Ator L'invincibile 2 - Reviews

Reviews

Cave Dwellers did not do well in critical reviews. Critics have pointed to the plot, or lack thereof, continuity errors, one dimensional villains, and stolen sound effects as examples of the problems that existed in the film. A few editing errors showed up in the final version of the film — such as Zor's face jumping in one shot. Several of the more well known errors were as follows;

• Hang glider — Somehow Ator was able to assemble a hang glider, and use it to defeat Zor's forces. Even though the glider was disguised in closeups to make it look like it came from that time period, the longer shots made it clear that it was a modern glider. The scenery used during the flight was clearly from stock footage as the castle and surrounding lands was different than that shown on the ground (even a Bavarian flag was clearly seen). At one point, shots of Ator hang gliding showed a modern city in the background.

• Tire tracks — Close to the end of the film, Ator is shown riding off "to fight evil where ever it occurs". Riding on a horse, Ator crosses a field. In the background, tire tracks made by a modern vehicle are clearly visible.

• Sunglasses — During the attack on Ator's home village, one of the extras who appeared as an attacker is wearing sunglasses, which showed up on film.

• Handrails — Several of the staircases in the castle of Akronas have modern handrails along the wall.

• Scrunchie — One of the girls who is to be sacrificed by being thrown into a pit of snakes is clearly wearing a pink scrunchi hair tie.

• Footage of a modern-day nuclear bomb going off are used to show that Ator had destroyed the Geometric Nucleus, though the vague nature of the nucleus' function makes it all but impossible to tell.

The first three errors in this list were brought to the attention of the "Mads" in the film's MST3K episode.

Furthermore, the movie seems to be confused as to what time setting and location it takes place in. The title and slow motion footage during the opening credits (from the film Taur, the Mighty) and the scene right after (featuring two tribes of cavemen fighting) seem to suggest it takes place in prehistoric times, but Akronas' castle appears to be from medieval Europe. Later in the film, Ator and his companions fight what appear to be samurai warriors from feudal Japan. However, such anachronisms are common to Conan-style fantasy works.

The Cave Dwellers version of Ator L'Invincibile 2 uses opening and ending credits superimposed over blurred footage from an entirely separate movie; the 1963 Italian fantasy film Taur, the Mighty (Taur, il re della forza bruta), which starred Joe Robinson and Harry Baird. Pod People, another movie featured on MST3K, has similarly altered credits; both movies were distributed to Best Brains by Film Ventures International.