Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II is a 1989 American sword and sorcery film written and directed by Charles B. Griffith and starring David Carradine, Mel Welles and Lana Clarkson. It was Griffith's last feature film credit and is a sequel to the Argentine-American cult film Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985).

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II
Directed byCharles B. Griffith
Produced byReid Shane
Roger Corman (executive producer)
Written byCharles B. Griffith
Lane Smith
StarringMel Welles
Robert Jayne
David Carradine
Lana Clarkson
Sid Haig
Music byDavid M. Rubin
CinematographyGeza Sinkovics
Edited byJonas Thaler
Distributed byConcorde Pictures
Release date
  • March 1989 (1989-03)
CountryUnited States

Plot

The aging and incompetent wizard Caelmon is tasked by Grand-Wizard Vanir with training the young farmhand Tyor in the ways of magic, as he is the Chosen One, destined to free the three kingdoms from the three evil sorcerers that rule them with the power of three magical objects.

To do so, Tyor must pass a test in each kingdom. In the first kingdom, Baldor, he has to free Prince Erman to create an uprising and defeat the evil sorcerer Loki, who is holding three maidens hostage. Loki tries to defeat Caelmon and Tyor with the Amulet of Light, his source of power, but is disarmed by the latter and turned to stone with his own weapon.

With the help of Princess Amathea, a female warrior, they liberate her kingdom of Venir from the evil sorcerer Donar. As his second test, Tyor is tasked by Vanir to face Donar alone and obtain his source of power, the magical Sword of Justice. In the castle, he is almost seduced by the magic of Freya, Donar’s mistress, but in the end he overcomes her spell and obtains the sword. At dawn, Amathea leads an attack on Donar‘s colliseum and liberates her kingdom, but Donar escapes to Zord, the third kingdom rules by Zarz.

On their way there, they reencounter the Dark One, a legendary warrior, and are able to enlist his help in liberating the kingdom. The Dark One kills the Protector, a monster guarding the evil sorcerer Zarz‘s castle, but Tyor, Caelmon, and Idun, the Dark One’s wife, are taken prisoner. The Dark One takes the Sword of Justice and aids the townsfolk in their uprising, alongside Erman and Amathea. Zarz takes the amulet from Tyor and tries to seduce him to the dark side with his magical chalice, Tyor’s final test, but fails. Caelmon attacks the two sorcerers but is overpowered, just as they are about to kill him, Tyor unleashes his magic and kills Donar. Zarz faces Tyor, now armed with the Sword of Justice that the Dark One returned to him. Tyor hurls the sword at Zarz with magically enhanced strength and impales him.

Vanir appears and tasks the Dark One with naming the new ruler of the now united kingdoms, who chooses Erman and Amathea as king and queen. Tyor, now in possession of sword, chalice and amulet, is named the new Grand-Wizard by Vanir and tasked with training Caelmon and further honing his craft through training and travel. The Dark One returns to his inn.

Cast

Production

The film includes stock footage of characters, scenes as well as plot devices and objects from the first film, Deathstalker and it‘s sequel, Barbarian Queen, Amazons and The Warrior and the Sorceress, all of which were also a coproduction between Argentina and United States and starred several of the co-stars, such as Clarkson and Carradinde. At times, entire scenes, especially battle sequences, of the other movies are reused and dubbed with new dialogue to make them appear as new footage.

Ed Naha, writer of the first film, stated:

Three years later I'm at a wedding reception for a friend who still works for Roger. And Roger's there. So we're chatting and kidding around, and I said, 'Ah, man, remember that "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom" movie?' And he said, 'Oh, y'know, that did very well in video. We filmed a sequel!'[1]

Release

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II was distributed as on home video by 20:20 Vision in the United Kingdom in April 1990.[2]

On April 14, 2017, both this film and its predecessor, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as part of its eleventh season.

References

  1. Lovece, Frank (9 July 1995). "Here's comes stormin' corman the baron of B-films expands into made-for-cable movies". FanFare.
  2. Hayward, Anthony (1990). "Video Releases". Film Review 1990-1. Columbus Books Limited. p. 145. ISBN 0-86369-374-1.
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