As you might have expected this is another cheap and shoddy sword and sorcery flick from Corman's trash factory. Not nearly as fun as Deathstalker I or II, but at least the character is back in his relaxed, tongue-in-cheek mode, unlike the too serious Deathstalker from part III. You get some bad swordfights, self-parodic machismo, gladiator action, nasty leather-lesbians, lion-men, stone-soldiers and lots of T&A. And of course once again you get to enjoy some Concorde "classic" scenes, like: "Man being dragged through the woods by a horse", "Pigman eats pork" and "thinny, hyperactive gladiator in stupid viking helmet uses penis-violence and is beaten to a pulp by a fat, hairy giant with a club".
14 Reviews
Somewhat uninspired....
HaemovoreRex30 May 2005
Things get off to a decidedly poor start in this, the fourth entry in the Deathstalker series. During the very first scene I was immediately struck by two things: 1)The camera work looked as though it were achieved by strapping the camera to the rear end of a rodeo horse. and 2)Who ever is responsible for the bloody awful, tuneless and distracting 'music' accompanying this scene needs be executed.
On the latter point, words really just cannot describe just how atrocious the aimless, meandering sequence of seemingly random 'notes' are.
Luckily things suddenly look brighter when the original Deathstalker himself, Rick Hill turns up on the scene to save the day (he even performs his trademark 'wipe the blood from sword behind leg' move after he slays the bad guys, just like he did way back when he originally played the titular role) Interestingly, Ricks portrayal of the main character here carries far more humour than in his first appearance (no doubt the script in keeping with the comedic nature of the two previous sequels) Alas, this humour all but dries up save for a few scenes as the film progresses, which I felt was a real shame.
If there's one thing that everyone seems to agree on in the Deathstalker films, it is that the ladies present within them are universally stunning to behold. In this regard, the movie in question surpasses itself by casting the absolutely gorgeous Maria Ford as Deathstalker's love interest who also happens to be an incredibly feisty warrior!
It's such a pity that the rest of the film fails to have the same lustre. Whilst I've certainly watched far worse in my time, this movie overall just feels flat and uninspired and I can really only describe it as average at best. However, it IS great to see Rick Hill back in the title role and as previously mentioned, Maria Ford is truly stunning to behold, which is a real bonus!
On the latter point, words really just cannot describe just how atrocious the aimless, meandering sequence of seemingly random 'notes' are.
Luckily things suddenly look brighter when the original Deathstalker himself, Rick Hill turns up on the scene to save the day (he even performs his trademark 'wipe the blood from sword behind leg' move after he slays the bad guys, just like he did way back when he originally played the titular role) Interestingly, Ricks portrayal of the main character here carries far more humour than in his first appearance (no doubt the script in keeping with the comedic nature of the two previous sequels) Alas, this humour all but dries up save for a few scenes as the film progresses, which I felt was a real shame.
If there's one thing that everyone seems to agree on in the Deathstalker films, it is that the ladies present within them are universally stunning to behold. In this regard, the movie in question surpasses itself by casting the absolutely gorgeous Maria Ford as Deathstalker's love interest who also happens to be an incredibly feisty warrior!
It's such a pity that the rest of the film fails to have the same lustre. Whilst I've certainly watched far worse in my time, this movie overall just feels flat and uninspired and I can really only describe it as average at best. However, it IS great to see Rick Hill back in the title role and as previously mentioned, Maria Ford is truly stunning to behold, which is a real bonus!
Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans
phubbs27 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Rick Hill is back! in this adventure he is up against an evil Queen with plans to rid the land of all the mightiest warriors.
Whilst the competition is in full flow the evil naughty Queen is killing off the warriors one by one (getting them drunk first) so there are none left to rival her. Of course she has forgotten how utterly cool and invincible 'Deathstalker' is and his overly tanned new buddy.
This is probably the second best of the tetralogy after the original film in my opinion. The plot and action is still as you would expect and nothing special but the humour is much better this time. Hill is clearly enjoying himself this time round, he's more buffed and his wig looks better hehe his new warrior friend also adds to the laughs. The guy is almost like an early Dwayne Johnson type sidekick.
Its all still highly cheap and cheesy but by now it would be wrong to change that. Every cliché in the low budget barbarian book is used all over again, blonde women are good, brunettes are bad, lots of tits and ass on show, soft core sex scenes at times and all wizards/wise men have long 'Merlin' type beards. Loved the stone slaves used by the Queen, some dazzling makeup and acting on show there I tells ya.
