As magnificent as the Lord of the Rings trilogy was, there was a simpler time, long, long ago (the ’80s) when sword and sorcery was on a bit more…shall we say Velveeta level. Clash of the Titans, The Beastmaster, the two Conan (the second cheese, the first definitely not) flicks, Krull and (sorry I brought it up) Red Sonja get most of the press, but my unabashedly favorite of the lot – save for said Schwarzenegger flicks – was The Sword and The Sorcerer.
Lee Horsley as a brash, womanizing sword for hire, Richard Moll dripping goo with the glowy fingers, Kathleen Beller’s rack, the future Manimal and Street Hawk’s tech guy, Joel Regalbuto, and for God’s sakes man, that sword. Are you kidding me? Show me a 10-year-old at the time who wouldn’t have slaughtered his immediate family for that thing.
It was supposed to be the first of a series of films, and the end credits even went so far as to mention that the next adventure would be Tales of An Ancient Empire. But then shit happened: Night Court, Dynasty, Matt Houston…and alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But now, Dread Central has posted an assload of stills here and here for the aforementioned follow-up, which has been described as a sequel “in spirit.” If it really is “in spirit,” then new star, Melissa Ordway will be hopefully nailing everything in sight and getting crucified and gagged. Regardless, she portrays Tanis, “a princess who must find and unite the five greatest warriors of the world to save her kingdom from a demonic sorceress.”
The picture also stars Christopher Lambert, Kevin Sorbo and Ralf Moeller, three guys who are no strangers to swords themselves, as well as Olivier Gruner and Whitney Able. And yes, Albert Pyun has returned to direct. Doubtful that Pyun will be able to recapture the “spirit” of the first one, especially with no Richard Lynch, and the poster looks like a hot steaming (literally) Photoshopped load. So here’s A little bit of the original to ease the probable hurt that’s in the offing:
Thanks to Travis for the tip.