Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans

CinemaSerf 12/25/2022 8:06:11PM 8.4

Well, still suffering from the man flu that induced me to watch the first (1983) version of this, I was curious to discover why it had taken four years to regurgitate it... Well, that might have been because it's a completely new team behind this slightly better iteration of "Conan" meets "Barbie". This time, the eponymous character (John Terlesky) hooks up with "Reena the Seer" (otherwise known as "Princess Evie" - Monique Gabrielle) and after a few adventures, they end up working together to battle the evil sorcerer "Jarek" (John Lazar), and an equally malevolent and nimble clone of herself, so she can reclaim her throne. As with the first film, it borders on the soft porn at times with Terlesky's clothing defiantly clinging on for grim death whilst all the ladies' garments go to the four winds. The plot is almost exactly the same as the earlier iteration for this hero, as is the ending and I wouldn't have been surprised if they just tinkered round the edges of what passed for the script too. To be fair, Terlesky has a little more charm to him, he looks like he knows this is awful and that he realises that he also getting paid. So too, does Gabrielle - but as an actress, she is pretty woeful. It's got pirates and Amazons to keep things lively, and as an action adventure in a sort of Peplum vein, it passes 90 minutes easily enough - just never again.