Editorials
Happy 35th Birthday ‘Yor, the Hunter from the Future’!
35 years ago Antonio Margheriti gave birth to Yor, the Hunter from the Future. This incredible movie is worthy of a huge birthday celebration.
Italian genre cinema is an art form all its own. Somehow many Italian films manage to both be wholly original and unique works of cinematic glory while also heavily ripping off popular and existing titles. It seems like a nearly impossible balance to maintain but they’ve managed to pull it off a lot of the years and were particularly successful back in the 80’s. One of my favorite original rip-offs is Yor, the Hunter from the Future, which recently turned 35.
Yor, much like love, is a bit complicated. The basic premise of the film seems quite simple — Yor (Reb Brown) is a warrior living during a prehistoric age where early man is living amongst dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals and monsters. Yor spends his days trying to discover his origin while partaking in your average barbaric activities.
Yor does all of this solo until one day he runs into a primitive cavewoman named Kala (Connie Cléry) and her protector Pag (Luciano Pigozzi). Kala and Pag are out hunting when they are attacked by a dinosaur that looks to be some sort of stegosaurus, but not quite a stegosaurus. Yor steps in, saves the day, kills the dinosaur and drinks the dinosaur blood like the total badass he is to celebrate his victory.
Kala and Pag take Yor back to their village to celebrate and he’s immediately treated like a king. The celebration doesn’t last long, however, because the village is attacked by what I’m assuming is a rival tribe. Yor, Kala, and Pag are the only three that survive and they embark on a journey across a prehistoric desert in hopes of finding out who Yor truly is. Along the way, Kala quickly falls madly in love with Yor and he seems whatever about it. Like he’ll make out with her, but if he doesn’t it’s whatever.
Where things really start to get interesting is that while they encounter other tribes and more prehistoric monsters they also come in contact with advanced technology and a spaceship. This makes one question what world the movie takes place in. Does the film take place in a true prehistoric age? Or have we gone so far into the future that Earth has destroyed itself with the luckiest humans escaping the planet via space travel while the rest of the globe is sent back to the beginning of man? Or maybe the film involves time travel and all the advanced technology and the spaceship found in this prehistoric world is from someone that traveled back in time? And how exactly does Yor factor into all of this?
Like all great science fiction films, Yor presents a lot of questions, and I guess that is sort of the point. Yor is trying to discover himself and all these possibilities are in play. The problem is that when the film resolves Yor appears to have discovered his answer but we don’t ever really know what that is. He eventually leaves on the spaceship he finds, which he immediately knows how to operate, so I guess he’s from space? Which presents another possibility — maybe Yor isn’t human but just part of a more advanced alien race that travels to Earth during the prehistoric era? But if that’s the case, why is Yor so confused the whole time?
The fact that I have so many questions and am generally confused about what the hell is going on in Yor, The Hunter from the Future may lead you to believe I don’t like this movie but it’s actually the opposite. I love Yor! And why wouldn’t I? It’s all kinds of incredible!
The film was based off a 70’s Argentine comic but as I stated up top Italian genre cinema tends to borrow heavily from popular films and Yor, despite having original source material, borrows quite heavily from some of the 80’s most popular franchises. Conan the Barbarian is the most obvious, on the surface rip off. Yor is like the swap meet version of Conan — he’s a muscular, greasy, half-naked warrior, but he’s not exactly Conan. Both take place in similar prehistoric worlds. In Conan’s case, he has to deal with sorcery while Yor squares off with science and technology.
That science and technology lead us to the next big source of “inspiration” — Star Wars. There are elements within Yor, like when they discover the spaceship and we meet the bad guy goons that are sort of Storm Trooper-ish that feel a bit like Star Wars. It’s not quite Star Wars like we know it though. It’s like if someone heard about Star Wars, saw an image or two and was like, ‘yeah, I got it,” which is probably what happened with Margheriti.
Part of what makes Yor so god damn charming is the fact that a movie like this has almost no shot of being made today. Not only would it be harder to rip off pre-existing properties in this day and age, but a lot of what makes Yor enjoyable is the practical nature of it all. A lot of the effects may look clunky or silly, but they’re practical. There is an element to them that is real and today that wouldn’t happen. When Yor fights the dinosaur at the top of the film it’s an animatronic sort of beast. The dinosaurs in this movie feel like something you would see on that train ride at Disneyland that takes you into the time of the dinosaurs. They obviously don’t look like real, breathing creatures, but they are real things you can touch. Today those would be digital and garbage and the movie would go from low budget and fund to cheap and trashy.
Another highlight of Yor is the award-worthy, Shakespearean like dialogue that is standard in all Italian films. Kala isn’t the only woman to fall in love with Yor. In fact, every woman he meets falls in love with him instantly. At one point Yor saves another girl, Tarita, and her father is grateful. In fact, her father is so grateful that when he meets Yor he says, “According to our customs Tarita’s life now belongs to you. She will be your mate.” Tarita is all for it, throwing herself at Yor, “Take me with you, stranger!” Yor passes because he already has a woman.
Yor is a blast, it really is. It’s one of those movies that should be more highly regarded amongst genre fans. We should all be gathering with our friends and midnight screenings and watching it together, some dressed as prehistoric warriors, others dressed as space travelers from the future. Fortunately, the film was recently released on a gorgeous Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek, so at the very least you (that’s right, I’m talking to You!) can pick up the Blu-ray and gather your friends at your place for your own midnight screenings. Costumes optional in this case.
And finally, if my words have convinced you to dedicate your life to the teachings of Yor, I leave you with the film’s theme song which will undoubtedly have you preaching to your new god!
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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