Still can't work out why they use the exact same archive footage from the previous films. The exact same reels are used! plus it still shows the previous characters that have been killed off! At least use footage that doesn't show previous characters or footage not used before geez! Anyway its all hokey as hell but you can forgive that, cult status has been gained somehow and Rick Hill is the man.
5/10
Whilst the competition is in full flow the evil naughty Queen is killing off the warriors one by one (getting them drunk first) so there are none left to rival her. Of course she has forgotten how utterly cool and invincible 'Deathstalker' is and his overly tanned new buddy.
This is probably the second best of the tetralogy after the original film in my opinion. The plot and action is still as you would expect and nothing special but the humour is much better this time. Hill is clearly enjoying himself this time round, he's more buffed and his wig looks better hehe his new warrior friend also adds to the laughs. The guy is almost like an early Dwayne Johnson type sidekick.
Its all still highly cheap and cheesy but by now it would be wrong to change that. Every cliché in the low budget barbarian book is used all over again, blonde women are good, brunettes are bad, lots of tits and ass on show, soft core sex scenes at times and all wizards/wise men have long 'Merlin' type beards. Loved the stone slaves used by the Queen, some dazzling makeup and acting on show there I tells ya.
Still can't work out why they use the exact same archive footage from the previous films. The exact same reels are used! plus it still shows the previous characters that have been killed off! At least use footage that doesn't show previous characters or footage not used before geez! Anyway its all hokey as hell but you can forgive that, cult status has been gained somehow and Rick Hill is the man.
5/10
Rick Hill - don't try so hard next time.
Leigh L.8 June 1999
I didn't think anyone else had even heard of the Deathstalker films, let alone actually owned them - so when I saw this 'un on sale for a couple of quid second-hand, the appalling decision had already been made...
It's not a good film, obviously. In fact it's pretty terrible. I can't say just how terrible it is in relation to its three predecessors, because they were experienced way back in my murky, impressionable childhood and the only bits I can remember are the bits that were inexplicably recycled in this one.
But the real tragedy of Match of Titans is that while it's certainly a long way from the likes of the Conan films in terms of production values and, well... everything, really, it's also not quite inept enough to be funny. Don't get me wrong, the scale of incompetence runs pretty high considering it's the fourth instalment in a series, but when it comes to the crunch Rick Hill goes and ruins everything by turning in an inappropriately decent performance. Maria Ford's worth looking at, too. Not worth watching, mind you, but definitely worth looking at. There's a difference.
Still, the 'special' 'effects' are well down to standard for the genre, as are the 'plot', 'dialogue' and 'continuity'. And I can only speculate that the 'fight scenes' were choreographed by a couple of arthritic, wheelchair-bound 85-year-olds drunk on gin, which is great for a film entirely based around a hand-to-hand combat tournament. So it's not all bad, then.
It's not a good film, obviously. In fact it's pretty terrible. I can't say just how terrible it is in relation to its three predecessors, because they were experienced way back in my murky, impressionable childhood and the only bits I can remember are the bits that were inexplicably recycled in this one.
But the real tragedy of Match of Titans is that while it's certainly a long way from the likes of the Conan films in terms of production values and, well... everything, really, it's also not quite inept enough to be funny. Don't get me wrong, the scale of incompetence runs pretty high considering it's the fourth instalment in a series, but when it comes to the crunch Rick Hill goes and ruins everything by turning in an inappropriately decent performance. Maria Ford's worth looking at, too. Not worth watching, mind you, but definitely worth looking at. There's a difference.
Still, the 'special' 'effects' are well down to standard for the genre, as are the 'plot', 'dialogue' and 'continuity'. And I can only speculate that the 'fight scenes' were choreographed by a couple of arthritic, wheelchair-bound 85-year-olds drunk on gin, which is great for a film entirely based around a hand-to-hand combat tournament. So it's not all bad, then.
Well, I saw them all now
BandSAboutMovies7 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Yes, now I can say that I have seen all four Deathstalker movies.
Rick Hill, who played Deathstalker in the first film is back (John Terlesky had the role in Deathstalker II and John Allen Nelson (Killer Klowns from Outer Space) was the protagonist in Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell) and he's in a tournament where the queen wants to commit assault with a friendly weapon on all of the male combatants. He's also looking for his sword, which means sleeping with plenty of barbarian women, but such is being a sword and sorcery hero.
