Sorceress

My review was written in February 1983 after a Times Square screening.

New World's lensed-in-Mexico "Sorceress" demonstrates that a "Conan"-type heroic fantasy film can be made on a modest scale, a point soon to be underscored by the dozens of Italian-made imitations poised to hit the market. The Jack Hill production directed by Brian Stuart emphasizes nudity and vulgar humor, with the resulting package likely to appeal to cable-tv viewers after completing its current theatrical run.

Okay story line by Jim Wynorski is set in an ancient time, deals with twin girls (Leigh and Lynette Harris) brought up as boys and hidden from their evil wizard father Traigon (Robert Ballesteros), who plans to sacrifice the first-born to the forces of darkness in return for increased supernatural powers. Traigon is allied with the beautiful princess Dellisia (Ana De Sade), while the twins are aided in their quest for revenge against their father (who killed their mother) by warrior Erlik (Bob Nelson) and Baldar (Bruno Rey) and friendly satyr Pando (David Millbern).

Punctuated by frequent (and unexciting) sword battles and even some martial arts fights this abbreviated adventure film is largely an excuse for the shapely Harris twins (previously featured in the "I, the Jury" remake) to bare their charms. Hero Bob Nelson provides equal time with nude beefcake scenes but his good ole boy accent (typical of the film's poor dubbing) is just one among many indicators that the filmmakers are spoofing the fantasy genre. In fact, the phony beards, tacky sets and silly jokes make "Sorceress" resemble the quaint softcore porn pageants (e.g., "The Lustful Turk") of the 1960s.

Title is a misnomer, as the well-executed optical effects done at New World's Venice facility are generally extraneous to the story. Fantasy content includes a meaningless and static finale battle between two opposing gods in the heavens, a silly fight with horny zombies in the catacombs (as Baldar says, they've been buried for a thousand years) and various cheap makeup creatures such as the red-brown haired monkey men (also horny).

The gimmick of the twins sharing their feelings and experiences at a distance provides a cute sex comedy scene of Mira reacting orgasmically when captured Mara miles away is deflowered by Erlik. Ultimately the oft-repeated "The two who are one" epithet for the twins is just an excuse for a sex joke at fadeout. They are briefly upstaged by the stunning-looking dark villainess, played by Latin actress Ana De Sade.

When I came across this film my first thought was "Ok, another Deathstalker knock off fantasy". But after watching the entire film I realized that this film did set its own pace and by pace I mean lots of BOOBS! It was the 80s and Fantasy Sci-fi films were being published by just about every production company at the time. Rating system back in the 80s was pretty much anything goes. And I mean anything! This film follows two twin sisters that have magical and physical powers given to them by a ancient wizard/god at birth to assist them on there journey. The two sisters meet a Goatboy and punch him square in the FACE! But later realize that the Goatboy and viking are both there to help them on there journey to defeat Traigon the evil wizard. Over all the movie is pretty fun to watch and gave me some good chuckles. I would recommend to anyone that enjoys low budget 80s fantasy films. I have to admit that this movie does have a lot of boobies scenes in it so that is always a plus for me.

Fans of the sword and sorcery genre might want to take a look at this laughably inept masterpiece about a pair of buxom twins fighting their evil father. This film has it all: bad acting, terrible dialogue, awful special effects, and of course, gratuitous nudity. As another reviewer mentioned, the dialogue appears to have been dubbed, even though the actors were clearly speaking English to begin with. This just serves to make the film even more amusing. Equally amusing is how initially nobody can tell that the twins are really girls, even though this should have been obvious to anybody with at least one eye. All in all, a fun film for fans of the genre. I give it a 7 out of 10.

The evil sorcerer Traigon dies in the attempt to perform a sacrifice to his evil goddess. Not easily discouraged, he swears to return in 20 years and try again. His twin daughters have meanwhile grown into 2 skilled fighting ladies. Mira and Mara fight against Traigon with the aid of a barbarian red-beard, a little faun with a flute and a gambler turned swordsman.

'Sorceress' is a hilarious piece of 80s trash with a rare sense of humor. For example, when the sorcerer summons an army of zombies, they don't fight for him, but instead steal the temple virgins and run. "You know, they were buried for a thousand years", the barbarian explains. Among a wave of 'Conan' imitations I missed this one back in the day, but fortunately now got hold of the Blu-ray with interviews, from Roger Corman explaining the casting of 2 Playboy playmates ("they looked good in the nude scenes") to the special effects guy remembering how he spent even less money on masks than Corman expected, to the writer who was asked to "write a script by Monday". Low budget film-making, an adventure for itself.

In the fall of 1982 (which is the correct release date) I went with a friend to see this film simply because the poster looked so cheesy. For some odd reason this was the second half of a double bill with WITHOUT A TRACE, a serious film about child kidnapping! Including my friend and I there were about eight people in the theater when SORCERESS began to roll, and I dare say that the eight of us got at least $100 worth of laughs for our $3.50. This is one of the most inept films from the short-lived barbarian flick cycle, and that's really saying something! It appears that they lost the dialogue track and had to re-dub, giving the movie the look of a foreign film. I won't go into the plot since the previous review really nails it, but you simply haven't lived until you see the "epic" battle between gods Calgara (a giant Mexican woman's head with oatmeal on half of her face) and Vitaan (a seriously fake foam-rubber winged lion/man.goat?). As bad as this is, it is never boring, and is so crazily entertaining that I honestly rate it among my ten all-time favorite movies. VIVA SORCERESS!!!