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OK, this isn't a good film by any stretch of the imagination but you don't really get it for that do you? I bought it just to see Raven de la Croix as I remember seeing this when a youngster and her being this incredible figure of white on a horse (white star is her character name).

The plot and FX are laughable but the music was surprisingly better than expected almost sounding like the works of John Carpenter.

Unfortunately the film is only a 15 so there's no real sex but the image of Raven in some kind of very short, dream state when she has a snake draped round her neck is mind bendingly erotic and worthy of the purchase price.

This absurd farrago is something of a guilty pleasure on my part. Anticipating (15 years early) the recent "Charlie's Angels" movie, it features three ethnically-mixed women, all martial arts experts, investigating a preposterous plot and thoroughly intimidating the various hapless males they stumble across.

The film begins with "Dirty Harriet" type cop action and climaxes with gladiatorial battles and a sub-Bondian villain threatening the world with a doomsday weapon that looks alarmingly like a giant phallus. It's fast-moving, funny and good-natured enough to be enjoyable viewing.

Really a zero-star film, but I got 2 1/2 stars worth of entertainment from this cheesy 80s fantasy flick featuring PHANTASM's Angus Grimm (The Tall Man) as a martial arts cult leader whose group is infiltrated by three ladies looking to take him down. THE LOST EMPIRE is the directorial debut of Jim Wynorski, who made a few entertaining low-budget genre movies like CHOPPING MALL and BIG BAD MAMA II, but most of his output is cheesy movies with lots of ladies. THE LOST EMPIRE definitely foreshadows his later career of low-quality sexploitation films. It is basically the Roger Carmen version of a Charlie's Angels movie set at a gladiator school. Wynorski also wrote the screenplay, which has some Ed Wood-quality of dialogue, and just like Edward D. Wood Jr. Movies, this film was so bad, I found myself wildly entertained by it. Don't buy or rent this one, but see if you can catch it on TV or streaming somewhere if you're in the mood for something hilariously bad, you'll have a pretty good time.

Jim Wynorski starts as he means to go on, opening his directorial debut The Lost Empire with a close-up shot of a buxom woman's cleavage. The owner of the impressive breasts is a customer at a jewellery store who leaves the premises as three ninjas arrive to steal a precious jewel from the eye of a statue. The owner of the shop gets a shuriken in the head. Three cops show up and begin shooting at the ninjas; all three ninjas die, but not before killing two of the policemen and mortally wounding the third. This wild pre-credits scene perfectly sets the tone for this very daft action flick: cheesy comic book fun with big boobs.

After the credits have rolled, Wynorski sets up the plot: before they were vanquished, a forgotten civilisation called the Lemurians hid secrets of their super-science in two jewels - the Eyes of Avatar - which were separated during the war. Now, whoever brings the stones together again will rule with absolute power, and guess what?... an evil genius called Sin Do (Angus Scrimm) is planning to do just that!

Seeking revenge for the death of her brother (one of the cops killed in the opening scene), beautiful and buxom (natch) blonde Angel Wolfe (Melanie Vincz) teams up with massive-mammaried native American Whitestar (Raven De La Croix) and jailbird-with-big-jugs Heather McClure (Angela Aames) to enter a competition held at Sin Do's island fortress, the tyrant intending to build an army of trained assassins.

Like a cross between Charlie's Angels, a Russ Meyer movie and Enter The Dragon, this deliberately trashy exercise in silliness sees Wynorski packing in as much exploitative content as possible in his scant 83 minute run-time: ninjas, native American mysticism, a women's prison catfight (that turns into a mudbath), a shower scene, a robot tarantula, bad sword-fights, a pet gorilla (of the man-in-a-suit variety), a powerful phallic laser weapon, and, of course, lots of gazongas.

It goes without saying that it's all very low-brow, and with an obviously tight budget, extremely cheap looking at times (there's a really bad matte painting and Angus Scrimm's skeletal make-up at the end is little more than a rubber mask), but it is quite a lot of fun. Wynorski's stuck to his guns over the years, with countless 'fully loaded' films featuring well-endowed women, but this is still one of the better ones.

6.5/10, generously rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Prolific and dependable B level filmmaker Jim Wynorski had started out working for Roger Corman, and began his respectable directing career with this exploitation epic that he wrote, produced, and directed. All the hallmarks of his work are present and accounted for here, including a breezy, campy feel, a heavy sense of humour, a self-awareness (without doing too much winking at the viewer - the actors do have straight faces most of the time), and of course well endowed female cast members baring their breasts whenever an opportunity presents itself. He sure knows what he's doing: the very first shot in his movie is an iris shot that opens up on a womans' cleavage!

