Deathstalker II (1987)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Now, I will not understand why they opted to go with John Terlesky in the role of Deathstalker in this 1987 "Deathstalker II" movie. He just was nowhere near what Rick Hill is in portraying the Deathstalker character.As much as I enjoy the sword and sorcery genre, then this movie was just an ordeal to get through. Sure, it had a fair enough storyline, although it was quite generic for the genre. However, it was the cheesy 1980's music, which didn't correspond well to the sword and sorcery genre at all, and it seemed more at home in a movie like "Beverly Hills Cop" or something like that. But also the fact that they hadn't improved on the props one bit since the first movie; the rocks were still unfathomably fake to look at and the swords, well let's just say that they were laughable. Or maybe it was the fact that most of the costumes looked like a bad Halloween dream made flesh, wow, just wow. So many of the costumes were really awful to look at, and many of them actually looked like a rock concert gone awry.Or perhaps it was the lack of proper acting from anyone on the cast. I will say that John Terlesky managed to hold his own, but still his performance was not impressive. But the icing on the cake had to be the acting performance by Monique Gabrielle. That was simply just outrageous. I think I actually never witnessed anything quite like it."Deathstalker II" is a poor sequel to the 1983 movie. And having seen it, I can check it off the list, and never make a return trip to it again. It was just a blemish on the "Deathstalker" saga.The sole reason for my three out of ten stars is because the movie does hold some good elements crucial to a good sword and sorcery movie.This is a movie to give a wide berth, because your love for the sword and fantasy will not be particularly enriched from having watched this movie, not in the least.

While I have a hard time not laughing myself silly when watching the first Deathstalker film, it was taken pretty seriously by the people who made it and was meant to cash in on the success of genre classic Conan The Barbarian. This sequel has no aspirations of making a serious barbarian film and has far less money to go around on this production. This project is inspired more by Saturday morning cartoons than Conan. Richard Hill does not return this time around as Deathstalker and is replaced by a much thinner John Terlesky. It is true John does not have the buff, He Man like physique of Richard Hill. But he still was in great shape and had enough athletic ability and charisma to carry this action packed film. Deathstalker 2 is a much different type of adventure film than the first installment. This film is very campy, tongue in cheek and full of one liners. The production value, acting and technical aspects to this film are horrible and look very cheap. The tone of this project is light and not taken serious at all and that is the film's strength. It performs well as an outlandish piece of camp. In some ways it reminds me of the series Hercules The Legendary Journeys, if it was made for no money. Overall, Deathstalker 2 is what most people look for in a B movie. Its funny, has heavy doses of swashbuckling action, moves along fast and its over. The first film is no doubt a better film and delivers more in the blood and sex department. But Deathstalker 2 doubles down on outrageousness and cheese in a way that makes this film endearing in its own right.

Look at the poster for this film, its damn cool with a really hot barbarian female, aggressive and looks like some old Amiga computer game box art. Remember the old classic computer game 'Barbarian'? I wonder if they got their box art ideas from these films and the poster art? Now I look even the font on the text is similar for both, curious.Now watch the film and you notice some slight differences with what you may have been expecting. Not that you really should be expecting much with this franchise. The cheap cheap low budget sequel to the first film really does earn the label of B-movie in every aspect.The first film was reasonable but this is dire. The main lead looks the part but acts like a buffoon in lame attempts of badly executed humour. The continuity is gone as 'Deathstalker' is now a different younger actor, not that continuity was probably high on the directors list...or your expectation list either.As before there are plenty of topless females running around, this is fine, its just a shame they are all running the flimsiest sets you have ever seen. The comedy is in watching the bad acting against the homemade sets, just like good old Ed Wood. Of course you can't really knock such a film as it was never meant to be a serious major production, although there is care involved clearly. Its nowhere near as good as the first and that was average at best, they actually use many old clips from the first film to flesh out this one. Bad move when you see the characters from the first film, ones that were killed even, errr...did anyone check that?2/10

Too much fun. Cheap, but fun. Yep… just campy fun. This acclaimed… oh. I don't really see much to it and that's why I'll keep it short. Directed by Jim Wynorski, the extremely low-rent and cartoon-like sword and sorcery romp 'Deathstalker 2: Duel of the Titans' happened to be a sequel that would go down the straight-to-video root. Sure it's trashy, gaudy and bare-bones, but it has ticker and its comical touch (feeling like a parody on the sub-genre's conventions) with a snappy script springing a wink-wink attitude and smart-lipped dialogues made it a lot easier to take. At times it was eye-boggling to what came out of the mouths, due to overplaying itself which for some could be torture as it begins to grow a bit tiresome. The performances are ham-fisted, but acceptable to what's on show. John Terlesky makes for a charismatic heroine bestowing endless appeal, but plenty of stamina when action erupted. An delectably cute Monique Gabrielle in is two character roles of two different kinds; an innocent and bitch. John Lazar gives a mannered evil performance as the Jarek the Sorcerer. Despite the obvious restrictions (some utterly second-rate props and sets with shoddy make-up FX and special effects) Wynorski no-nonsense handling never lets the pace dip and throws in a rowdy barrage of energy-filled and atmospheric adventures on the journey. Due to the jumpy lay-out of set-pieces, the narrative feels incoherent than anything kept-in-check and smoothly flowing. The combat action have stodgy and almost slow-motion choreography, but the final confrontation (Deathstalker v Jarek) is worthwhile amongst all the charades. It plays its familiar genre staples in what is cheaply exploitative, but harmlessly cheesy hokum.