Sorceress

This film is so enjoyable. It's one of those movies you could only get when there were privately owned video rental shops, probably bought at a discount rate from some video wholesaler that gives people the opportunity to purchase large grab bags of cheap films instead of one or two expensive ones. When I found this one back in the late eighties, I was on a bad fantasy film kick, and this one beats 'em all. It's better even than any installment in the almighty "Deathstalker" series! If you can find it, have fun with this one. I'm sure the film makers did. I'm still trying to figure out if it's not one of the greatest movies ever made.

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.

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.

In the fall of 1982 (which is the correct release date) I went with a friend to see this film simply because the poster looked so cheesy. For some odd reason this was the second half of a double bill with WITHOUT A TRACE, a serious film about child kidnapping! Including my friend and I there were about eight people in the theater when SORCERESS began to roll, and I dare say that the eight of us got at least $100 worth of laughs for our $3.50. This is one of the most inept films from the short-lived barbarian flick cycle, and that's really saying something! It appears that they lost the dialogue track and had to re-dub, giving the movie the look of a foreign film. I won't go into the plot since the previous review really nails it, but you simply haven't lived until you see the "epic" battle between gods Calgara (a giant Mexican woman's head with oatmeal on half of her face) and Vitaan (a seriously fake foam-rubber winged lion/man.goat?). As bad as this is, it is never boring, and is so crazily entertaining that I honestly rate it among my ten all-time favorite movies. VIVA SORCERESS!!!