This movie essentially begins with a small group of bikers known as the Hell Riders being evicted from a larger motorcycle gang and being forced to fend for themselves. It's at this time that they come upon an attractive lady from Las Vegas named "Claire Delaney" (Tina Louise) who just happens to have car trouble on a deserted stretch of road. Although they beat her, she manages to escape to a nearby town where she manages to find a sympathetic doctor named "Dave" (Adam West). However, the sheriff in this town has no interest in upholding justice and refuses to become involved. This decision eventually results in tragic consequences when the motorcycle gang rides in. Now what initially drew my interest in this movie was the fact that it featured both Tina Louise and Adam West. Unfortunately, although they both performed adequately enough, the extremely poor script and the lumbering direction provided by James Bryan resulted in a pretty bad movie overall. Accordingly, I rate this movie as below average.
14 Reviews
Needs More Batcycle
Aphex_Bob19 January 2022
This movie feels like someone watched a biker movie in their dream and then got an A. I. to recreate the movie from what they remembered. "I remember Batman was in it but he was a doctor, Ginger from Gilligan's Island, a naked woman on a chain leash, bikers with skulls on their patches, and most of it was filmed on a set that looked like a frontier town from a western."
Not a good film
skullfire-4801216 July 2021
Batman & Ginger Meet The Cycle Misfits!
angelsunchained31 December 2004
This has to be the worst, and I mean worst biker movie ever made! And that's saying a lot because the line of stinkers is long and smelly!
Now at least we know what happened to Ginger after she was rescued from Gilligan's Island! A frightened looking Tina Louise(she was probably afraid someone would see this mess!)is a stranded motorist who is tormented by the most repulsive motorcycle gang in film history. But, don't worry fans! Batman, I mean Adam West as a hick-town doctor comes to the rescue! Pow! Crush! Boom! Holy Toledo Batman!
The only good points of this "bomb" are some cute women, some laughable fight scenes, and the still "sexy" Tina Louise!
Now at least we know what happened to Ginger after she was rescued from Gilligan's Island! A frightened looking Tina Louise(she was probably afraid someone would see this mess!)is a stranded motorist who is tormented by the most repulsive motorcycle gang in film history. But, don't worry fans! Batman, I mean Adam West as a hick-town doctor comes to the rescue! Pow! Crush! Boom! Holy Toledo Batman!
The only good points of this "bomb" are some cute women, some laughable fight scenes, and the still "sexy" Tina Louise!
Painful..
garyb0421 October 2008
What else can you say about this movie,except that it's plain awful.Tina Louise and Adam West are the reasons why to see this,but,that's it,but their talents are wasted in this junk.I think that they used a double in some of Adam's scenes,like when he's running because you can't see his face.If Adam was embarrassed in being in Zombie Nightmare,just think what he must've felt about appearing in this??? If it was before or after,I'm not sure,but,still,Zombie Nightmare is a classic(check out the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version first and last)compared to this.The gang is very annoying and over-acting by some of the actors.A rip-off of The Wild One starring Marlon Brando,of course.Tina looks stunning though.I hope her and Adam got a good paycheck!! Pass!
Hell is Right!
legwarmers198031 July 2005
How sad to see the beautiful and talented Tina Louise reduced to making this horrible excuse for a film. Tina still looked fit and attractive, but for some reason seems truly frightened. I can understand her fear; fearing that this 3rd rate stinker would somehow be released to the general public. Also, I'm a fan of the likable Adam West. Again, as with Tina, Adam looks good and in great shape for a man his age. His acting here is passable, but the script is so bad, that it's difficult to even listen to the dialog.
The movie is a rip-off of the classic Brando biker flick, The Wild Ones; out-law biker gang is out-of-control in a small hick-town. The bikers here look like a motley group and I sure wouldn't want them to date my sister. The acting is stiff and wooden, and the story-plot is as old as sand. Hellriders is hell to watch!
The movie is a rip-off of the classic Brando biker flick, The Wild Ones; out-law biker gang is out-of-control in a small hick-town. The bikers here look like a motley group and I sure wouldn't want them to date my sister. The acting is stiff and wooden, and the story-plot is as old as sand. Hellriders is hell to watch!
Disappointed
latherzap2 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I was prepared to laugh throughout this movie like a Mystery Science Theater experiment, but it was just boring. It appears that the producers had many biker enthusiast friends, and from there casually decided to make a movie.
