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.

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!

The inexplicable craze for sword and sorcery during the 1980s saw some good films (Conan The Barbarian, The Beastmaster), some decidedly average film (The Sword And The Sorcerer, Hearts And Armour) and some downright abysmal films (Ator The Invincible, Gor, Deathstalker, and many more which I don't have ample space to list here). The only real surprise is that a genre of such limited appeal managed to stick around for the best part of seven or eight years, especially considering how shamelessly these movies tended to rip each other off. A peculiar sub-genre which arose at the time was that of the 'Feminist Fantasy Film' – best described as Conan-style movies in which the main character is always portrayed by a woman with considerable sword-wielding prowess. Well-known titles in this field would include the likes of Red Sonja, Gwendoline and Barbarian Queen, but the first film to use this idea was actually the 1983 offering Hundra. Alas, apart from introducing a new slant to this Neanderthal genre, Hundra comes across as a pretty dismal movie.A tribe of women survive in the wilderness without a single man amongst their number. The only time they mix with the male species at all is when they wish to be impregnated. Even then, if they give birth to a boy they simply give the baby away and try again until they have a girl. One member of the tribe – fierce, independent warrioress Hundra (Laurene Landon) – refuses to have any dealings with man-folk and proudly declares that she will never have children, preferring instead to hunt and kill and serve as a protector to the tribe. One day, while Hundra is away on an expedition, the entire tribe is slaughtered by an army of men. When Hundra returns, she finds that she is the last of her kind… and the only way she can repopulate the tribe is by going amongst the very men that massacred her brethren to find a suitable mate. She finds the task repugnant but accepts it anyway, as it is the only way to ensure her people will live on. But her fighting instinct refuses to stay down and she is soon leading a rebellion against the men-folk and their chauvinistic ways.It's hard to find many positives to say about Hundra. It has the dubious honour of inventing its own sub-genre, which is something at least, and the score from Ennio Morricone is every bit as lively and catchy as one would expect from this composer. Some of the battle sequences, especially early on, are put together quite competently too (though I would hesitate to call them truly rousing examples of screen spectacle). Apart from that, the film is a pretty sorry affair. None of the actors come across well despite their enthusiasm – the thick sound and awful lighting embarrasses them every step of the way. The film's message is as muddled as its perceived target audience – on the one hand, we are told how misogynistic men are and asked to celebrate as a woman hacks them down to size; yet at the same time we have this crusading warrioress riding around on her horse in the nude, showing plenty of tit, bum and pubic hair. It's like the film sets out to challenge cinematic degradation of women, but is happy to join in with it too, which is confusing and stupid in equal measure. The best way to approach Hundra is as a pure sword and sorcery film – it might not be a very good example of the genre, but it sure beats trying to figure out the movie's unfathomably cockeyed politics!

Technically-speaking, Hundra could be an OK B-grade Conan-era movie : nice visuals, great Ennio Morriconne music, enough budget for decent locations, etc. Sadly, the filmmakers decided to inject badly weighted politics based on the male-female eternal struggle for sex domination. Basically put :Males want to submit, enslave, rape and most of the kill women. Females want to submit, enslave, rape and most of the time kill men. Every men hates every women, and vice-versa.Could a fantasy world like this possibly exist? NO, because :Most of the women do want to have a relationship and sex with men. Most of the men do not maim, rape and kill women. Homosexuals coexist in society, not outside of it, with heterosexuals.All of these facts exposed, I can only view Hundra has a boring, exploitative, hateful, illogical, ridiculous, sexist B-grade movie, amazon myth or not. Avoid, especially if you believe in equal rights for both sexes.