Also, for some reason, lots of footage from the original film gets re-used.
Maria Ford (Burial of the Rats) is a major plus in this, but you know, after four Deathstalker movies, I kind of feel like just looking at the poster art and imagining a much better film. Brett Baxter Clark - Nick the dick from Bachelor Party, Bruiser from Teen Witch and Shane from Malibu Express - plays Vaniat, one of the fighters, so there's that.
Writer/director Howard R. Cohen has some pretty decent credits, though. He wrote Unholy Rollers, Stryker, Barbarian Queen and episodes of Rainbow Brite and Care Bears, as well as directing Saturday the 14th, Space Raiders, Space Case, Time Trackers and Saturday the 14th Strikes Back.
I was hoping that the last Deathstalker was going to blow my mind, like how the Ator series suddenly becomes an insane MTV musical with Iron Warrior. That said, even the worst sword and sorcery movie fills me with happiness, so I didn't hate the time I spent watching this.
Rick Hill, who played Deathstalker in the first film is back (John Terlesky had the role in Deathstalker II and John Allen Nelson (Killer Klowns from Outer Space) was the protagonist in Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell) and he's in a tournament where the queen wants to commit assault with a friendly weapon on all of the male combatants. He's also looking for his sword, which means sleeping with plenty of barbarian women, but such is being a sword and sorcery hero.
Also, for some reason, lots of footage from the original film gets re-used.
Maria Ford (Burial of the Rats) is a major plus in this, but you know, after four Deathstalker movies, I kind of feel like just looking at the poster art and imagining a much better film. Brett Baxter Clark - Nick the dick from Bachelor Party, Bruiser from Teen Witch and Shane from Malibu Express - plays Vaniat, one of the fighters, so there's that.
Writer/director Howard R. Cohen has some pretty decent credits, though. He wrote Unholy Rollers, Stryker, Barbarian Queen and episodes of Rainbow Brite and Care Bears, as well as directing Saturday the 14th, Space Raiders, Space Case, Time Trackers and Saturday the 14th Strikes Back.
I was hoping that the last Deathstalker was going to blow my mind, like how the Ator series suddenly becomes an insane MTV musical with Iron Warrior. That said, even the worst sword and sorcery movie fills me with happiness, so I didn't hate the time I spent watching this.
What film?
Oskado11 December 2002
First, the good news. Seeing DS-4 in absolutely no way obscured any memories of Sexo por Compassion, with - among others - Mariola Fuentes, which I saw a few days ago. That's an extremely fun "expressionist" film, and Charlie Chaplin could have learned a lot had he had the opportunity to understudy Mariola.
Now, just some of the bad news...
Very early on, DS-4 caused me to recall Animal House. The thing looks as though produced by the Alphas! Of course the Deltas wouldn't have touched it with a 40-foot spear. Our medieval personages are clean-shaven and wearing costumes fresh off some drycleaner's rack. I found myself smelling imaginary cologne, their faces were so fresh and clean.
I also found myself comparing this to the Rocky Horror Show - not the appallingly ghastly and imbecilic piece of suburban banality on film, but to what I experienced in a decaying downtown theater in New York back around 1970. Well... DS-4 has no feel for the jaded, or for the erotic, or for the decadent, and certainly not for the "arty". High-school cheerleaders jumping in their broadknit sweaters and skirts and saddleshoes and pom-poms are sexier - and for any readers of this who retort, "Yeah? You haven't see OUR cheerleaders," just let me tell you, "Yeah, well you don't wanna see these turkeys in DS-4!"
Okay, okay. The lead actor has an aging head - with hair teased and blow-dried to compensate for a surplus of scalp - that reminded me of poor Jimmy Stewart in his final years - attached to a huge, greased plastic body with invisible nipples and no hair. In fact, one could wonder if with all the steroids pumping him up, if he can still get anything other than his sword up.
There seem to have been no grips on this set, as the sound is mostly dubbed, but occasionally live, in which latter case it's uneven and scarcely audible. I believe I even could have composed better music. Even silence would have been better than the incoherent junk someone pawed on a synthesizer - though the thought did strike me that it would have been better with Mozart's Requiem for background music - that is, if their editors could have handled another track. The leading woman, a sad case with her teased bleach-blond hair and generally sexless figure, might better have played the scarecrow in an off-off-off Broadway Wizard of Ozz - though on those stages there's often an absence of type-casting. Come on, even flat women can be erotic - but not her. If only they'd all read a little Robert Crumb beforehand, maybe that would have helped, if any of them still has any capacity for hormone flow.
