SWORD AND SORCERY COLLECTION DVD Review

Shout! Factory:

Deathstalker (Richard Hill) is the mighty warrior chosen to battle the evil forces of a medieval kingdom who sets off on a journey to the most challenging tournament in the land. To the winner will go the throne of the evil wizard, the ultimate mystical power and the love of the beautiful Princess Codille (Barbi Benton). But first, Deathstalker must prove himself worthy of his legacy . . . and treachery lurks at every turn.

Deathstalker II (John Terlesky) has a mission: to save the kingdom from the wicked grip of the immoral wizard Jerak and his queen Sultana. Together they have ruled the land by creating a controllable evil twin of the lovely Princess Evie (Monique Gabrielle). Capturing the real Princess Evie, Deathstalker must now return her to her rightful place of power -- but the swordsman's battle has just begun.

On the eve of her wedding, Amathea (Lana Clarkson) sees her world dissolve -- her groom imprisoned, her village razed, her friends attacked and slaughtered. Becoming the Barbarian Queen, she vows revenge and retribution, enticing and then destroying adversaries.

Travel to a distant world of exciting battles, exotic women, mystical secrets and evil wizards in The Warrior And The Sorceress. Kain (David Carradine) was once an exalted warrior-priest but now wanders the planet Vra as a mercenary sword-for-hire. In the small village of Yam-A-Tar, he finds two vicious clans struggling for power, and he becomes embroiled in the treachery and battles, the mighty wizardry and rampant debauchery.

This set is just stupid amounts of fun.  I'm not going to get into a bunch of detail or background on the films because there are experts out there and I'm not one of them, but I will say that I truly enjoyed every minute I spent with this set in spite of myself. 

The two Deathstalker films included in this collection are wildly different but both extremely entertaining.  The first film is a solid sword & sorcery exploitation film, plenty of violence, boobs, magic, and muscles.  The film isn't played entirely for laughs, but it recognizes its limitations and works with them to create a crazy fun experience that doesn't overstay it's welcome.  The second film is, directed by modern exploitation whiz Jim Wynorski, is played with tongue firmly set in cheek and pulls no punches when it comes to laughs.  Deathstalker II is a spoof, but it never dives over the edge, it plays its hand very well, again moving along briskly and ending exactly when it should.  The sets for both films are identical, however, the Deathstalker is played by two very different men.  Wynorski knew what he was doing and delivered, even using some stock footage from the first film with extra boobs inserted, just to enhance production value.  I could watch this pair over and over (no pun intended).

The second disc is not quite as successful, but has it's moments.  First up on the disc is The Warrior and the Sorceress, starring David Carradine as Kain (yes), and Maria Socas' breasts.  Carradine manages to sleepwalk through the whole affair, but his performance does little to dampen my enthusiasm for the strange mix of exploitative elements that make up this film.  There is a battle for water on a strange planet, there are lizard people, slaves, and lots of boobs.  There are wooden swords and poorly choreographed fights, but there is also lots of fun to be had, if you're in the mood.  The second feature, Barbarian Queen, is less successful, largely due to the lack of lackadaisical Carradine in the cast.  Not his fault, of course, but expectations were high after his feature and they aren't met with Barbarian Queen.

The whole experience, four full features, runs less than six hours.  That's called pacing, ladies and gentlemen.  If you don't like what you see, just wait a minute and something wholly unrelated will be on screen, and it will probably be awesome. 

The Discs:

The Deathstalker films were available in the early days of DVD, but went out of print quickly and were fetching ridiculous prices on the secondary market before this release.  Thankfully, if you didn't get one of those, you're in luck.  Shout! Factory's new anamorphic transfers are awesome.  Rarely have films that cost this little looked this good.  That goes for the entire set, including the Warrior/Barbarian duo which are ports from an earlier Shout! Factory collection release.  Audio is good, not flashy, but solid and dialogue is clear, even the poor dubbing is in tact for Deathstalker II, which was filmed largely with actors who had limited (to say the least) English.

There isn't much in the way of extras for these discs, but what there is I really liked.  Both Deathstalker films have commentaries with directors and various cast and crew. These are cases, especially with the second film, where the commentaries are at least as much fun as the feature.  Wynorski and crew are very honest about the circumstances they were working under, and their candor makes for a great listen.  Unfortunately, apart from some trailers, that's it for extras.  However, at this price for these films and this much entertainment, you'll be very pleased with what you get.  All hail Shout! Factory!