Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back

Well, this film is what it is. Some of the criticism is a bit overwrought. Yes, the plot is odd, and the production values are low. I would describe it as campy rather than just simply bad. The filmmakers cannot be oblivious to what they are putting on the screen. In the sword fighting scenes, the actors don't really even try to make it look real. Lana Clarkson looked so beautiful here, and that is sort of the point, not the medieval plot and staging. I had forgotten that Miss Clarkson was the actress murdered by Phil Spector. So sad.

Poorly done, poorly scripted, poorly shot, just a film disaster. It looked like more budget was spent on hairdressing than the costumes or props department got. Sad tale of a group of women forced to live as outlaws in the forest with only their never seen hairdressers as company. The late Lana Clarkson "stars" and shows off her chest to save the day. Mudwrestling topless, tied to a torture rack, showing off the latest in forest mini skirts, it's all in a day's work for these babes. If you have lots of time on your hands watch this film. It usually plays about 3-4 am on the various movie channels, so plan on staying up late.

Let me say up front that this is NOT a great film. No Oscar nominations, probably none of the cast was ever in an award winning film. What this is, is your basic raunchy action flick, complete with bouncing bare bosoms. This is late night cable TV fare, watch it for free when you can, and be glad you're not watching the Ya Ya Sisterhood movie. Lana Clarkson is more than up to the task of providing the bouncing boobies frequently throughout the movie. The plot is stale and formulaic, the acting stiff, but there's still that charm of scantily clad amazon warriors led by their rather randy queen in a revolution against the Great Evil which is in power. This is from the eras before Hollywood became so concerned with accusations of smut mongering, the films of the last decade or so have been lacking the delightful skin scenes which used to be a standard component of such films. If this film were being made today, the amazons would be covered much more thoroughly and Ms. Clarkson would not share her bountiful charms with us. If it sounds like I miss those days, I do. Many a mediocre film was made worthwhile by a liberal splashing of young nubile skin. Don't watch this for an example of great cinema, watch it for young lovelies on display.

5 out of 10 for obvious reasons.

This is a follow-up to Barbarian Queen, but certainly not a sequel, although Lana Clarkson is back as the female protagonist (slightly changed name, Amathea). This time she is rivaling her brother, who has unjustly usurped the crown on the basis of a presumed death of their father, but on a more mundane level his principal advisor Hofrax is her chief nemesis, along with her brother's daughter. The characters are different, but she is once again leading a few elite women warriors and peasants to justice. Greg Wrangler plays her love interest (Aurion). Pretty much the same stuff, with less often, less intense bondage etc. but a nice mudwrestling scene near the beginning. In movies like this, when I think some of the acting is pretty bad (this does not include Lana), I guess I have to be understanding in realizing they have programmed, wooden lines and delivery, so... Overall, I felt this one fell a bit short of the original.

Remembering having seen the 1985 movie "Barbarian Queen", though not being overly impressed with it, I opted to sit down and watch the 1989 sequel titled "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back", as I happened to find it by random chance here in 2023.

Now, the good news here is that if you enjoyed the 1985 first movie then you will definitely also enjoy this 1989 sequel. Why? Well, because it has the same amount of dubious swordfighting, scantily clad women, questionable storyline and all the cheese of the 1985 movie.

I found "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back" to be on the same level as the 1985 movie, so I wasn't particularly impressed with Joe Finley's sequel. Sure, it was watchable for the cheesy adventure fantasy that it was, and that cheese is thick 1980s cheese with an appeal to the adolescent audience. Writers Howard R. Cohen and Lance Smith just didn't bring anything magical to the screen here.

And while I did manage to sit through all 80 minutes of it, this is hardly a movie that I will return to watch a second time. Truth be told, then "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back" just didn't do much to appeal to my life-long admiration for all things fantasy.

The acting performances in "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back" were as you would expect for a movie such as this. It wasn't exactly bad acting performances, I will say that much. But nor were there any particularly outstanding or memorable acting performances on the screen.

The swordfights in the movie were rigid and poorly executed on the screen. It looked campy and cheesy, all in that glorious 1980s feel.

My rating of "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back" lands on a four out of ten stars.