Early on, the thought struck me that if we are at a party, I'd have never asked that leading lady to dance - but soon I suspected she probably couldn't dance anyway - as it is, she can hardly talk convincingly. The film refuses to make fun of itself - indeed, it's so bad, the simple concepts of "fun" and "self" would confound that effort. Besides, the "actors" aren't capable of it - I don't believe they could even play a McDonald's cashier well enough to sell a burger - which is maybe why they allowed themselves to be bullied into permitting their names to be associated with this thing. "The Loved One" with old Jonathon Winters and Robert Morley can make fun of death, but there's no making fun of Deathstalker - no more than of a wet pile of horsehair.
I won't go on. Look. I actually really enjoyed DS-2. It was on that basis that I excitedly shelled out five big ones in a flea market and bought DS-4. But the two bare virtually zero relationship to each other. Believe it or not, I'm a DS-2 liker. Not as much so perhaps as with "Cielo Abierto" or "Sexo por Compassion" with Mariola Fuentes, but it amused me.
DS-4 is static, sterile, impotent. Gosh, even zombie victims staggering off the original set of "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers" could have done better. Whew! Gimme a break!
Now, just some of the bad news...
Very early on, DS-4 caused me to recall Animal House. The thing looks as though produced by the Alphas! Of course the Deltas wouldn't have touched it with a 40-foot spear. Our medieval personages are clean-shaven and wearing costumes fresh off some drycleaner's rack. I found myself smelling imaginary cologne, their faces were so fresh and clean.
I also found myself comparing this to the Rocky Horror Show - not the appallingly ghastly and imbecilic piece of suburban banality on film, but to what I experienced in a decaying downtown theater in New York back around 1970. Well... DS-4 has no feel for the jaded, or for the erotic, or for the decadent, and certainly not for the "arty". High-school cheerleaders jumping in their broadknit sweaters and skirts and saddleshoes and pom-poms are sexier - and for any readers of this who retort, "Yeah? You haven't see OUR cheerleaders," just let me tell you, "Yeah, well you don't wanna see these turkeys in DS-4!"
Okay, okay. The lead actor has an aging head - with hair teased and blow-dried to compensate for a surplus of scalp - that reminded me of poor Jimmy Stewart in his final years - attached to a huge, greased plastic body with invisible nipples and no hair. In fact, one could wonder if with all the steroids pumping him up, if he can still get anything other than his sword up.
There seem to have been no grips on this set, as the sound is mostly dubbed, but occasionally live, in which latter case it's uneven and scarcely audible. I believe I even could have composed better music. Even silence would have been better than the incoherent junk someone pawed on a synthesizer - though the thought did strike me that it would have been better with Mozart's Requiem for background music - that is, if their editors could have handled another track. The leading woman, a sad case with her teased bleach-blond hair and generally sexless figure, might better have played the scarecrow in an off-off-off Broadway Wizard of Ozz - though on those stages there's often an absence of type-casting. Come on, even flat women can be erotic - but not her. If only they'd all read a little Robert Crumb beforehand, maybe that would have helped, if any of them still has any capacity for hormone flow.
Early on, the thought struck me that if we are at a party, I'd have never asked that leading lady to dance - but soon I suspected she probably couldn't dance anyway - as it is, she can hardly talk convincingly. The film refuses to make fun of itself - indeed, it's so bad, the simple concepts of "fun" and "self" would confound that effort. Besides, the "actors" aren't capable of it - I don't believe they could even play a McDonald's cashier well enough to sell a burger - which is maybe why they allowed themselves to be bullied into permitting their names to be associated with this thing. "The Loved One" with old Jonathon Winters and Robert Morley can make fun of death, but there's no making fun of Deathstalker - no more than of a wet pile of horsehair.
I won't go on. Look. I actually really enjoyed DS-2. It was on that basis that I excitedly shelled out five big ones in a flea market and bought DS-4. But the two bare virtually zero relationship to each other. Believe it or not, I'm a DS-2 liker. Not as much so perhaps as with "Cielo Abierto" or "Sexo por Compassion" with Mariola Fuentes, but it amused me.
