Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans

This is a great film. Here are some highlights:

The film has scenes directly recycled from DEATHSTALKER I as well as BARBARIAN QUEEN, but portrayed as if they were brand-new scenes.

Unlike Deathstalker I, there are no pig-men, but there are lion-men and wolf-men and -women, who seem to be recurring villains in the film. Like the first film, the protagonist is played by Rick Hill, which is fun to see his deadpan-delivered lines. His female sidekick/love interest is Dionara (Maria Ford). The duo basically make their way to another tournament, which evil Queen Kana is holding for the warriors in the whole kingdom.

At one point, Deathstalker meets a Tommy Wiseau-look alike who does 50 pushups. Named Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark), he sort of follows Hill and Ford to the tournament. We later learn that Vaniat is the first no-fapper (which I didn't know existed in 1991): he tells Deathstalker that sleeping with women saps one's vital energy; hee also eats a whole pig and likes cardio. He was basically a crossfitter before cross fit existed. To add to the greatness, this character's non-exposure to women becomes a hilarious plot point later on in the film.

We also get to see the early '90s fascination with lesbian-esque women clad in leather, one of whom has a buzzcut and befriends the main girl Dionara. One of the secondary villains whom we meet midway into the film is a lesbian, who basically forces herself on a younger girl after killing her female guardian.

The music sounds as if the composer was having a seizure on the keyboard.

With so much greatness, DEATHSTALKER IV is a much-watch!

The best thing about this entry to the DS series is that Rick Hill is back! He IS Deathstalker (well, I haven't even bothered watching II and III, it just wouldn't be the same). And you've gotta love the sense of humor it has. You can laugh WITH it, not AT it (okay, you can laugh at it too, but you know what I mean). I usually hate sequels, but I like this entry the best. Yeah, as these films go, it's lacking in the female frontal nudity department, but as a woman, seeing Rick and his buddies in their gladiator garb works for me. If you saw the first film, it's worth checking out.

Wait...there are four Deathstalkers, if they keep this up they can have their own convention!!

Its better than part 3 and that's the only redeeming feature about this....feature.

You would see better action watching Beaches.

This is clearly the best of the Deathstalker series, much better than the first three. Rick Hill (Deathstalker 1) is back, this time with more filled out masculine features and physique. He and Dionara (Maria Ford), after generally being involved in medieval combat against the bad guys at the beginning, go to a tournament hosted by the evil Queen Kana (Michelle Moffett). Sort of like "Enter the Dragon" except swords onstead of martial arts, and both men and women. It then becomes evident that the Queen has further motives than sadistically watching people die in slaughtering each other, that is, specifically to get rid of enemies present at the tournament and get a hold of Deathstalker's magical sword. Deathstalker and Dionara, with the help of a sidekick they persuade, seek to foil the queen.

There is lots of wild action, outdoors and indoors, some banquets and orgies and nudity, and the queen even has some erotic moments with Deathstalker and the sidekick. Dionara has a water hole fight with her lead rival before a climactic swordfight. But Rick and Maria make a great pair of protagonists, the best Deathstalker romantic pair. If you are into this genre, see it.

This movie is one of those that really, really needed to have either a) an extended scene of a naked woman or b) a naked woman in a dungeon being put to the question by an evil wizard. Heck, make it two extended scenes and two wizards. As it is, we get one topless female changing clothes and a whole lot of missed opportunities to show naked women. That's it.

This is the the last of the "Deathstalker" series movies (so far). If someone out there wants to do a fifth one, I suggest you call Lana Clarkson back on the set, throw her in a dungeon, and get her topless on a rack with a couple of wizards looking on. Heck, get Brinke Stevens in there, too. She showed the world that she can squirm with the best of 'em in "Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity". Maybe film it in Russia to save cash and use that money to hire an ensemble of sword-toting women and throw them in the dungeon, too. And at the end of the movie Rick Hill can come along and free them all. Or even better, Rick Hill can get thrown in the dungeon and everyone can get bumped off and finally end a series that should've ended after the first movie.

Now that'd be something much more interesting than "Deathstalker II", "DS III", and "DS IV".

Lana, where are you when we need you?