The story hits the ground running: tough female cop Angel Wolfe (lovely Melanie Vincz) loses her brother Rob (Bill Thornbury of the "Phantasm" series), who's also a cop, to a trio of deadly ninja types in a bungled robbery. When Rob produces a throwing star kind of weapon left at the scene, it leads Angels' FBI agent boyfriend Rick (Paul Coufos) to believe a religious cult head named Dr. Sin Do could be involved. He knows that Sin Do recruits young women in groups of three to be trained as assassins, so Angel gathers together two of her friends - the Indian warrior Whitestar (Raven De La Croix) and bubbly blonde jailbird Heather McClure (Angela Aames) so that they can infiltrate the madmans' remote island fortress.

There's a delightful cheesy charm to these proceedings, complete with some really fun looking sets and lots of animation effects. The dialogue is amusing, especially when spoken by De La Croix (also the associate producer and designer of her characters' costume); she has a fair number of truly groan inducing one liners to deliver. The colourful lighting is courtesy of Jacques Haitkin ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" '84) and the catchy score by Alan Howarth is reminiscent of the other work he did with John Carpenter in the 1980s.

Wynorski obviously had a lot of fun in the casting decisions: "Phantasm" series villain Angus Scrimm is our nefarious bad guy (although he doesn't show his face until well into the movie), notable screen tough guy Robert Tessier plays Koro, and Blackie Dammett ("National Lampoons' Class Reunion") is the sleazy Prager; there are also cameos for the great Kenneth Tobey (using his character name from "The Thing from Another World"), Linda Shayne (who co-wrote "Screwballs" with Wynorski), and Angelique Pettyjohn ('Get Smart', "Repo Man").

People who adore the wacky side of low budget cinema will likely adore "The Lost Empire" for its spirit and energy...and, of course, the assets of its actresses.

Eight out of 10.

Too many people watch films expecting EVERY SINGLE ONE to be Oscar worthy! In fact statistically you will find that most cannot hope to deliver a product at that level! This is one of those films, shall we call them "Friday Night Films". I usually have a gathering of friends round mine on Friday nights (too old to go out on the town nowadays), where we line up 2-3 titles to pass the time. Some weeks are "serious", some not. Last week we watched 12 years a slave, Argo & Munich, the week before it was this, Troll 2 & Hell comes to frogtown...catch my drift? The Lost Empire is a campy, exploitation piece of cinema with copious amounts of nudity, some hopeless "fight" scenes that have to be seen to be believed (especially the wooden shuriken to the back of the head scene), a craptastic villain complete with henchmen and little/no story. The women all look good, especially the 3 leads, but the extras aren't too shabby either! The story requires little/no attention to be paid to the screen throughout, which is exactly what crap film nights are all about, as more time is spent laughing and chatting than watching.

If you're a fan of trash cinema like Death Wish 3, Street Trash, Tromaville films, etc then you really can't go far wrong with this! Enjoy.

This film was featured on German cable for 6 or 7 times during the last few years and tells the story of three Bond-like chicks which get undercover into the army of super-villain Sin Do who threats the world with laser weapons or whatever...

To tell an interesting or demanding plot is a minor matter, because "The Lost Empire" is trash in perfection! The costumes (none of the female "actress" wears one...), the set decoration and the special F/X are more than lousy (even for the 80s standard!) and will remind you sometimes on the old Ed Wood-movies! The film itself however is funny and entertaining from beginning till the end! Two actors are worth to be mentioned: the one is Raven de la Croix, the unforgotten voluminous actress from Russ Meyer´s cult exploitationer "Up!". The other is Angus Scrimm who performs the bad guy and is still well-known for his role as "tall man" from the "Phantasm"-series. The rest of the film is a silly mixture between nude girls, cat fighting scenes and Z-grade action.

In other words: a must-see for every fan of trash-gems and the lovers of cheesy C-movie homages!!!

Jim Wynorski has created his masterpiece with this!!!

This film makes for one half of a great double bill with Russ Meyer's UP! Both are notable for featuring the 70s-80s lovely-busty brunette, Raven De La Croix. Miss De La Croix should have been a major star of lowbrow cinema. She could have played an ongoing series action-adventure heroine who comes to the rescue, bashes the baddies and comes out on top while being stripped of all her clothing in the process. She really gets better the less she has on, which means that she's PERFECT (and perfectly nude) at the end of UP!

