Rick Hill is to the "Deathstalker" movies what Sean Connery was to the James Bond thrillers. Hill plays the eponymous warrior, and he wields his sword with greater aplomb than either John Terlesky or John Allen Nelson. Writer & director Howard R. Cohen teams up again with Hill for this epic variation on the original about a tournament where nobody wins except the sorcerer. "Deathstalker IV" boasts a female villain and her plan to turn warriors into stone to fill the ranks of her army qualifies as above average for the franchise. Indeed, "Deathstalker IV" appears to resume not long after the original, and our hero carries s a sword endowed with magical powers that did not exist in either "Deathstalker 2" or "Deathstalker 3." Altogether, not only does "Deathstalker IV" top the original "Deathstalker," but it also surpasses the first two sequels. Hill seems far more confident and assured as the muscular protagonist.
Mind you, "Deathstalker IV" doesn't take itself any more seriously than the original, but it never degenerates into the campy, bimbo farce of "Deathstalker 2." "Deathstalker IV" drums up more drama and legitimate comedy than "Deathstalker 3." Of course, the combat choreography is one of those insurmountable weaknesses that have always plagued "Deathstalker" series. The hero and his adversaries might as well be dueling with tennis rackets than swords for all the suspense that is created. Cohen's screenplay is predictable. Again, a tyrant rules a kingdom that he or she stole from the heroine and the hero furnishes the strategy and the muscle to recover it. Typically, in sword and sorcery movies, the chief villain is a sorcerer or a sorceress.
"Deathstalker IV" opens with a prologue narrated by Dionara (Maria Ford of "Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls") who identifies the eponymous hero, the ancient time setting, and the predicament that she faces. "In the age of darkness, there was chaos. It was a time when honest men ran in fear from the armies and beautiful women were toys to be fought over and tossed away. Good men lost their lives defending family and honor. Weak men lived or died at the mercy of cruel overlords. In the midst of this chaos, there were men, heroes who fought against evil and injustice. This is the story of one such man, a great warrior who feared nothing. He helped me like many others fulfill my destiny. It was he who destroyed the evil sorcerer Munkar, recovered the sword of justice and reunited the three powers. He was the man I came to know as Deathstalker." In other words, if you missed the original "Deathstalker," Cohen's recap brings you up-to-speed about our hero and his legendary sword. This makes "Deathstalker 2" and "Deathstalker 3" look like in-name-only sequels. Rather than shoot more "Deathstalker" footage action with Rick Hill, producer Roger Corman and company have lifted footage from the original film and fleshed out the sequel. Actually, Corman used the same footage to supplement the first two sequels. Happily, this footage has been grafted skillfully onto the plot without interfering with the action.
Deathstalker finds a massacred wagon train and rescues a maiden from warriors wearing lion's heads for helmets. Essentially, our hero is searching for Endoron (Rumen Dimitrov), a friend of his. "He's got my sword," Deathstalker explains to the maiden's father. Deathstalker talks about how Endoron and he battled an unknown army that lay siege to a village. Ultimately, they were separated. "Things got a little confusing. He wound up with my sword and I with his." Tarinda (Jenny Philipova) warns Deathstalker about Kana's evil army. Kana's soldiers have assaulted one village after another. They sacked the towns, ravaged the women, and killed all the weak and helpless inhabitants. However, by Kana's orders, they captured all the strongest warriors and took them away.
Our hero and heroine are among the many warriors competing in a tournament hosted by the evil Queen Kana (Michelle Moffett of "Hired to Kill") who rules as a tyrant the throne that once belonged to Dionara's father. "I've come back here to reclaim my birthright." She explains that Kana's father murdered her mother and father and imprisoned her sister and her. A servant helped them escape. Deathstalker isn't too surprised when he discovers that Dionara is a princess. "I'm always getting mixed up with princesses." Meanwhile, Deathstalker and Dionara have noticed that the tournament is rather unusual. Every warrior from 200 miles around has come to fight in it, but Kana seems to be going out of her way to disqualify combatants, get them hopelessly intoxicated with wine and then imprison them in her dungeons. Eventually, Deathstalker and Dionara figure out that Kana is spiking her wine to incapacitate combatants and transform them into an army of stone warriors at her beck and command. She takes an antidote to counteract the effects of the wine.
Deathstalker and Dionara persuade another warrior Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark of "Malibu Express") to seduce Kana and learn what her antidote for the wine is. Although Vaniat is basically a virgin, he is such a hunk that Kana falls for him big time. Vaniat doesn't like to drink, and Deathstalker explains he must not swallow the wine. Vaniat manages to fool Kana. Nevertheless, Kana and his sidekick imprison Deathstalker and almost petrify him with their poisoned wine. There is an interesting scene when Deathstalker discovers the stone warriors in Kana's castle and tries to fight them. He loses and Kana feeds him wine, only Vaniat's discovery of the antidote and Dionara's swift intervention saves Deathstalker's life.
