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Released by: Direct Video
Released on: 6/25/2004
Director: Roger Corman
Cast: Abby Dalton, Brad Jackson, Susan Cabot, June Kenney, Richard Devon, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Lynne Bernay, Jay Sayer
Year: 1958
The Movie:
Originally titled The Saga Of The Viking Women And Their Voyage To The Waters Of The Great Sea Serpent, this Corman quickie is every pre-pubescent boys dream film, or at least it would have been mine if I'd have seen this when I was twelve. Hot women, nonsensical Viking battles and monsters? Sign me up.
The premise is pretty simple. A clan of Viking women grows tired of waiting around for their Viking men to return, so they head out to sea to find out what happened to them. Along the way, their ship is attacked by a sea serpent and they wind up washed ashore a foreign beach. Soon after, they run afoul of the Grimwalts, the local tribe of warriors. It turns out that the Grimwalts have been holding the Viking men captive all this time, and that they intend to enslave the Viking women in much the same way. The Vikings aren't really too keen on that idea though, so they plan to make their escape as soon as possible.
It seems like Corman was trying to capture the look and feel of the Sinbad movies that had come before (and after) this one, but sadly, without any money for special effects or props, that's a tricky feat to pull off. Settings that are supposed to be Scandinavia are obviously Bronson Canyon (those caves will look really familiar to some viewers!) and the boat that the Viking women travel on looks to be about seven feet long, max.
None of this really matters in the sense that the majority of the film is taken up with pretty women running around in loincloths and battling the evil Grimwalts. There's not much of a story here, but there are plenty of pretty women and it's almost enough to make this one worth while. The action scenes happen on a pretty regular basis, and while they're poorly staged, they keep this movie (which is short in the first place) moving at a fast pace.
The one major unforgivable flaw in the film is that it suffers from some serious lack-of-sea-serpent-syndrome. Considering the emphasis put on the titular beast in the cover art, I'd hoped we'd see his scaly self for more than two or three minutes of the film's running time but sadly, all we really get is a cameo appearance. It's a very cool, retro low-fi FX sequence, but it's all too brief.
Video/Audio/Extras:
I'd guess that this puppy was shot fullframe and that's how it is presented on this DVD, without any serious compromising of the image. The black and white picture is nice and stable with a reasonably high level of detail and only minor print damage present. There are a couple of scenes that are a wee bit too washed out which give the black levels a bit of a gray look but other than that, The Viking Women And The Sea Serpent looks pretty good.
We have a Dolby Digital Mono track here, in English, which is its original sound format. While the mix is a little low, it's nothing that turning the volume up on your receiver can't fix. Once you've done that, sure it sounds a little tinny in a few places but for the most part sound quality on this release is fine. Background music is balanced nicely against the dialogue and the sound effects never seem to overshadow any of the other sounds.
Included on the disc are a few trailers for other films in the Arkoff Film Library - The She Creature, War Of The Colossal Beast, Voodoo Woman, The Undead, The Spider, The Brain Eaters, Blood Of Dracula and Reform School Girl. Rounding out the supplements is an audio interview with Arkoff from 1991, recorded at an appearance that he made at the National Film Theater. Pictures play underneath the discussion as a sort of slide show, as the late producer talks candidly about his life and his work. If you've seen any of the other films in the series and these extras seem similar, that's because they are.
The Final Word:
A guilty pleasure is still a pleasure, and I have to admit that as bad as this movie is, I had a good time with it. Direct Video's presentation looks and sounds pretty decent and while the extras are repetitive, if you enjoy hot Viking chicks getting into trouble like I enjoy hot Viking chicks getting into trouble, then The Viking Women And The Sea Serpent is worth checking out.