It is frequently unwatchable. Lots of footage of the bikers riding on a dirt road, with the same music played repeatedly. Unfortunately, Renee Harmon is barely in the movie. Harmon probably would have livened things up. Perhaps she had other commitments the day this was filmed.
Of course, the bikers terrorize a small town. Fights, murder, a cowardly cop, a goofy mechanic, etc. One of the bikers always wears a football helmet, a weak attempt to distinguish him from all the other outlaws.
The script has nothing to offer. One scene features a biker assaulting a woman, yelling in the lady's face "You're all the same! You're all the same!". We come back to the scene a minute later and he again declares "You're all the same!". Couldn't the writer think of something more creative to say??
At the end the good guys have killed the bad guys. We also learn that the wedding between middle-aged mechanic Joe and young Susie has been canceled. Susie is going away to college, and we abruptly learn that Joe's wedding is still on (but with a different bride). End.
It is frequently unwatchable. Lots of footage of the bikers riding on a dirt road, with the same music played repeatedly. Unfortunately, Renee Harmon is barely in the movie. Harmon probably would have livened things up. Perhaps she had other commitments the day this was filmed.
Of course, the bikers terrorize a small town. Fights, murder, a cowardly cop, a goofy mechanic, etc. One of the bikers always wears a football helmet, a weak attempt to distinguish him from all the other outlaws.
The script has nothing to offer. One scene features a biker assaulting a woman, yelling in the lady's face "You're all the same! You're all the same!". We come back to the scene a minute later and he again declares "You're all the same!". Couldn't the writer think of something more creative to say??
At the end the good guys have killed the bad guys. We also learn that the wedding between middle-aged mechanic Joe and young Susie has been canceled. Susie is going away to college, and we abruptly learn that Joe's wedding is still on (but with a different bride). End.
The absolute pits!
cfc_can3 November 2000
This has got to be one of the worst movies ever made. Even for a biker movie, it's rock bottom. The minimal plot involves a gang of bikers taking over a small town (how original!) and the townspeople's attempts to fight them off. Why don't they call for outside help? Who knows? The fight scenes are obviously fake. Adam West and Tina Louise are in it but both have little to do and both look ashamed to be there (understandably) This movie belongs in the trash heap!
This is truly bad!
Sean_M_27 September 2022
I have been moved to review this movie because I remember it when it came out on cable. This has got to be the worst movie in which an editor has put honest effort into the process of film editing. If you want to see totally random out of place shots of bikers edited with close-ups of Tina Louise and Adam West you have found your movie. The only reason I gave it 2 out of 10 stars and instead of 1 of the 10 stars like 95% of the other reviewers is because the film stock seems to be of superior quality.
UPDATE: I gave the movie a second chance. I realize that the reason why the movie is so bad is that it's a biker movie without T&A. Some scenes have the potential to hold your interest, but there is no continuity throughout the movie to keep you going. Something like T&A in most biker movies to hold you interest.
UPDATE: I gave the movie a second chance. I realize that the reason why the movie is so bad is that it's a biker movie without T&A. Some scenes have the potential to hold your interest, but there is no continuity throughout the movie to keep you going. Something like T&A in most biker movies to hold you interest.
Alright Stupid Biker Gang Terror!
krakanova24 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Unnecessarily violent and miscreant biker gang. Check
Biker gang does not have motorcycles until the other biker gang's scenes are over. Check
Stabbing and boobs. Check
Terrorizing and stabbing the townspeople. Check
Adam West. Check
Gun shootout without squibs or much blood. Check
Adam West does not get the girl but he asks about her at the end. Check
Over the top acting from the bikers. Check
Great '70s-'80s schlocky western-ish bad biker gang film!
Great '70s-'80s schlocky western-ish bad biker gang film!
Hell is Right!
kikiloveslegwarmers13 February 2008
Just bought the VHS on this film for two bucks, Did I waste my money! Hey, I dig Adam "Batman" West and Tina "Giligan's Island" Louise, but hello! This third rate production is a rehash of a dozen other biker films; crazed bunch of bikers psychos ride into a hick town, beat up everybody and everything, and then are defeated in the man by a dashing hero. Adam West looks the part as a hero, but he's missing cape, and his Batman uniform. Sorry, just isn't the same. Tina L. looks really nervous and frightened the whole show, but at least we know what happened to "Ginger" once she was rescued from the island...LOL! The bikers are a motley group, and known of them ever acted again or at least shouldn't have. Hell Riders is Hell to Watch!
