The New Barbarians

For the unrelated rock group, see The New Barbarians (band).

The New Barbarians (Italian: I nuovi barbari; also known as Warriors of the Wasteland) is a 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic action film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, written by Castellari and Tito Carpi, and starring Giancarlo Prete and George Eastman. The plot takes place in 2019, following a nuclear holocaust, where two loners among the remains of the starving human race protect a group of pilgrims from a vicious gang bent on genocide.

The New Barbarians
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Enzo G. Castellari
Screenplay by	Tito Carpi Enzo G. Castellari[1]
Story by	Tito Carpi[1]
Produced by	Fabrizio De Angelis[1]
Starring	Timothy Brent Fred Williamson George Eastman Anna Kanakis Thomas Moore
Cinematography	Fausto Zuccoli[1]
Edited by	Gianfranco Amicucci[1]
Music by	Claudio Simonetti[1]
Production company	Deaf International Film[1]
Distributed by	Titanus[2]
Release date	7 April 1983 (1983-04-07)
Running time	91 minutes[3]
Country	Italy[1]
Language	Italian

Plot

In the year 2019, after a nuclear war, humanity is reduced to a few starving groups. A ruthless gang called "The Templars" constantly raid settlers in an attempt to exterminate everyone in order to purge the Earth. A former Templar, Scorpion, along with his allies, prevents a small band of religious colonists from being massacred by the Templars.

Cast

• Giancarlo Prete (as Timothy Brent) as Scorpion
• Fred Williamson as Nadir
• George Eastman as One
• Anna Kanakis as Alma
• Ennio Girolami (as Thomas Moore) as Shadow
• Venantino Venantini as Father Moses
• Massimo Vanni as Mako
• Giovanni Frezza as Young Mechanic
• Iris Peynado as Vinya
• Andrea Coppola as Mako's Friend
• Zora Kerova as Moses' Woman

Production

The New Barbarians was shot outside of Rome in late 1982.^[1][4] When discussing 1990: The Bronx Warriors, The New Barbarians and Escape from the Bronx, Castellari stated the three films were written, prepared and filmed in six months.^[5]

For the stunts in the film, Castellari stated that he filmed each scene at three different speeds: 24fps, 55 and 96. Castellari stated that this allowed him to "edit the whole sequence in a more interesting way. It gives much more impact to the entire stunt and it actually looks much more impressive and powerful than it actually is."^[4]

Release

The New Barbarians was released in Italy on 7 April 1983.^[6] It was released in the United States in January 1984 under the title of Warriors of the Wasteland.^[4][7] It was distributed by New Line Cinema.^[1]

Reception

Castellari had positive recollections of making the film, stating that it "was an extremely cheap movie. The budget was incredibly small but I'm quite proud that I succeeded in making a movie shot on the outskirts of Rome."^[4] Variety found the film derivative of Mad Max 2 as well as having elements of Hal Needham's Megaforce and other films.^[1] Variety felt that Casterllari made a mistake in using slow motion opposed to George Miller's exciting high-speed action scenes, finding that the films car chases "look to be occurring at 25 mph".^[1] In Phil Hardy's book Science Fiction (1984), a review found the film to be too derivative of Mad Max 2.^[3] The Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as a "shamelessly watered-down, warmed-over" version of Mad Max 2.^[8]

In a retrospective review, AllMovie awarded the film two stars out of five, found that the film, while "capturing the true spirit of the low budget rip-off flicks from [the] early '80s, The New Barbarians is neither smart nor original, but a riot for anyone who gets off on Mad Max and all of its junky followers."^[9]