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Released by: New Concorde
Released on: August 27, 2002.
Director: Howard R. Cohen
Cast: Rick Hill, Maria Ford
Year: 1991
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The Movie:
The forth, and at the time of this writing final, entry in New Concorde's Conan The Barbarian rip offs, Deathstalker IV: Match Of The Titans opens with some narration that sets the stage for what is to come. The world is in dire straits and only a man like Deathstalker (Rick Hill this time, reprising the role after bowing out of the second and third films in the series) can help those in need. Speaking of those in need, we see quite a few of them shot with arrows by bad guys while this is going on.
From there we catch up with Deathstalker who is out for a leisurely ride around the countryside atop his trusty steed. By chance he comes across some travelers who have been attacked by monstrous lion men. He manages to save the only survivor, a hot chick, who he takes back to her village where she wants to see her father. As Deathstalker just sort of hangs out with the three other people who live in this village he tells them a random story about how he and a pal swapped swords by mistake once and how without his special sword, he feels like less of a man.
Later we learn that a chick named Kana (Michelle Moffett) who lives in a castle is trying to assemble some warriors for a tournament. When Deathstalker later meets a giant guy named Vaniat (Brett Baxter Clark) they kill some guys and save a hot blonde chick named Dionara (Maria Ford) from a cave full of bad guys. After that they all head to the tournament which is where Dionara and her sister were heading in the first place until the bad guys attacked them. Deathstalker kills some more guys and Dionara gets into a mud wrestling match and then after Kana tries to bone Deathstalker and Dionara gets jealous we see some random topless chicks and then everybody fights - except that some of the fighting is footage cut out of the first movie and inserted into this movie. Kana makes Vaniet and Deathstalker fight but they don't want to and soon it turns out that, surprise… Kana's tournament is actually just an excuse to kill off a bunch of people she doesn't want around and she has stone soldiers to help her with that!
A big ol' stinky mess of a film, Deathstalker IV is at least an enjoyable big ol' stinky mess. Rick Hill prances around the movie half naked most of the time, spouting off bad one liners with just enough wit to make it passable. Maria Ford looks good but can't fight worth a damn and while the combat scenes are laughably bad, there are enough random naked ladies and little bits of cheap gore scattered about the movie to make up for it. The movie doesn't waste time with character development or even logical plot progression, it just sort of bounces from one stupid set piece to the next but the overuse of footage from the first movie hurts things - at least it lets a little Lana Clarkson into the movie. Never a bad thing. The whole thing is cheap and ridiculous but if you're in the mood for cheap and ridiculous you could do worse - but when the movie recycles not only the basic story from the first film but actual footage from it as well, it kind of makes you wonder why you'd want to watch it… instead of just watching the first film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film is presented in its original fullframe aspect ratio and isn't quite as pristine as you might want (it looks like it was taken from an old video master). With that said, like most of the other New Concorde transfers of the time it is perfectly watchable, even if some of the dark scenes are a little too dark and even if detail isn't on par with newer transfers. Colors are a little washed out, but there aren't any serious print damage issues. The picture quality here is nothing to get excited about, but it'll do.
Audio chores are handled by a Dolby Digital 2.0 and the quality here matches the video - unexciting but passable. You won't have any trouble understanding the dialogue and the levels are properly balanced. Things definitely lean towards the flat side, however.
Extras are slim, limited to trailers for the features, trailers for a few other New Concorde releases, cast biographies, static menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Unless you're a glutton for punishment, if you've seen the first movie in the series you don't really need to see this one as it takes that story and recycles it into something worse. New Concorde's DVD offers the movie up with minimal extras but in reasonably good shape. For Deathstalker completists (is there such a thing?) only.
