My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
"America 3000" is a silly sci-fi pic from Cannon, scheduled for domestic release in August, but better suited to home video use.
Following the killing of her mother Rhea (Camilla Sparv in a campy performance), blonde female warrior Vera (Laurene Landon) succeeds to leadership of her fighting clan in an America (actually filmed in Israel) 900 years after a devastating nuclear war. She has a sibling rivalry with her sister Lakella (Victoria Barrett), who was passed over for the leadership post and Morha (Sue Giosa), the aggressive leder of another ruling clan.
In this environment, men are enslaved in various categories (workers, procreators, etc.), but Korvis (Chuck Wagner) finds a bunker designed to protect the U. S. President in time of nuclear war. He returns with advanced weaponry (including laser guns and hand grenades) to lead a successful rebellion against the women and create a happier, coexistence ending.
Film is relentlessly silly, with the made up language, based on English, producing infantile jokes. Writer-director David Engelbach thinks he's funny, with Korvis bringing back a big ghetto blaster to impress everyone typical of the failed humor. Though the bleak Israeli landscapes (which look like limestone quarries) are atmospheric, film never becomes more than an imitation of numerous pics like "Conan" and "Quest for Fire".
Barbarian women of the future apparrently wear too much eye makeup from the evidence here, just one of many camp elements likely to elicit audience groans. A hairy monster mascot named Aargh he Awful has some cute bits, but film plods along listlessly until an energetic final reel battle featuring some martial arts skills. Aimed at kids, film omits nudity. The actors do the best they can, but are made to appear ridiculous in most scenes.
