Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back (1990)

Not too sure what the title means here, there was no Empress in the first film and the plot doesn't relate in any way to the first film either. Characters are also different to the original film despite starring Lana Clarkson in both.What we have here is a slight play on Robin Hood. A king is killed in battle so his unruly son claims the throne for himself including the magical scepter which is the source of the kingdoms power. The kings daughter (Clarkson) protests this naturally and is marked for execution to get rid of her...naturally. She escapes, joins up with some other female rebel warriors (just like that) and they all band together to win the kingdom back hurrah! Now I hope your not expecting too much here, you know what this will entail, much like the previous film and all the 'Deathstalker' films. Plenty of tits and ass, skimpy outfits, females killing poorly skilled swordsmen, Clarkson on the rack again topless and errr more poorly skilled baddie swordsmen trying to rape big breasted women (happens a lot in these films).Pretty much exactly the same as the first film, there's a good rescue scene from the gallows which is similar to the sequence in 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' with Errol Flynn. There is a nice sadistic little girl Princess who is heir to the throne (if Clarkson's character is gotten rid of, the whole point of the film) whom I liked, her spoilt bratty ways are fun to watch as all around her cower in fear. Just like the first film the finale is way better than the rest with a semi decent sword battle within the castle. Costumes are quite nice in this film it must be said, a kind of Crusades thing going on with the good guys whilst the sets look suspiciously like sets used before, oh well. The lead male hero in this looks the part too, he actually looks like he could be in a proper film, the same can't be said about the clichéd blonde lead Clarkson. Well by now you will know if you like these films or not, a guilty pleasure possibly, just for a laugh and some naked girlies perhaps. Not as good as 'Deathstalker' though.3/10

Actually this wasn't that bad. Lana Clarkson is lovely as usual and yes there are plenty of topless shots, but what set this b-grade sword and sorcery tale apart is the other actors. Rodger Cudney is a great villain as always and somehow manages to maintain his dignity no matter how awful the situation. Greg Wrangler does a nice job as the conflicted love interest and best of all is the young Cecilia Twerina as the evil little Tamis. Who the heck let a kid on this picture? Who cares? she's great.The plot is simply, Athalia's father, the king, may be dead and the evil Ankaris wants the throne, but needs the magical scepter to hold it. For some reason, never really explained, Hofrax (Cudney) is helping him. Tamis is Ankaris's wicked daughter. OK, the budget is obviously low, but the film doesn't look that bad and the performers appear to be trying. Note the convenient barrel of water that spills off the back of the wagon so Althalia and a barbarian babe can mud wrestle!! the fights aren't too badly staged and the plotting is pretty decent. Chris Young tries hard to convey a sense of epic with the music.Athalia refuses to divulge the secret, in case her Father is still alive, and gets tortured by Hofrax and Tamis!! All together for the rack sequence and spider bite-ewww! Orian (Wrangler) rescues Athalia nd together they unite, literally and then the King's warrior's return and it's off to strike for justice! I won't reveal the fate of Ankaris and Tamis, but it is rather moving.All in all this is a good b-movie with attractive performers and plenty of fun for all.

Poorly done, poorly scripted, poorly shot, just a film disaster. It looked like more budget was spent on hairdressing than the costumes or props department got. Sad tale of a group of women forced to live as outlaws in the forest with only their never seen hairdressers as company. The late Lana Clarkson "stars" and shows off her chest to save the day. Mudwrestling topless, tied to a torture rack, showing off the latest in forest mini skirts, it's all in a day's work for these babes. If you have lots of time on your hands watch this film. It usually plays about 3-4 am on the various movie channels, so plan on staying up late.

Low-grade production values and only slightly better acting bring down an otherwise generic plot.The bottom line: a 'magical' princess leads a group of women warriors and peasants against her evil brother who seeks to take the kingdom's throne after the death of their father.As far as 'Fantasy' flicks go, there are three levels of production values. On the high end one has `The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. Below that one has `Conan the Destroyer'. And below *that* one has this movie. The production values here make `Xena: Warrior Princess' look like `Lord of the Rings'! They're horrible. The props look as though they came from the trunk of the local community theater. The weapons are especially laughable (and who know that one could be stabbed with a sword and not bleed!).And the acting, well, the best thing that can be said about the acting is that the thespians involved took the dialogue seriously (though I can't imagine the humiliation one must feel to have been a part of the making of this travesty). If I were to have worked on this film I don't think that I could have ever looked anyone straight in the face again.And to make matters worse, the movie tries to 'cater' to a certain demographic with gratuitous nudity. Even the sight of two bare-chested ladies fighting in mud is not enough to recommend this flick-that's just how poorly done it was. One has seen soft-core porn with better production values!And for nominally being a 'fantasy' film, no actual 'magic' is ever really seen.Everything about this movie is so poorly done one can't help but wonder *how* it ever got made. A film student and two chimps could have produced something better!There is a difference between low budget and *no* budget! Avoid this film if you can, though viewing it won't do one any long term harm. It's just bad. Not 'laughably bad', just bad. I don't think even `Mystery Science Theater' could make this one look good!