DEATHSTALKER II (1987)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

Along with 1984's THE LOST EMPIRE, this sequel to 1983's DEATHSTALKER are the only movies from writer-director Jim Wynorski that I found diverting. Like his mentor Roger Corman, Wynorski had the ability to inject some fair humor into movies whose main appeal was T&A, but like Corman, Wynorski often neglected quality in favor of quantity.

DEATHSTALKER II has a major asset in that John Terlesky, the actor now playing the barbarian with the marquee-style name, is much better than the previous performer-- and that's allowing for the fact that Deathstalker's now being played for laughs. Hardly a minute goes by without a set-up for a joke, usually one rooted in intentional anachronism. It also helps that this time the barbarian has a lively sidekick. Princess Evie (Monique Gabrielle) has been kicked out of her own kingdom by evil swordsman-and-sorcerer Jarek (John La Zar), who's created a spirit-clone of Evie that's taken Evie's place. Nothing daunted, Evie takes the name Reena and slums around pretending to be an oracle. Then she comes across Deathstalker, recognizes his martial talents, and cons him into helping her without revealing her identity, promising only that she can lead him to a great treasure.

Meanwhile, a little extra narrative suspense is generated in that Jarek is trying to magically sever the connection between the two Evies, which prevents him from slaying the real princess. Because False Evie isn't a real being, she sometimes sucks the souls of hapless victims and mounts their withered faces on her wall.

The highlight of the dauntless duo's ramblings is that Evie and Deathstalker are captured by Amazons who resent the hero's reputation for seducing women. Deathstalker is forced to fight the Amazon champion in a regulation boxing-ring, and he spends about fifteen rounds getting slammed around by celebrity wrestler Queen Kong before he finally knocks her into dreamland. During this period Terlesky and Gabrielle generate a decent "here's another fine mess you got me into" vibe.

After the Amazon adventure, the film limps around for a while until reaching the big end-fight, in which the Amazons for no particular reason help Evie and Deathstalker vanquish the forces of Jarek. I should that even though this is a comedy, Terlesky does better with his brawling and swordplay action than his predecessor, with a standout fight against a tough swordswoman (Toni Naples). Even Gabrielle gets a few moments of action, particularly when she kills her impostor.

I suspect that the anachronism-jokes would not have played as well without the spirited performances of the two principal actors. However, I did like the toss-off bit where a villain is rattling off the names of his underlings, and one is called "John the Baptist" because he "specializes in drownings."