DS-4 is static, sterile, impotent. Gosh, even zombie victims staggering off the original set of "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers" could have done better. Whew! Gimme a break!
Match Of The Losers
damianphelps27 March 2022
Wait...there are four Deathstalkers, if they keep this up they can have their own convention!!
Its better than part 3 and that's the only redeeming feature about this....feature.
You would see better action watching Beaches.
Its better than part 3 and that's the only redeeming feature about this....feature.
You would see better action watching Beaches.
Best of the series
Kakueke7 March 2002
This is clearly the best of the Deathstalker series, much better than the first three. Rick Hill (Deathstalker 1) is back, this time with more filled out masculine features and physique. He and Dionara (Maria Ford), after generally being involved in medieval combat against the bad guys at the beginning, go to a tournament hosted by the evil Queen Kana (Michelle Moffett). Sort of like "Enter the Dragon" except swords onstead of martial arts, and both men and women. It then becomes evident that the Queen has further motives than sadistically watching people die in slaughtering each other, that is, specifically to get rid of enemies present at the tournament and get a hold of Deathstalker's magical sword. Deathstalker and Dionara, with the help of a sidekick they persuade, seek to foil the queen.
There is lots of wild action, outdoors and indoors, some banquets and orgies and nudity, and the queen even has some erotic moments with Deathstalker and the sidekick. Dionara has a water hole fight with her lead rival before a climactic swordfight. But Rick and Maria make a great pair of protagonists, the best Deathstalker romantic pair. If you are into this genre, see it.
There is lots of wild action, outdoors and indoors, some banquets and orgies and nudity, and the queen even has some erotic moments with Deathstalker and the sidekick. Dionara has a water hole fight with her lead rival before a climactic swordfight. But Rick and Maria make a great pair of protagonists, the best Deathstalker romantic pair. If you are into this genre, see it.
It has a great sense of humor...and Rick Hill
writeontv9 March 2000
The best thing about this entry to the DS series is that Rick Hill is back! He IS Deathstalker (well, I haven't even bothered watching II and III, it just wouldn't be the same). And you've gotta love the sense of humor it has. You can laugh WITH it, not AT it (okay, you can laugh at it too, but you know what I mean). I usually hate sequels, but I like this entry the best. Yeah, as these films go, it's lacking in the female frontal nudity department, but as a woman, seeing Rick and his buddies in their gladiator garb works for me. If you saw the first film, it's worth checking out.
"Deathstalker IV" Is A Great Conclusion to the Franchise
zardoz-131 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
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."
You call that a nude scene?
TroyAir28 February 1999
This movie is one of those that really, really needed to have either a) an extended scene of a naked woman or b) a naked woman in a dungeon being put to the question by an evil wizard. Heck, make it two extended scenes and two wizards. As it is, we get one topless female changing clothes and a whole lot of missed opportunities to show naked women. That's it.
This is the the last of the "Deathstalker" series movies (so far). If someone out there wants to do a fifth one, I suggest you call Lana Clarkson back on the set, throw her in a dungeon, and get her topless on a rack with a couple of wizards looking on. Heck, get Brinke Stevens in there, too. She showed the world that she can squirm with the best of 'em in "Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity". Maybe film it in Russia to save cash and use that money to hire an ensemble of sword-toting women and throw them in the dungeon, too. And at the end of the movie Rick Hill can come along and free them all. Or even better, Rick Hill can get thrown in the dungeon and everyone can get bumped off and finally end a series that should've ended after the first movie.
Now that'd be something much more interesting than "Deathstalker II", "DS III", and "DS IV".
Lana, where are you when we need you?
This is the the last of the "Deathstalker" series movies (so far). If someone out there wants to do a fifth one, I suggest you call Lana Clarkson back on the set, throw her in a dungeon, and get her topless on a rack with a couple of wizards looking on. Heck, get Brinke Stevens in there, too. She showed the world that she can squirm with the best of 'em in "Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity". Maybe film it in Russia to save cash and use that money to hire an ensemble of sword-toting women and throw them in the dungeon, too. And at the end of the movie Rick Hill can come along and free them all. Or even better, Rick Hill can get thrown in the dungeon and everyone can get bumped off and finally end a series that should've ended after the first movie.
Now that'd be something much more interesting than "Deathstalker II", "DS III", and "DS IV".
Lana, where are you when we need you?
