Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans

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?

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.

As you might have expected this is another cheap and shoddy sword and sorcery flick from Corman's trash factory. Not nearly as fun as Deathstalker I or II, but at least the character is back in his relaxed, tongue-in-cheek mode, unlike the too serious Deathstalker from part III. You get some bad swordfights, self-parodic machismo, gladiator action, nasty leather-lesbians, lion-men, stone-soldiers and lots of T&A. And of course once again you get to enjoy some Concorde "classic" scenes, like: "Man being dragged through the woods by a horse", "Pigman eats pork" and "thinny, hyperactive gladiator in stupid viking helmet uses penis-violence and is beaten to a pulp by a fat, hairy giant with a club".

You would think that a movie that features a former 'Penthouse Magazine' model would be a bit better than this snoozer flick. The fourth (and perhaps last) of the 'Deathstalker' series movies is probably the most ambitious but second-most miserable failure of them all (though 'Deathstalker 2' was even worse).

It's the usual plot - adventuring hero teams up with beautiful female warrior and frees a city from an evil ruler. So what do you get in between the covers? Well, some good opportunities for Maria Ford to show her 'talents' are wasted for one thing. I would think that if her character was in love with Deathstalker, that there would be at least one scene with intimacy. She also has the ability to keep her clothes on in a fight. Also, every castle has a dungeon, yet we never see anybody being tortured (or even half-dressed). So what's the point of having a dungeon in the first place? And worse than that, with all of the swords being swung about, the gore is a bit slight.

If there's going to be a 'Deathstalker 5', the producers would be wise to give us what we expect in a 'B'-level movie: skin, a couple of torture scenes, and blood.

Things get off to a decidedly poor start in this, the fourth entry in the Deathstalker series. During the very first scene I was immediately struck by two things: 1)The camera work looked as though it were achieved by strapping the camera to the rear end of a rodeo horse. and 2)Who ever is responsible for the bloody awful, tuneless and distracting 'music' accompanying this scene needs be executed.

On the latter point, words really just cannot describe just how atrocious the aimless, meandering sequence of seemingly random 'notes' are.

Luckily things suddenly look brighter when the original Deathstalker himself, Rick Hill turns up on the scene to save the day (he even performs his trademark 'wipe the blood from sword behind leg' move after he slays the bad guys, just like he did way back when he originally played the titular role) Interestingly, Ricks portrayal of the main character here carries far more humour than in his first appearance (no doubt the script in keeping with the comedic nature of the two previous sequels) Alas, this humour all but dries up save for a few scenes as the film progresses, which I felt was a real shame.

If there's one thing that everyone seems to agree on in the Deathstalker films, it is that the ladies present within them are universally stunning to behold. In this regard, the movie in question surpasses itself by casting the absolutely gorgeous Maria Ford as Deathstalker's love interest who also happens to be an incredibly feisty warrior!

It's such a pity that the rest of the film fails to have the same lustre. Whilst I've certainly watched far worse in my time, this movie overall just feels flat and uninspired and I can really only describe it as average at best. However, it IS great to see Rick Hill back in the title role and as previously mentioned, Maria Ford is truly stunning to behold, which is a real bonus!