She was quite good as an undercover cop in UP! This wasn't the best of Russ Meyer's movies, but it's worth watching for Raven.

Hers was a lost opportunity, but these two films are available on video.

Three bosomy babes go undercover to the island of Dr. Sin Do (Angus Scrimm) to find out why Angel's cop brother was murdered by some ninja looking dudes. The diabolical doctor holds a martial arts tournament, but it also using his conquests for slaves to be sold while staying young by drinking their blood. Oh, and he is also looking to gain world power by combining the ancient Eyes of the Avatar stones, one of which just happens to be in Angel's purse. This was director Jim Wynorski's directing debut and it is delight from start to finish. It is incredibly pulpy and definitely has its tongue-in-cheek. The most surprising thing here is all three female leads (Melanie Vincz as Angel, Raven De La Croix as Whitestar, Angela Aames as Heather) are actually really funny in their roles, showing they were on the same page as Wynorski. Of course, seeing as this is Wynorski, you know that the screen will be covered in busty babes who get topless. Hell, his opening shot is a James Bond-style scope that pans across some boobs! He doesn't disappoint and Russ Meyer would be proud. It is such a strong debut for Wynorski that it saddens me that he basically stopped giving a damn 10 years later and now just cranks out generic action and T&A messes. Co- starring Paul Coufos as love interest Rick, Robert Tessier as evil sidekick Koro, and Blackie Dammett (aka Anthony Keidis' pop) as a corrupt cop.

3 busty (the eye-catcher) ladies fighting (not literally, yet bouncing) the evil Dr. Sin Do (yes, that´s the name - he does sin).

Anything interesting? Sorry, no.

If You like well endowed women working it out and also save the world by hunting down some evil men, this is the movie for You.

Otherwise: don´t watch it, because a worst plot featuring silly characters acting in strange scenes won´t entertain You at all.

My review was written in February 1985 after a screening at Rialto theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"The Lost Empire" is a misfired spoof of various fantasy genres, marking an overly ambitious low-budget feature directing debut for former Roger Corman publicist Jim Wynorski. Featuring numerous statuesque women in various states of undress, this entry in the yet-to-succeed Women Warriors genre (e.g., "Sheena", unreleased "She" remake) was started as a 3-D production in latter's 1983 boomtime, but was ultimately filmed and released "flat".

No so flat are the bevy of heroines, three of whom go ("Enter the Dragon" style) to the Pacific island of Golgotha where Dr. Sin Do (Angus Scrimm) has a cult. Sin Do, who turns out to be the ancient Li Chuk, has a pact with the devil whereby he caused natural disasters, and currently is searching for the second jeweled Eye of the Avatar (made by the lost race of the Lemurians) to match his own and give him endless powe.

Amidst much science fiction trappings including cheap mattework, miniatures and special effects, filmmaker Wynorski emphasizes puns and spoof of old-style serials exposition, with not enough funny gags. Fanasy fans will be intrigued, but picture is largely a skin show, spotlighting the beauty of stripper Raven de la Croix, who also acted as associate produce and provided her own gaudy American Indian costumes. Acting is generally poor, with lead player Melanie Vincz apparently not informed of he jokes by Wynorski, while familiar baddie, bald Bob Tessier, suffers with stuck on eyebrows which vary in size and shape from shot to shot. Angus Scrimm, a sinister presence in "Phanasm" in the 1970s, is an effectively hammy villain who, courtesy of impressive makeup effects by Steve Neill, turns into a black, lizard-skin monster at the finale.

The only good thing about this movie is that is it's a farce of action movies in the 80's. Full of clichés and puns. The only stars I know well is Robert Tessier, known for his villainous roles, and Angus Scrimm, known for being "The Tall Man" in the "Phantasm" films. For the main stars, they are all hot. They provide the sex appeal and the humor throughout the film. The plot is spot on, the story is good.

So far, it wasn't a drag. There's plenty of action. And a whole lot of humor to boot.

The movie is full of clichés and puns, making it fun. For a rainy day. If anyone wants to put it down, they should be put in this film.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

This movie, although a grade 'B, movie.. warrants viewing ... believe me, if you like MST3k videos, you'll like this one even without robotic comments. There's something about the honesty and simplicity of the actresses that makes it a very wholesome movie ... so watch it, or drop out!