Hundra

Oddly enough, then I have actually never heard about the 1983 fantasy adventure movie "Hundra", before now in 2023 as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. I happened to come across the movie by random chance, and I have to say that the movie's cover immediately drew my attention, as it had that particular 1980s fantasy art on it.

Writers Matt Cimber, John F. Goff and José Truchado put together a fair enough script and storyline for the movie. While "Hundra" certainly was watchable, it wasn't a grand fantasy adventure experience that I had been missing out on. Director Matt Cimber put together a movie that was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be, though there was a bit too much focus on the men dominating women in the movie.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but they had an okay group of talents in the movie, I will say that much.

There was an okay amount of action and sword fighting in the movie to keep the movie afloat. And it was, for the most parts, fairly well choreographed and executed on the screen.

"Hundra" definitely looked and felt like a 1980s fantasy adventure, for better or worse. So if you enjoy that particular type of 1980s cheese, then you're in for quite a treat here.

My rating of "Hundra" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Hundra, a fabulous warrior woman sets out to punish via execution as many of us wicked man things she can. All of us drunken, slobbering, sexually obsessed men need death and she is more than happy to deliver. All the while she hopes to find that one "special" guy who will give her a baby. The guy she takes aim at just happens to be a doctors...soo there.

Hundra is a very nicely produced eighties sword and sandal epic that produces its share of entertainment on various levels. Yeah, the entire concept is kinda dumb but its actually one of the better Conan type films made in that era...the genre was not done justice. The costumes look pretty decent and the on location filming is a big plus. Surprisingly, the fight scenes are better done than one would expect. This is not Shakespeare so don't approach it expecting Hamlet...K?

The lady playing Hundra is athletic and does lots of stunts, and pulls them off nicely. There isn't much need for acting here so we won't go there. If its slightly campy action and adventure you crave...you could do a lot worse than Hundra!!! PS...the thing with the dog is a big plus...not really, but cool anyhow!

I don't care for the sword-and-sandal fantasy genre that permeated the 80's with movies like the CONAN films and RED SONJA and BEASTMASTER. This was probably because I was only a child with no one to introduce me to them and, growing up, they just looked like live action heavy metal album covers, and I've never gone back to see what I've been missing since. But I've recently stumbled on one that's not half bad. Far from the level of CONAN and its ilk, the low-budget HUNDRA makes up for its flaws with heart and intent. It's set on an alternate world where women are second-class citizens, treated as property or pets. At some point in the past, a band of women broke away from the men-centric society to form a roaming band of nomads that only interact with the world of men when they need to impregnation. Except one member of the tribe, Hundra (Laurene Landon), can't be bothered to contribute a child. She'd rather continue being a warrior/huntress and let her younger sister do all the child-bearing. One fateful day, while Hundra is out on a hunting run, her tribe is attacked by a band of barbarian men who rape and pillage, leaving no survivors. When she returns to find everyone she's ever known and loved slaughtered, Hundra consults an oracle as to how she should proceed. The answer to Hundra's quandary…how she could best avenge her people and such…is to get pregnant. And so Hundra must enter the world of men and find a suitable mate with which to fulfill her destiny.

What I think I enjoy most about HUNDRA is that it feels like a horribly misogynistic film with a main character who didn't get the memo and proceeds to rebel against the script and film itself as the ultimate icon of women empowerment. It would be one thing if the men were just abusive and sexist, but the fact that Hundra's destiny is to find a nice man and get pregnant, and that she's cool with it, means the women don't seem too keen on fighting this imagery. When Hundra first comes face-to-face with Pateray (Ramiro Oliveros), a healer in the city of men where she spends the second half of the film, and he turns her away because he's not the type of dude to randomly sleep with any woman who comes crashing through his roof, her response is to allow herself to get captured and imprisoned in the temple where she knows she'll receive training in proper use of lipstick, eye shadow, and forks. If Pateray won't have her as is, she'll doll herself up and make herself a proper lady. It feels like a major tonal conflict with literally everything else in the movie. I mean, this is the same woman who routinely spits at the very idea of allowing herself to get close to a man and spent a previous scene blowing off some steam by giving a potential rapist the beating of his life. It could just be that I'm having a hard time understanding what it is this movie is attempting to tell me (and, keep in mind, this came out in 1983…it was a different time) and I'm just infinitely amused at how this is the most misogynistic "girl power" film I've ever seen.

