Sorceress

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.

These ultra-low-budget Sword and Sorcery films from the early 80s sure tend to be awful as hell, and yet I find them so amusing that I always watch them once I get hold of them. "Sorceress" of 1982 is no exception. Au contraire, it is actually the epitome of the 'so bad it's good' type of Sword and Sorcery flick that makes this fantasy sub-genre so trashy and yet so fun to watch. This is actually even quite a bit worse than most other zero-budget genre efforts of the time (such as "Deathstalker"), but then again, the immensely high trash factor makes this especially recommendable to lovers of trash cinema and/or a good laugh. This awfully amusing flick is also the last flick by a director I personally admire. Jack Hill will always enjoy a cult status amongst exploitation fans for absolutely awesome flicks such as "Coffy", "Foxy Brown" and "Switchblade Sisters". His take on the Sword'n'Sorcery genre sadly cost Hill his career, as it is his last film up to date.

The central characters are two super-hot blonde twin sisters, Mira and Mara (played by Leigh and Lynette Harris). Mira and Mara, were hidden after their birth in order to save them from their father, an evil warlord willing to sacrifice them to his deity in order to achieve more power. Years later, the sisters have grown to become two hot and busty blond babes with superior fighting skills and exhibitionist tendencies...

"Sorceress" is full of genre-typical characters, such as a faun (a guy who is half-man half-goat) or a huge bearded barbarian who looks like a dwarf from "Lord of the Rings", only bigger and crappier. The performances are ridiculously awful, but who is going to watch a film like this for good acting anyway. The storyline is extremely stupid even for low budget Sword'n'Sorcery from the early 80s, but I don't think anyone will watch this expecting a clever plot neither. "Sorceress" is extremely stupid, but highly amusing trash. If you like trashy low-bud fantasy from the 80s give this a try and be amused. Otherwise avoid!

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.

Sleazy sword-and-sorcery fantasy as only Roger Corman can produce it, "Sorceress" is good fun provided that you're not too demanding. It delivers a generous amount of amusement and fun, especially when it comes to the ridiculous dialogue, and its delivery. For the most part, it doesn't do that much to stand out from the pack of other, similar films during this time. But that all changes when it gets to the climax, a full-on assault of cheese and spectacle, complete with light shows and otherworldly creatures.

A large part of the charm, of course, lies in the casting of luscious twin sisters Leigh and Lynette Harris, playing warrior women Mira and Mara. It seems that one of them needs to be sacrificed by power-hungry villain Traigon (snarling and hammy Roberto Ballesteros). They take the fight to him, aided by such characters as the hunky young Erlick (Roberto Nelson) and the proud Valdar (Bruno Rey), a guy who wouldn't look out of place in a Lord of the Rings feature.

That's really all you need to know, so you can discover the silly pleasures of this lowbrow feature for yourself. John Carl Buechler handles the creature duties, creating a likable "goat man" sort of character as well as a variety of ape-like beasts. The music is liberally borrowed from the earlier New World productions "Battle Beyond the Stars" and "Humanoids from the Deep". The action scenes are basically decent. The Harris sisters aren't exactly very good actresses, but this viewer can't imagine many fans of this type of thing caring all that much.

The sad postscript is that this turned out to be the final directorial credit for exploitation master Jack Hill ("The Big Doll House", "Coffy", etc.), who had a falling out with Corman over the matter of the editing. In the end, Hill retained a producing credit under his name but the direction was credited to a pseudonymous "Brian Stuart" (the names of Cormans' sons).

If you like fantasy features to be on the cheesy, sleazy, low budget side, watching this will be a no-brainer.

Seven out of 10.