The New Barbarians

The New Barbarians (1982)

After a nuclear war survivors struggle to rebuild all while avoiding a group of men who have decided the world would be a much better place without the human race and you have the basic setup of the New Barbarians. The bad guys lead by One (George Eastman) travel the ruins looking for groups of survivors to kill. But they finally meet their match when the run into a couple of mercenaries, one of whom used to be in their gang. After having some sex with a good-looking woman in a clear plastic tent one of the mercenaries, Scorpion, goes head to head with the gang and is captured. Luckily after being “punished” (I will never look at George Eastman the same again) he escapes the inept guards left to kill him and has a final battle with One.

This is another one of those cheaply made Italian post apocalyptic movies. The plot is paper-thin and really just exists to get people into cool costumes and cars so that they can kill each other. I did like the villains in this movie and the “twist” on their men only crusade was unexpected to say the least. The cast isn’t given much material to work with, but still manages to do a good job. Plus it is just fun to watch the likes of George Eastman and Fred Williamson being bad asses on screen. But don’t go into this movie expecting some sort of big story arch or character development, because you will be disappointed. This one is all about the violence, cars, and good-looking naked women. Honestly I can’t see anything wrong with that.

There isn’t much gore in this movie other than a couple of limb choppings and a decapitation, which are strangely bloodless. The car chases are fun in a sort of Dukes of Hazard kind of way. Sure you can see the ramps and the helmets on the stunt men right before the crashes, but this is a movie that has survivors of a nuclear war all running around with perfect hair. I guess the cockroaches and hair stylists are the only ones immune to radiation! Picture and sound is all pretty good, which is what I’ve come to expect from these Italian flicks. They may not have had a lot of money, but they did know what they were doing when it came to making movies.

This is a silly little movie that is good for a few laughs. If you are in the mood to turn off your brain and absorb some mindless entertainment then I recommend giving this one a chance. It can be found in one of the Shriek Show box sets, which is less than $15 for three movies. Not a bad deal at all.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer