Oh yes, indeed! For my torment by Deathstalker has only just begun!
In this case, however...that might not actually be entirely fair.
Last time we dipped into the Roger Corman-minded well that is Deathstalker, it saw us being kicked in the teeth by a man with all of the charisma and acting talent of my dining room table (and I don't own a dining room table) and having bits of raspberry jam being smeared onto weaponry while breasts were launched at our faces at Mach 5.
So, let's see if four years will in any way improve that experience.
This time, the titular Deathstalker is played by John Terlesky, who is so much an improvement over Rick Hill that it's not even funny. From the first scene immediately, Terlesky is infinitely more likeable and exudes a character with something beyond blank apathy or wanting to stick his sword into something. His character is also radically different than in the previous film, going from a stern warrior being more of a snarky thief type, though still more than able to carry himself in a fight.
Needless to say, I see this as an absolute win.
It also probably helps that, behind the scenes, Terlesky and director Jim Wynorski (a B-movie director very much in the vein of Corman) rewrote parts of the script, which Wynorski had deemed "terrible".
So what is the plot as it's presented to us? Well, Deathstalker saves a woman from a castle, barely escaping with their lives...and a joke is made as to whether or not Deathstalker is his first or last name.
Yep. We got comedy, people!
It's actually not too bad, and it's really a nice change of pace from the original; which was so nihilistic that I'm shocked I didn't end up slitting my wrists after watching it.
Once again, Deathstalker gets put on the trail of an evil sorcerer. This time, it isn't with the promise of ultimate power or getting a hot piece of princess tail (although that does come up - we have seen what this franchise was born out of) but the fact that the sorcerer, Jarek, claims to be a better swordsman than he. Naturally, there's enough of Deathstalker (even if he is more likeable this time around) that can't stand that kind of a bruise to his ego, and so he journeys out to find this sorcerer in spite of being warned by a seer of great dangers such as ogres and dragons.
...or maybe he just wanted to get the hell away from her and her terrible soup.
This time for the villains, we have Jarek (John LaZar). He's an upgrade from Munkar, having used dark magic to replace the Princess Evie (Monique Gabrielle) with a duplicate in order to seize power.
I will say what I said before, this film is miles better than the original. There's still an almost comedic amount of boobs and violence, although most of the later is a bit cartoon-y; a scene where Deathstalker takes out a bunch of hired thugs sent to kill him in rapid fashion after there's an entire previous scene touting them up as nigh-unstoppable badasses comes to mind.
There's also the scene where Deathstalker and the Seer are captured by amazons, the former being forced to fight in a wrestling ring in trial combat for "crimes against womanhood".
And there are many more instances of this.
Whereas Deathstalker was basically "King Murder Hobo: The Movie", the sequel feels more like a more light-hearted riff on Conan the Barbarian (Corman reportedly was upset at not getting the chance to make that movie and saw Deathstalker as his chance, ironically enough). It has comedy, the score is significantly improved over the original - though it kind of has the Wonder Woman problem of being tonally weird for the movie (it's very clear that this is a 1980's film). So ironically, despite that comparison, it's more like Conan the Destroyer, but with it being refreshing rather than so completely different from its far superior predecessor that it's jarring.
Normally I'd be the first to cry foul at the complete shift in tone from the previous film, but this shift in tone actually made the movie...what's the word? Good.
There is a lot that isn't good, but it's a trashy, cheesy 1980's Sword and Sorcery film and doesn't really need to be anything more than that. Like with Barbarian Queen a ways back, you'd be surprised how much a generic plot, crappy looking sets that were clearly done out of either laziness or (more likely) a low budget, and general cheesiness can be elevated by decent performances.
Not even good performances, just decent ones.
Also, being able to take the piss out of itself on more than one occasion is nice. If you've read my review of the first movie, you'll find the Take That! shots that this film takes at that one to be very, very entertaining.
As it happens, like I said before, I do think Terlesky plays an overall far more appealing version of Deathstalker that we do actually want to root for and see succeed. We don't find out much about him and his motivations, sure, but it's definitely far better than some block of wood jackass that only shows the vaguest hint of emotion when there's something to kill or bang.
So much so, that some thirty-three years later, the players will recreate all his exploits...every Saturday night with some good friends and dice.
This was definitely a more solid run for the series, and I'm actually really glad that I watched this one. If you wanna get into Deathstalker, this is definitely the film to do it with. I only hope that the series will continue on in Deathstalker III: Warriors from Hell...although this is Roger Corman's last involvement in the series. So, perhaps, that will allow the Deathstalker franchise to pull itself up out of obscur-yeah, no, sorry, I couldn't even type that with a straight face.
Buckle up for it when it comes. It won't be next week, I promise you that!
Deathstalker II is brought to us by New Horizon Picture Corp and Concorde Pictures.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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