I must have been around 15 or 16 the first time I saw Mad Max 2 (the Road Warrior as it is called in the US) and I went nuts for Mad Max after the viewing. I was Post-Apocalyptic mad needing to complete the series on video and picking up every film I could find that imitated the classic Australian action flick. There was no shortage of knock offs available on VHS from every video sales emporium across the land. I grabbed the likes of Exterminators of the Year 3000, Spacehunter, Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn, Interzone and Land of Doom that honestly had the most epic cover of the lost. There were oodles more but these are the first titles that spring to mind whilst writing this.
Despite the epic art, Land of Doom made little of an impression on me at the time, unlike Exterminators and Interzone – two of my favourite Mad Max wannabes. Coming back to it all these years later I was not expecting much, however, I thoroughly enjoy the goofy nonsense that Land of Doom presents and there is one particular reason for this.
Land of Doom sees moody Harmony, a lone female wandering the wastelands join forces with Anderson to survive and ultimately attempt to take down an evil tyrant called Demister. I say attempt as the film might have been the first chapter in an attempted franchise that never saw follow-up. On their adventure the pair encounter several typical character types, cannibals, gangs of marauders and villagers looking for peace. Harmony hints at brutal experiences at the hands of these gangs, forcing themselves upon her making her tough and untrusting … this completes most of her character.
Right from the off there is a sparkle of decency about Land of Doom. The opening credits have a little extra imagination added and there are a number of beautiful shots scattered throughout the film that shows the Director of Photography knew what they were doing. The action, however, pales in comparison to the behemoth that Land of Doom lifts its inspiration from. Given the limited budget the action is reserved to the latter half of the movie and the first half becomes heavily dialogue driven, without covering anything particularly interesting. The second half knocks things up a gear yet the action is far from thrilling although still a much needed change of pace.
Land of Doom is a really cheap movie and cannot keep up with its ambition. I’m sure the storyboards (if they existed) would have depicted exciting high speed motorcycles chases through the sand and a climatic face off on a bridge. In reality we get embarrassingly dressed bikes that can manage little more than 10 miles an hour getting stuck in the sand and a footbridge over a small stream. Yet in the midst of all this, there is good use made of the landscape and feature alongside some huge explosions on top of the arid Turkish mountains that look suitably impressive. The film makes great use of incredible locations like the caverns at Zelve and other pre-iconoclastic rock-cut dwellings around Turkey.
Playing Harmony is Deborah Rennard, who is best known for her long run in Dallas, adding a nice touch of beauty and toughness to a fairly bland character. Anderson is played by Garrick Dowhen who feels like a cross between Bruce Campbell and Simon McCorkindale. He’s a little hammy, however, he does have some pretty horrendous dialogue to deliver. There is also Frank Garret as Purvis, Demister’s henchman who has some largely unexplained beef Anderson. Director Peter Maris made some fun trashy movies in his career like Delirium and Diplomatic Immunity but his biggest hit would have to be the full motion video game Phantasmagoria.
Land of Doom has a secret though, Mark Governor! This man makes the film an absolute joy to watch thanks to a punchy score that really sells the underwhelming action. Whilst there aren’t ongoing themes like Star Wars might have and feels somewhat disjointed when it comes to styles, the random collection of tracks add so much to film. Governor went on to score the excellent Bruce Campbell epic Mindwarp several years later alongside Bill Lustig’s Uncle Sam.
I honestly enjoyed Land of Doom this time around. It’s campy trash and an easy 90 minutes to those who know what to expect. As a Mad Max knock off, there are some decent elements but it’s obviously nowhere near the level of quality you get from George Millar’s seminal franchise. Yet for movie geeks, a beery watch with good mates Land of Doom is a laugh. I just can’t work out why it’s rated 18 here in the UK, there is no nudity, little brutality and only a light dusting of themes that one could describe as adult.
When released in the UK the video really popped off the shelf and really tapped into the Mad Max fever that youths my age were experiencing. There were a couple of less exciting regional releases.
A blu-ray arrived Stateside and can still be found here and there. The quality is pretty good and they manage to put in an interesting conversation with star Rennard as an extra.