However, that's not to say that this routine sword 'n' sandal fantasy adventure doesn't have a brilliant touch or two. As has been said numerous times before, it's essentially another reworking of the time-honoured premise of "Yojimbo", as a mythical lone warrior, Kain (David Carradine) does his best to manipulate two warring factions in a small isolated community who each want control of the only water well. One of them is led by Zeg (the amusingly cast Luke Askew), the other by Bal Caz (Guillermo Marin). The sorceress of the title is Naja, played by the super sexy Maria Socas, who plays her role almost completely topless, certain to guarantee enthusiastic approval by trash fans everywhere. The movie really is rather thinly written (by director John Broderick and William Stout, the latter being an artist & production designer who's worked on genre efforts like "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Return of the Living Dead"), and it may leave one caring little about characters or what happens to them. Carradine is sometimes a hoot, but he often looks here like he can't wait to cash his paycheck. So it's up to the supporting players to try to give this thing a shot in the arm. Askew, Marin, and Armando Capo as the inhuman Burgo the Slaver are all reasonably entertaining antagonists. Production design, location shooting, and costumes are effective, but the action runs hot and cold; the sword fights aren't the most exciting one will ever see. R. Christopher Biggs supplies the makeup effects on the non-human characters as well as one funky little lizard thing. The music is credited to Luis Maria Serra, but any fan of previous Roger Corman productions is sure to recognize certain cues from the James Horner score for "Humanoids from the Deep". The one thing that really makes "The Warrior and the Sorceress" worthwhile is fairly brief, but impressive: the makeup effects on a luscious exotic dancer (played by Cecilia Narova) who happens to have four breasts, outdoing the memorable three breasted hooker from "Total Recall". Overall this is pretty forgettable once it's over, but it provides adequate enough entertainment for a trim 82 minute running time. Undemanding fans of sleazy low budget fantasy films should be satisfied. Six out of 10.
Review of The Warrior and the Sorceress
