparently serious injuries! Anderson is played by Bruce Campbell look-alike Garrick Dowhen, and although he's not up to the jolly charm charisma that Campbell would bring to the role, Dowhen does fine as a low-rate imitation. Thus begin the many adventures that the pair have, forming a close bond all the while.

Oh, and did I mention that the Jawas from STAR WARS make a surprise appearance too? What this film has to recommend it are mainly the authentic mountainous locations - filmed in Turkey no less! - which really give it a nice background on which the action can play out. Obviously this was shot out in the desert outskirts somewhere, and the frequently wonderful scenery adds a lot to the enjoyment of this movie. It's particularly impressive in a scene in which Rennard senses that she's being watched, and that eerie feeling successfully transfers to the viewer as well. There's plenty of light action to pass the time too; none of it is particularly violent (apart from those head-smashings!) or stylish but it's fun enough in a limited way.

Sadly, where this film also lacks is in the special effects department - there aren't any. Most of the effects are limited to bloody make-up jobs on the various injured parties or gun-shot victims. One memorable scene shows a village exploding many times in which the explosions are repeated and shown from different angles. I guess it's pretty cheap to buy explosives and blow the heck out of a run down shack somewhere, but still at least this gives the impression of a big budget. The biggest example of this film's lack of budget comes at a scene where Anderson and Harmony are captured by the villains, who knock them off their bike by stretching a rope across the road. Obviously stunt actors couldn't be found for this stunt so we simply hear the sound effects instead.

The movie is gore-free, apart from a singular brief moment of somebody having his fingers chopped off with an axe. The biggest disappointment of all comes in the anti-climactic ending, though, so steel yourselves for it. It very much looks like either things were left intentionally open for a sequel (which never happened) or that they just ran out of money filming suddenly and had to finish it quickly. I have to say that it's unforgivable to end a movie in such a way, with most of the bad guys surviving and the good guys making a hasty getaway. Surprising too, but in a bad way. However, I am an undisclosed fan of these MAD MAX 2 rip-offs, so LAND OF DOOM will nonetheless get the thumbs up from me, as I enjoyed it in a mindlessly watchable way, although it's far from the best of this particular genre.

I'm puzzled why Turner Classic Movies decided to air this movie during their weekly late night Underground presentation, because I really can't see it appealing to anybody, even if the viewers have a taste for B movies and the post-apocalypse genre. I admit that the look of this particular genre entry does have a unique backdrop, being filmed in the deserts of Turkey, which does add a little effective bleakness to this world. But apart from that, I am hard pressed to think of anything positive to say about this movie. There's almost no plot - most of the movie is devoted to the two lead characters wandering around and having encounters that add absolutely nothing interesting or necessary to the story, or showing the bad guys killing innocent people for no apparent reason at all. In fact, the movie doesn't even have a proper ending, concluding on a note that feels extremely unfinished. The characters are extremely weak, and are understandably made even worse by the I-don't-care attitude of the actors. There is hardly anything in the way of production values, often feeling that scenes were set up and shot as quickly as possible without any thought to adding anything to the scenes to make them stand out. As for action, it is absolutely routine and boring, that is when it doesn't show off some of the worst editing you've ever seen in an action movie. Maybe TCM decided to show this movie during late night so that it would help insomniacs to fall asleep.

OK, where to begin? First, this movie is boring. In the first half an hour the 'heroine', who has perfect teeth and hair, but never gets nude at all, not even a breast-a great disappointment to a spiceless film, says, "Don't Touch Me!", "I do things my way!" "I'm better off alone", blah, blah, blah. At least twenty times. The 'hero', who also has neat hair and teeth, is incredibly bland. He doesn't want to kill anyone-not even the bad guys or cannibals. These feebs are looking for 'paradise', a place where the world can be rebuilt. Oh, did I mention the unseen nuclear war? Well there was one. We see nothing of it. No destroyed cities, nothing. But they do make friends with a guy who speaks with an italian accent and he's friends with some knock-off Jawas. I'm not kidding. They look like Jawas. It seems the two main characters fall in love and the italian guy goes off with the Jawas. I'm not sure since by then my brain was numb. Did I mention the motorcycle that never runs out of gas? Or that in the end, they all run away after the main bad guy turns up still alive? Please, don't watch this waste of time. You'll thank me.

I like it this movie !! it 's so good and perfect And I like the characters Harmony and Anderson But I think turkey is not a good palce to produce this movie