Hundra, The Feminized Deathstalker

1983 was a big year for grunting, swords, mayhem, and medieval rape.  Both "Deathstalker" (reviewed on this blog on March 3rd) and "Hundra" hit the screens.  Those who enjoy strong women characters will love Hundra, and cheer when she states, "I would prefer the feel of a horse between my legs than that of a man..." Laurene Landon ("Maniac Cop" and "America 3000") has the title role, and the beautiful actress delivers a terrific performance and executes her own stunts.  When Hundra rides a horse or engages in sword fights, she looks legit. No cut away footage, or a lame fencing technique here, Landon obviously trained intensely for this role.

The plot: A tribe of females has lived in the mountains in order to escape a male society that enslaves it's women and treats them purely as sex toys.  Occasionally the women venture into the cities to find men to impregnate them.  When the women give birth, boys are given away and the girls are raised as warriors.  One fateful day, while Hundra is hunting, her tribe is attacked by barbaric men who grunt a lot.  The entire population is massacred, and Hundra's beloved sister is gang raped and decapitated.  Hundra is then found by these fiends and pursued.  Fortunately for our protagonist, she offs 15 of her pursuers with her sword, a spear, and daggers.  In a daze, she stumbles onto a holy city where a high priestess convinces her to rebuild the tribe.  The first step, getting pregnant and birthing a girl.  Hundra's next quest almost makes her vomit....find a man.  Without online dating services, she finds the lone survivor of the barbarians that pursued her.  However adept she is at killing and equestrian, her ability to pick guys will give you dads out there nightmares.  

Happy to see Hundra, our barbarian fiend goes right to work. He delivers several loud, wet burps and starts pummeling Hundra.  After knocking her around, and burping some more, he attempts to violently rape her.  Realizing that this courtship is one sided, she fights him off and flees to the city.  After fleeing the chieftain's soldiers, who want her as a participant in orgies, she meets the guy of her dreams.  Unfortunately, this guy actually wants to get to know her before having sex.....men!!!!  She then puts herself through charm school, does her hair, applies make-up, and sheds her black leather wardrobe for some white intimates (see photo below).  Desiring to produce a female child, Hundra never intended to actually fall in love with the man who would plant the seed...but she does.  Unfortunately, the chieftain pursues her, determined to break her spirit and reduce her to a submissive concubine. 

                                     

Will Hundra's new feelings of love hamper her ability to effectively repel the chieftain's maniacal desires for her?  Will her love for the father of her child turn off feminist movie-goers?  Laurene Landon is so much fun to watch, and the action sequences and stunts are plentiful.  The musical score is terrific and done by Ennio Morricone.  This movie is worth a view, and please see Laurene Landon in her other films, as in the 1980s, I put her on a par with Lana Clarkson and Brigitte Nielsen.