Wolf-people, lesbian tramps, and nofap Tommy Wiseau-look alikes!
arcanearchivist27 July 2020
This is a great film. Here are some highlights:
The film has scenes directly recycled from DEATHSTALKER I as well as BARBARIAN QUEEN, but portrayed as if they were brand-new scenes.
Unlike Deathstalker I, there are no pig-men, but there are lion-men and wolf-men and -women, who seem to be recurring villains in the film. Like the first film, the protagonist is played by Rick Hill, which is fun to see his deadpan-delivered lines. His female sidekick/love interest is Dionara (Maria Ford). The duo basically make their way to another tournament, which evil Queen Kana is holding for the warriors in the whole kingdom.
At one point, Deathstalker meets a Tommy Wiseau-look alike who does 50 pushups. Named Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark), he sort of follows Hill and Ford to the tournament. We later learn that Vaniat is the first no-fapper (which I didn't know existed in 1991): he tells Deathstalker that sleeping with women saps one's vital energy; hee also eats a whole pig and likes cardio. He was basically a crossfitter before cross fit existed. To add to the greatness, this character's non-exposure to women becomes a hilarious plot point later on in the film.
We also get to see the early '90s fascination with lesbian-esque women clad in leather, one of whom has a buzzcut and befriends the main girl Dionara. One of the secondary villains whom we meet midway into the film is a lesbian, who basically forces herself on a younger girl after killing her female guardian.
The music sounds as if the composer was having a seizure on the keyboard.
With so much greatness, DEATHSTALKER IV is a much-watch!
The film has scenes directly recycled from DEATHSTALKER I as well as BARBARIAN QUEEN, but portrayed as if they were brand-new scenes.
Unlike Deathstalker I, there are no pig-men, but there are lion-men and wolf-men and -women, who seem to be recurring villains in the film. Like the first film, the protagonist is played by Rick Hill, which is fun to see his deadpan-delivered lines. His female sidekick/love interest is Dionara (Maria Ford). The duo basically make their way to another tournament, which evil Queen Kana is holding for the warriors in the whole kingdom.
At one point, Deathstalker meets a Tommy Wiseau-look alike who does 50 pushups. Named Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark), he sort of follows Hill and Ford to the tournament. We later learn that Vaniat is the first no-fapper (which I didn't know existed in 1991): he tells Deathstalker that sleeping with women saps one's vital energy; hee also eats a whole pig and likes cardio. He was basically a crossfitter before cross fit existed. To add to the greatness, this character's non-exposure to women becomes a hilarious plot point later on in the film.
We also get to see the early '90s fascination with lesbian-esque women clad in leather, one of whom has a buzzcut and befriends the main girl Dionara. One of the secondary villains whom we meet midway into the film is a lesbian, who basically forces herself on a younger girl after killing her female guardian.
The music sounds as if the composer was having a seizure on the keyboard.
With so much greatness, DEATHSTALKER IV is a much-watch!
Watchable but sorely lacking a budget.
amesmonde18 February 2022
Hero Deathstalker teams up with beautiful female warrior to free a city from an evil Queen ruler.
The last installment of the Deathstalker tetralogy, opening with some great music from Simo Lazaro, along with a recap of the original Deathstalker and voice over narration from Maria Ford, Howard R. Cohen's Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans quickly dives into the realm of filmmaking dungeons.
Then subpar recycled music kicks in along with other short cut savings, reused footage from other Roger Corman produced productions including The Barbarian Queen (1985) complete with shoddy editing and sound design. The low budget sword and sorcery affair crams in clunky sword fights, self-parody machismo, gladiator action, gratuitous nudity, lion-men and warriors turned into stone-soldiers (disappointedly just grey makeup). Don't expect Ator: Fighting Eagle (1982) or anything resembling Conan the Barbarian (1982), even The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982).
Debatably it's more fun than the mid-nineties TV shows that it paved the way, including the abundance of Hercules, Young Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess episodes. There's plenty to like, there's well dressed sets, Cohen's productions does benefit from quality costumes and real locations. It's also great to have the original Deathstalker actor Rick Hill reprise his role after being missing from the tongue-in-cheek Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987) toned down comedy of Deathstalker III: The Warriors from Hell (1988). None of the films deliver on the fantastical poster art work and this instalment is no different.
