Barbarian Queen (1985)

An unenterprising addition to the (rightly) maligned '80s genre of the sword-and-sorcery movie (you'd be well advised to check out the likes of DEATHSTALKER and THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER instead of this uninspiring dreck) whose sole purpose seems to be to show as many naked women throughout the film as possible. But this isn't soft-core porn by any means; instead it's a low budget action epic, shot on the cheap in Argentina by a talentless bunch of guys who don't know two things about fight choreography (case in point: compare this film with a similar Shaw Brothers sword-fighting epic – no contest).The film deserves note – and perhaps credit – for portraying some feisty and powerful female warriors who easily overthrow their male oppressors, but then proceed to turn this idea on its head by insisting that all of the female performers be naked or raped at one time or another. Although female torture, rape and molestation may sound unpleasant, rest assured that this film portrays the scenes as weakly and routinely as it can, without power.Lana Clarkson ("I'll be no man's slave and no man's whore! And if I can't kill them all, by the Gods, they'll know I've tried!") is the Nordic beauty who leads a revolt against the aforementioned oppressors. I think these guys are meant to be Roman but you wouldn't guess, seeing as the costumes are so poor. Most of the film consists of drawn-out action sequences which are really poorly done and much less interesting than any Italian peplum from the '60s you could ever find. The middle section of the film consists of torture and contains an amusing scene of a guy being thrown into an acid bath, but that's about it.Despite the inclusion of some muscular men in a gladiator battle, the excitement level is null. Expect to see lots of naked female flesh and some unwanted naked male flesh. Expect to see poor camera-work, shoddy and unconvincing gore effects and an utterly routine payoff for your time. Expect to see a level of film-making so cheap, unimaginative and unskilled that you can barely bother to watch the movie at all. Expect to see the sequel.

Along the same lines as the 'Deathstalker' franchise, no surprise seeing as its another Corman production. Again you must check out the poster for this film, so so very sexy and awesome yet as usual nothing like the actual movie, such a shame.Set in the Roman era apparently, never noticed myself, the plot revolves around a small band of female warriors and their Queen trying to save the Queens sister from nasty Romans. Nothing really happens for the entire film to be brutally honest and its really rather dull.Of course there are the obligatory topless scenes for many female characters and some soft porn sexy moments which will keep any hot blooded male interested, but not for long. The finale is pretty good with a semi decent fight sequence within a semi decent set. All the sword fighting is pretty hokey looking but its fun to watch all the extras pretend to be proper swordsmen/women.End of the day I watched this because of the cool film title. Yep I'm a perv, but for what other reason would any male watch this? certainly not for the epic historic story line or quality acting oh no. Its Corman and its all about big breasted blonde women in skimpy outfits with swords killing men, expect nothing less.2/10

Another awful, but hilarious contribution to the Sword & Sorcery genre starring the late Lana Clarkson, Héctor Oliviera's "Barbarian Queen" of 1985, is a film that is absolutely ridiculous in almost any aspect, but that shouldn't be missed by any fan of movies of the "so bad it's good" kind. Most of these cheaply produced and trashy Sword & Sorcery (or should I say Boobs & Sorcery) flicks are awful as hell, but they're hilarious unintentional comedies, and "Barbarian Queen" is the epitome of such a hilarious (semi?) unintentional comedy. I personally can't help it - I love films of that kind, awful as they may be, and I personally always laugh my ass of and have the time of my life watching them.This little film's thin plot in particular tells the story of 'barbarian queen' Amethea (Lana Clarkson) who, together with a few other busty female warriors, decides to free her tribe from slavery and tyranny after their village has been razed to the ground by a ruthless tyrant. It's often stated that this is set in the times of the Roman empire, but the villains really have nothing Roman about them, I'd say the movie is set in a typical, undefinable Sword'n'Sorcery fantasy time, some of the folks look like medieval knights, others like Barbarians from more ancient times...The whole movie is quite similar to an earlier Lana Clarkson movie, "Deathstalker" of 1983, In which she played a role that was almost the same as in this one. I personally enjoyed Deathstaker more, since it was gorier and the unintentional comedy factor was at times even higher, but "Barbarian Queen" is definitely also recommended if you're looking for a good laugh. The acting is, unsurprisingly, god-awful, and the settings sometimes make you wonder if the hilarious flaws are really unintentional. Apart from its value as an unintentional comedy, "Barbarian Queen" delivers a good amount of sleaze, and a busty female cast that gets topless every five minutes."Barbarian Queen" may be a god-awful film, but people with a sense of humor should have a good time watching it and laughing their asses off.

The only reason I can recommend this movie is if you want to see women showing off their tits. Sorry. I had to say it. There is nothing else worth watching here. Sloppy editing, bad acting (Lana Clarkson and Katt Shea shows their acting talents (both of them) and crap music. I have to admit that I fell asleep during the middle of this movie as well. I love sword-and-sorcery, adventure and fantasy movies but this is just tiresome. The story is promising enough (as a revenge flick), but the warrior women only manage to get captured every few minutes so that they can be tortured (topless, of course). Watch something else instead. Is it a sequel you say? Do you think that I'm going to watch it?