The prolific director Jim Wynorski knows how to entertain his audience. His movies never pretend to be more than what they are: tongue in cheek B movies that revel in their low budget cheesiness. There's almost always a great degree of appreciable sex appeal in his filmography, too, and "Deathstalker II" is no exception. The ladies are outstanding scenery attractions, the pacing is mostly effective, the dialogue is deliberately modernized and often quite funny, the villains are appropriately campy, and top billed John Terlesky just has fun with the nature of the role and the picture.
He's not exactly your typical hero in this sort of thing, having a much more modest physique than the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rick Hill, the star of the first "Deathstalker". But he's likable and engaging, playing a lone warrior enlisted by seer babe Reena (Monique Gabrielle, looking stunning in blonde hair) to go on a quest to restore a princess to her throne. Opposing Deathstalker - or "Stalker", for short - are baddies such as Jarek (John Lazar) and super sultry Sultana (Toni Naples).
Filmed cheaply but entertainingly in Argentina, this has decent production design & cinematography, an acceptable amount of action ("Deathstalker II" does hit the ground running) with plenty of swordplay and explosions, numerous breast shots by the lovely female co-stars, and a fun and funky electronic score by Wynorski regular Chuck Cirino (which sounds similar at times to what he composed for "Chopping Mall"). The supporting cast includes Maria Socas ("The Warrior and the Sorceress") as the alluring Amazon Queen, Marcos Woinsky as the pirate, and wrestler / roller derby star / rock star Dee Booher as Deathstalker's opponent in the ring. Wynorski (billed as Arch Stanton) has a cameo as a dying soldier. The movie's biggest assets, however, are its playfulness and its sense of humour. If you watch through to the very end, the closing credits feature several amusing outtakes.
Overall, this kills 78 minutes quite easily.
Seven out of 10.
He's not exactly your typical hero in this sort of thing, having a much more modest physique than the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rick Hill, the star of the first "Deathstalker". But he's likable and engaging, playing a lone warrior enlisted by seer babe Reena (Monique Gabrielle, looking stunning in blonde hair) to go on a quest to restore a princess to her throne. Opposing Deathstalker - or "Stalker", for short - are baddies such as Jarek (John Lazar) and super sultry Sultana (Toni Naples).
Filmed cheaply but entertainingly in Argentina, this has decent production design & cinematography, an acceptable amount of action ("Deathstalker II" does hit the ground running) with plenty of swordplay and explosions, numerous breast shots by the lovely female co-stars, and a fun and funky electronic score by Wynorski regular Chuck Cirino (which sounds similar at times to what he composed for "Chopping Mall"). The supporting cast includes Maria Socas ("The Warrior and the Sorceress") as the alluring Amazon Queen, Marcos Woinsky as the pirate, and wrestler / roller derby star / rock star Dee Booher as Deathstalker's opponent in the ring. Wynorski (billed as Arch Stanton) has a cameo as a dying soldier. The movie's biggest assets, however, are its playfulness and its sense of humour. If you watch through to the very end, the closing credits feature several amusing outtakes.
Overall, this kills 78 minutes quite easily.
Seven out of 10.