Nobody is looking for an Oscar and know what their making, but to the cast's credit they play it straight. Hill delivers some fancy sword and footwork. Maria Ford is pretty impressive with a sword and does a adequate job with Cohen's basic script. Fords narration pops up jarringly now and again for exposition. Michelle Moffett's villain sorceress Kana takes her top off as the script dictates. Like Ford, Moffett does well giving the dodgy script, even going as far to give some credence to the shenanigans. Memorable is Bulgarian actoress Anya Pencheva as Janeris who has plenty of screen presence but is sorely underused. Djoko Rosi outacts everyone as Highlander Kurgan sounding Rakshia.
Overall, there's an interesting story hiding beneath Cohen's laughable low budget offering, while it lacks the scope and execution of the Italian swords and sorcery, it's a lot more fun than it should be.
The last installment of the Deathstalker tetralogy, opening with some great music from Simo Lazaro, along with a recap of the original Deathstalker and voice over narration from Maria Ford, Howard R. Cohen's Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans quickly dives into the realm of filmmaking dungeons.
Then subpar recycled music kicks in along with other short cut savings, reused footage from other Roger Corman produced productions including The Barbarian Queen (1985) complete with shoddy editing and sound design. The low budget sword and sorcery affair crams in clunky sword fights, self-parody machismo, gladiator action, gratuitous nudity, lion-men and warriors turned into stone-soldiers (disappointedly just grey makeup). Don't expect Ator: Fighting Eagle (1982) or anything resembling Conan the Barbarian (1982), even The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982).
Debatably it's more fun than the mid-nineties TV shows that it paved the way, including the abundance of Hercules, Young Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess episodes. There's plenty to like, there's well dressed sets, Cohen's productions does benefit from quality costumes and real locations. It's also great to have the original Deathstalker actor Rick Hill reprise his role after being missing from the tongue-in-cheek Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987) toned down comedy of Deathstalker III: The Warriors from Hell (1988). None of the films deliver on the fantastical poster art work and this instalment is no different.
Nobody is looking for an Oscar and know what their making, but to the cast's credit they play it straight. Hill delivers some fancy sword and footwork. Maria Ford is pretty impressive with a sword and does a adequate job with Cohen's basic script. Fords narration pops up jarringly now and again for exposition. Michelle Moffett's villain sorceress Kana takes her top off as the script dictates. Like Ford, Moffett does well giving the dodgy script, even going as far to give some credence to the shenanigans. Memorable is Bulgarian actoress Anya Pencheva as Janeris who has plenty of screen presence but is sorely underused. Djoko Rosi outacts everyone as Highlander Kurgan sounding Rakshia.
Overall, there's an interesting story hiding beneath Cohen's laughable low budget offering, while it lacks the scope and execution of the Italian swords and sorcery, it's a lot more fun than it should be.
A waste of good talent.
TroyAir5 March 1999
You would think that a movie that features a former 'Penthouse Magazine' model would be a bit better than this snoozer flick. The fourth (and perhaps last) of the 'Deathstalker' series movies is probably the most ambitious but second-most miserable failure of them all (though 'Deathstalker 2' was even worse).
It's the usual plot - adventuring hero teams up with beautiful female warrior and frees a city from an evil ruler. So what do you get in between the covers? Well, some good opportunities for Maria Ford to show her 'talents' are wasted for one thing. I would think that if her character was in love with Deathstalker, that there would be at least one scene with intimacy. She also has the ability to keep her clothes on in a fight. Also, every castle has a dungeon, yet we never see anybody being tortured (or even half-dressed). So what's the point of having a dungeon in the first place? And worse than that, with all of the swords being swung about, the gore is a bit slight.
If there's going to be a 'Deathstalker 5', the producers would be wise to give us what we expect in a 'B'-level movie: skin, a couple of torture scenes, and blood.
It's the usual plot - adventuring hero teams up with beautiful female warrior and frees a city from an evil ruler. So what do you get in between the covers? Well, some good opportunities for Maria Ford to show her 'talents' are wasted for one thing. I would think that if her character was in love with Deathstalker, that there would be at least one scene with intimacy. She also has the ability to keep her clothes on in a fight. Also, every castle has a dungeon, yet we never see anybody being tortured (or even half-dressed). So what's the point of having a dungeon in the first place? And worse than that, with all of the swords being swung about, the gore is a bit slight.
If there's going to be a 'Deathstalker 5', the producers would be wise to give us what we expect in a 'B'-level movie: skin, a couple of torture scenes, and blood.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