Cohen does a good job of pacing this low-budget, shot-in-Bulgaria, sword and sorcery feature. Clark is hilarious as an inexperienced lover, while Maria Ford is a fetching blond. "Deathstalker IV" contains scenes with women shedding or slipping into their clothing but at some time displaying their breasts. "Deathstalker IV" marginally overshadows the original "Deathstalker."
Mind you, "Deathstalker IV" doesn't take itself any more seriously than the original, but it never degenerates into the campy, bimbo farce of "Deathstalker 2." "Deathstalker IV" drums up more drama and legitimate comedy than "Deathstalker 3." Of course, the combat choreography is one of those insurmountable weaknesses that have always plagued "Deathstalker" series. The hero and his adversaries might as well be dueling with tennis rackets than swords for all the suspense that is created. Cohen's screenplay is predictable. Again, a tyrant rules a kingdom that he or she stole from the heroine and the hero furnishes the strategy and the muscle to recover it. Typically, in sword and sorcery movies, the chief villain is a sorcerer or a sorceress.
"Deathstalker IV" opens with a prologue narrated by Dionara (Maria Ford of "Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls") who identifies the eponymous hero, the ancient time setting, and the predicament that she faces. "In the age of darkness, there was chaos. It was a time when honest men ran in fear from the armies and beautiful women were toys to be fought over and tossed away. Good men lost their lives defending family and honor. Weak men lived or died at the mercy of cruel overlords. In the midst of this chaos, there were men, heroes who fought against evil and injustice. This is the story of one such man, a great warrior who feared nothing. He helped me like many others fulfill my destiny. It was he who destroyed the evil sorcerer Munkar, recovered the sword of justice and reunited the three powers. He was the man I came to know as Deathstalker." In other words, if you missed the original "Deathstalker," Cohen's recap brings you up-to-speed about our hero and his legendary sword. This makes "Deathstalker 2" and "Deathstalker 3" look like in-name-only sequels. Rather than shoot more "Deathstalker" footage action with Rick Hill, producer Roger Corman and company have lifted footage from the original film and fleshed out the sequel. Actually, Corman used the same footage to supplement the first two sequels. Happily, this footage has been grafted skillfully onto the plot without interfering with the action.
Deathstalker finds a massacred wagon train and rescues a maiden from warriors wearing lion's heads for helmets. Essentially, our hero is searching for Endoron (Rumen Dimitrov), a friend of his. "He's got my sword," Deathstalker explains to the maiden's father. Deathstalker talks about how Endoron and he battled an unknown army that lay siege to a village. Ultimately, they were separated. "Things got a little confusing. He wound up with my sword and I with his." Tarinda (Jenny Philipova) warns Deathstalker about Kana's evil army. Kana's soldiers have assaulted one village after another. They sacked the towns, ravaged the women, and killed all the weak and helpless inhabitants. However, by Kana's orders, they captured all the strongest warriors and took them away.
Our hero and heroine are among the many warriors competing in a tournament hosted by the evil Queen Kana (Michelle Moffett of "Hired to Kill") who rules as a tyrant the throne that once belonged to Dionara's father. "I've come back here to reclaim my birthright." She explains that Kana's father murdered her mother and father and imprisoned her sister and her. A servant helped them escape. Deathstalker isn't too surprised when he discovers that Dionara is a princess. "I'm always getting mixed up with princesses." Meanwhile, Deathstalker and Dionara have noticed that the tournament is rather unusual. Every warrior from 200 miles around has come to fight in it, but Kana seems to be going out of her way to disqualify combatants, get them hopelessly intoxicated with wine and then imprison them in her dungeons. Eventually, Deathstalker and Dionara figure out that Kana is spiking her wine to incapacitate combatants and transform them into an army of stone warriors at her beck and command. She takes an antidote to counteract the effects of the wine.
Deathstalker and Dionara persuade another warrior Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark of "Malibu Express") to seduce Kana and learn what her antidote for the wine is. Although Vaniat is basically a virgin, he is such a hunk that Kana falls for him big time. Vaniat doesn't like to drink, and Deathstalker explains he must not swallow the wine. Vaniat manages to fool Kana. Nevertheless, Kana and his sidekick imprison Deathstalker and almost petrify him with their poisoned wine. There is an interesting scene when Deathstalker discovers the stone warriors in Kana's castle and tries to fight them. He loses and Kana feeds him wine, only Vaniat's discovery of the antidote and Dionara's swift intervention saves Deathstalker's life.
Cohen does a good job of pacing this low-budget, shot-in-Bulgaria, sword and sorcery feature. Clark is hilarious as an inexperienced lover, while Maria Ford is a fetching blond. "Deathstalker IV" contains scenes with women shedding or slipping into their clothing but at some time displaying their breasts. "Deathstalker IV" marginally overshadows the original "Deathstalker."