Movie Review: Land of Doom

There is something about these old goofy genre movies that just appeals to me. Sure there are a lot of bad, really bad, movies that are unwatchable, but there are also the ones that are surprisingly good or bad in a way that is perfectly entertaining. I am rather glad hat Netflix has made a bunch of these movies available. Not to sound like a commercial or anything, but I am not sure I would have been exposed to them were it not for the service. In any case, this particular film is not a good one, it is pretty poor actually, but it has a certain goofy energy that is engaging and that makes it pretty entertaining.

The movie is saddled with the ominous title Land of Doom (Oooohhhhh!)  and strikes me as another in a seemingly endless line of Road Warrior rip offs, although, to is credit, there are touches of Lucio Fulci's The New Barbarians in there too. It is a post apocalyptic future where the Earth has been ravaged by nuclear war and now humanity survives in small towns, villages, and roving gangs of Raiders who subscribe to the Scorched Earth philosophy and would seem to be happy not having anyone else around at all.

We open on a raid by the Raiders, there are raping and pillaging and burning everything to the ground. Pretty standard fare for the genre. There is one woman, Harmony, who manages to avoid the bad guys by ducking into a surprisingly well lit cave. Here she meets Anderson, a wounded survivor who has been hiding there for a couple of days. She begrudgingly shares a bit of food with him.

The next morning she goes to leave and finds he wants to tag along. Harmony os not cool with this at all. She is a loner, and apparently has had been raped at some point in the past and is distrusting and downright angry against all males that she meets. Anyway, they head off to, well, I don't know where there end goal lay as they never get there. Yes, the movie just sort of ends with nothing resolved.

It is a road movie where the good guys wear tattered clones and the bad guys wear studded leather and ride motorcycles with goofy modifications. It seems as if some time has passed since the apocalypse, but there also does not seem to be any real society forming, no one seems to be farming or creating an economy, they just roam around picking fights or just simply existing.

The main thrust of the story is Harmony hating men, Anderson acting like a protective daddy, and they are chased because Anderson used to be a Raider leader who tried to make them good guys to the chagrin of their current boss, whose name I cannot remember. Seriously, there is no story, scarcely any character development, and just odd people put in the way of their route. Still, I found enough here to actually enjoy. Seriously.

The lead performances are suitably goofy, Deborah Rennard as Harmony has this look of feigned disgust and yells whenever a man touches her. It is petty funny seeing her get into some of these predicaments while claiming to be a loner. Meanwhile, Garrick Dowhen as Anderson has the big square jawed thing going on, looking like a low rent Bruce Campbell. Let's no forget the goofy wld eyed bad guys, the cannibal family, and the random group of Jawas they meet along the way. Oh yes, there is also that new character that is introduced right near the end in order to help affect an escape.

Man, this movie has some silly stuff in it. I did particularly enjoy the bad guy who falls off his motorcycle going up a tiny hill, is punched out by another biker (after he is insulted for his aroma), followed by a guy laughing and then taking his bike right off a ledge. There is also the bit towards the end where the good guys cross a bridge and block it off o the bad guys. Seems normal, right? Well, one of the characters runs up a hill to celebrate with the Jawa-looking things that were on the other side of the bridge! Amazing geography.

It is a fun movie that has moments that are completely ludicrous. I have to say that I liked it. It is no great thing, but I could certainly be convinced to visit it again.

Recommended.