The Blade Master
The Blade Master
PG | 15 February 1984 (USA)
The Blade Master Trailers

Muscle-bound Ator and his mute Asian sidekick travel from the ends of the Earth to save his aged mentor from the evil mustachioed Zor.

Reviews
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Seth Nelson I just read an extra long review on the front page of this movie on this site and he explained in full detail that this movie is only worth watching on the television show "Mystery Science Theater 3000!!!!!" And yes, I do find that advice really helpful! I mean, a movie that tries to be this good and this exciting just really is not what that movie wants to be!!!!! So yes, do watch this movie as seen on that show and instead of giving this movie a single star out of ten stars, you can give this a ten out of ten stars! Until then, my one star review is for the real, pure, untouched version of this movie only!!!!!! Got that now?
lemon_magic This was the second MST3K'd movie I ever saw, and still holds a place in my heart as one of the most hilariously awful film experiences you are ever going to have. Miles O'Keeffe (sp?) is in this, using his chiseled physique to score another payment on the mortgage on his condominium. He's stiff, wooden, and unconvincing, but he still comes across as a cool, likable guy, and at least he's photogenic. That's the only decent I can find to say about the movie, so I thought I would get it out of the way right up front. The fact that he is in the movie adds another point to the score and saves it from being a "1 out of 10". In no particular order, examples of how badly put together this film is:1)OK, the Tanya Roberts clone (Mila) quests to 'the ends of the earth' to find Ator, which takes 3 minutes of screen time, including the time she spends stumbling around dying from a poisoned arrow in her shoulder (which I assume would have slowed her down quite a bit). So Ator heals her up, and takes his trusty aid Thong and sets out to go back to the her castle...and proceeds to take the next 50+ minutes of the movie recovering the ground that Mila traversed in 3 minutes. How does that work??? I know that the intrepid crew is being harassed by magical forces and enemies etc. on the way back, but still...!2)Apparently the writer/director felt the need to add 'depth' to the film by adding a running debate/Socratic dialog/game of 20 questions between Zor (the mean John Saxon wannabe) and the wise man Akronas (the Richard Harris wannabe). But Joe Damoto apparently got his philosophical training from Hallmark cards, T-Shirts and bumper stickers, and he doesn't understand tempo, pacing, or timing...and neither do the actors. (Crow's remark during one of these exchanges is the tag line for my entry). The scenes with these two drag on and on, bringing the movie to a screeching halt and killing any momentum or excitement generated by the sword-fighting and questing of the heroic trio.3) Once Ator arrives at the castle (and is captured), things go even farther downhill. Zor decides to feed a bunch of women victims, along with Ator and Mila, to the Serpent God he keeps in his basement. This scene had some potential for excitement, so the director immediately kills this potential by instilling the scene with all the drama of people waiting in line at the DMV to pay their traffic fines. Ator proceeds to have a big battle with the Serpent that is barely more convincing than Bela Lugosi's battle with the rubber octopus puppet in "Bride Of The Monster". 4) The climactic scene, in which Ator invents the hang glider out of twigs and animal skins, is so patently silly that it completely blows the viewer out of the movie and makes you roll on the floor, laughing until your sides hurt. 5) Oh, yes, and the filmmakers decided to include stock footage of an atomic explosion at the end, with the moral that Ator decided to destroy the 'atomic nucleus' McGuffin that drives the movie because mankind was 'not ready'. ("Zzzzip! MESSAGE COMING IN!!!") Just like "Bride Of the Monster" again, come to think of it. All it needed was a bystander to observe, "They tampered in God's domain."6) For some reason, the version of the movie I saw features introductory and closing homo-erotic credit sequences that have absolutely NOTHING to do with anyone or anything else in the movie. I have no idea where this footage came from, but it is actually WORSE than the actual movie it bookends. Watch this only if you are a big fan of Miles, or if you enjoy the way MST3K skewers material like this.
otisfirefly2001 This is quite possibly the strangest, and stupidest pieces of film I have seen. I never thought I would see handrails and hand-gliders in a movie supposed to be set around the dark ages. There are strange costumes, bad acting, I lead character who is the poor-man's Conan. The only way this movie is watchable, is being viewed by Joel and the 'bots on MST3K. This movie provided Joel, Crow, and Servo with some good ammunition. If you have nothing else to do, and you're are willing to sit through a horrible foreign film. Give Cave Dwellers a try.
sexytail The Ator series is a shining example of what B-movies should be. They fail in every aspect, but in such a hilarious way that they are funny rather than sad. "Ator l'invincibile 2" aka "The Blade Master" aka "Cave Dwellers" shows us Europe's favorite Conan clone, Ator where we left him in the first movie- after showing us a lengthy recap of all the events of the first film. This time the world must be saved from "The Nucleus", a kind of bomb, represented on screen as a bright light (I guess they couldn't afford a prop). This one features invisible attackers and samurai. As with the first film, lots of stock footage is used (including one rather obvious bit from "Star Wars"). Thoroughly laughable and unforgettably bad- this is an exception B-movie.