This isn't your average low-budget fare either. The production value on this film is actually pretty impressive for what it is. The production design and costuming were commendable. The fight choreography, not so much. Most of the fights were more humorous than heart-pounding, with blows flying slowly and uncoordinated. But we get plenty of them. Hundra is, after all, a warrior. And Laurene Landon is giving it her all, even if her performance is wooden. I think because her heart is in it as much as it is, I found it easier to forgive the fact that she wasn't the greatest actress. Few people in this movie are, with exceptions for Ramiro Oliveros (who was genuinely decent) and Luis Lorenzo (who gave a scene-chewing performance as the high priest's adviser in charge of sex slaves). All combined, I suppose HUNDRA is on par with your average cable TV movie but just a little crazier. HUNDRA was written and directed by Matt Cimber, and I love when low budget movies are written and directed by the same person (bonus points if produced as well) because it means there's a lower chance that someone will stand up to them when things just aren't working. It's how I choose to explain scenes such as Hundra's random battle with a painted dwarf on a pony wielding a pitchfork and Hundra's naked, horseback jaunt along the beach that, again, seemed to serve no purpose other than to increase the film's level of nudity. Cimber thought they'd be iconic scenes and add legitimacy, but they're memorable for the complete opposite reason.

Striving to be more than it is, HUNDRA falls short but manages to entertain in spite (and perhaps in part) of its shortcomings. Of the half dozen Z-grade movies I've treated myself to recently, HUNDRA is probably the only one I'd be willing to acknowledge as genuinely entertaining and not just schlocky fun. The plot's a little stupid, the messages seem confused, and the tones are all over the place (the rapist beatdown is accompanied by music suitable for the sweetest scenes in THE PRINCESS BRIDE) but despite all that, Hundra is a strong female presence in a movie that tries its hardest to whip her in line. Hundra may be destined to get pregnant to save her kind, but she's doing it on her terms. I enjoyed watching her battle against the tyrannical world of men and I'm frankly a little surprised this one doesn't have more of a cult following.

I think people over analyse the film. Laurene Landon was the original action woman of the 80's. She played a wrestler in All the Marlbes and did several more strong woman roles after that.

People have also said they don't know why the Amazon tribe was attached at the start. Were they watching the film? The female narrator makes it clear that the men feared the women living a life on their own and either wanted to enslave them or kill them.

As for the nudity part. It's obvious is it not? The women were meant to be shown as worthless slaves, pieces of meat for the men to use as they pleased.

The one point I'd make is that ALL the men in the film are for the most part shown to be utter pigs and violent to woman. No one seems to have noted that, instead it's "Oh look a naked woman" I don't think I've seen a film where so many groin kicks were administered by one woman! I think it's a film worthy of a remake. There has been a lack of Amazon style films over the last few years. It seems a shame when there are so many good looking muscled women actors (like Cory Everson) out there.

In a mythological land, a female tribe is slaughtered by marauding male barbarians leaving the warrior Hundra as the lone survivor. She sets out to find a suitable male to mate with to re-start a new tribe. Soon, she winds up in a walled city run by a group of chauvinistic men.

Hundra has the one original angle of being a feminist slant on the sword and sorcery cycle of films from the mid-80's. The genre had been usually typified by scantily clad barbarian women with little in the way of political correctness. So Hundra stands out a little from the crowd, although Red Sonja from a few years later was coming from a similar place. That said, it isn't above having the heroine ride her horse naked into the ocean for an unorthodox bath! In fairness, it's hardly the most gratuitous nudity and the film overall is noticeably less dependent on erotic moments than most others from this type of flick. Laurene Landon is spirited in the title role. She clearly does a lot of her own stunts and gives a very physical performance.

It's not a great film though sadly. The main problem is that its pace lags in the middle too much. After a great start the action slows down once the heroine arrives at the city. This means that it feels like the running time could have been reduced by ten to fifteen minutes. But, that said, there are good fight scenes that bookend the film. And the production values overall seem pretty good with some decent locations and a stirring Ennio Morricone score to add some additional class. In the final analysis, Hundra is no classic and is weak in its middle section but it does have some good things about it.