James Bryan, Mad Genius
Atomic_Brain19 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
James Bryan's Hell Riders is the amazing, sublime pinnacle of a very bad movie genre, the outlaw biker gang film. Hell Riders takes every single cliche of that weary, predictable genre and blows it up bigger than life, to glorious effect. The characters are absurdist caricatures of their prototypes, and act accordingly. Action takes place for little or no reason at all, and the ramshackle plot lurches along in fits and spurts. Where Hell Riders excels is in its use of very strong content, making the bigger, better biker films look downright timid by comparison. The Hell Riders gang have no redeeming qualities whatsoever - they are the embodiment of evil incarnate, an engine of destruction manifested to wreak havoc on polite society. Their attacks on hapless citizens are vicious and brutal, their treatment of women barbaric, their main goal the total annihilation of civilization. Set largely in a small, quiet Western town, the use of an old Wild West setting is appropriate, because all of these biker films were really nothing more than allegorical Westerns in modern garb. The finale, in which the beleaguered townsfolk gather heavy artillery and slaughter the bikers with extreme prejudice, is a righteous, cathartic massacre worthy of a Peckinpah film. TV stars Adam West and Tina Louise stand out admirably in what could easily have been thankless roles, and the extraordinary Renee Harmon is delightful as a very unlikely, indeed cartoonish, leather-clad biker moll. Hell Riders takes a shopworn genre and clarifies it to the point of film poetry, and as with Bryan's other films, Hell Riders is photographed brilliantly, and looks far prettier than it has any right to. Not exactly a satire, but certainly something bigger than a straight melodrama, Bryan does in Hell Riders what he did for the slasher film in Don't Go In The Woods, and the urban crime thriller in Executioner Part II - enlarge and expand genre tropes until they literally burst at the seams, creating magnificently bizarre and unforgettable cinematic experiences which defy all attempts to pigeonhole them as merely "bad movies." For my money, this puts Bryan in that august canon of indie filmmakers who create beautiful outlaw cinema on the skimpiest of budgets, along with folks like Ed Wood and Andy Milligan, leaving most similar bloated Hollywood trash in the dust. If Hell Riders is the "worst" biker film ever made, I'll take the worst over the best any day.
Hell Rider's Meet Their Match With Batman And Ginger.
mikecanmaybee19 August 2021
Passable Biker Movie with Batman and Ginger, both past their prime, collecting a pay check. Hell Riders got a little more violent then it should have and would have been better played as Camp as an homage to the two glorious stars. It is worth a couple of hours of your time if you are a boomer with even a little bit of side boob from Ginger which is more fun then sexy. Don't miss Hell Riders.
Tepid biker film
lor_21 February 2023
My review was written in May 1985 after watching the movie on Trans World Entertainment video cassette.
"Hell Riders" is a meek attempt to resuscitate the biker action genre of two decades back. Already released on video cassette, this 1983 production has little theatrical potential outside the drive-in circuit.
Adam West toplines as Dr. Dave Stanley, physician in the small town of Ransburg beset by the violent Hell Riders biker gang. Besides the local folks, also terrorized is Claire (Tina Louise), a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer on the road.
Archaic cheapie features okay stunt work but an uninteresting, trite story. Predictably, West saves the day. Film culminates nastily when the townsfolk band together to mercilessly shoot down the bikers like dogs. Pic is more professionally executed than producer Renee Harmon's prior work (such as "Executioner Part Ii" and "Frozen Screams") but acting by the supporting cast is amateurish (biker extras are credited here as "Rent-a-Gang"). Harmon also casts herself as a saistic, overage biker -campy at best.
"Hell Riders" is a meek attempt to resuscitate the biker action genre of two decades back. Already released on video cassette, this 1983 production has little theatrical potential outside the drive-in circuit.
Adam West toplines as Dr. Dave Stanley, physician in the small town of Ransburg beset by the violent Hell Riders biker gang. Besides the local folks, also terrorized is Claire (Tina Louise), a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer on the road.
Archaic cheapie features okay stunt work but an uninteresting, trite story. Predictably, West saves the day. Film culminates nastily when the townsfolk band together to mercilessly shoot down the bikers like dogs. Pic is more professionally executed than producer Renee Harmon's prior work (such as "Executioner Part Ii" and "Frozen Screams") but acting by the supporting cast is amateurish (biker extras are credited here as "Rent-a-Gang"). Harmon also casts herself as a saistic, overage biker -campy at best.
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