''Wizards of the Lost Kingdom'' is a 1985 Argentine-American

sword and sorcery film The following is a list of sword and sorcery films. These tend to focus on single heroes, romance, and magic. List 1940s * '' The Iron Crown'' (1941) * '' Kashchey the Deathless'' (1944) 1950s * '' The Magic Sword'' (1950) * ''Prince Valiant ...

written by

Ed Naha Ed Naha (born June 10, 1950) is an American science fiction and mystery writer and producer. His first known publication was artwork that appeared in the first issue of ''Modern Monsters'' magazine, dated June 1966. Education and early career ...

and directed by Héctor Olivera. It stars Bo Svenson as Kor the Conqueror, Vidal Peterson as Simon, and

Thom Christopher Thom Christopher (born October 5, 1940)Staff"Thom Christopher" ''Soap Opera Digest''. Accessed May 28, 2009. "Native New Yorker Thom Christopher hails from the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights." is an American actor. Christopher attended ...

as Shurka. The film is one of ten that

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

produced in Argentina during the 1980s, beginning with ''

Deathstalker The deathstalker (''Leiurus quinquestriatus'') is a species of scorpion, a member of the family Buthidae. It is also known as the Palestine yellow scorpion, Omdurman scorpion, Naqab desert scorpion and by many other colloquial names, which gene ...

'' in 1983."Hollywood in Don Torcuato (first part)": When Roger Corman and his B-movies invaded Argentina
Cinematófilos.com.ar The sequel ''

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 ...

'' followed in 1989.

Plot

In the peaceful kingdom of Axeholme lives the teenage boy Simon, son of Wulfrik, the king's court wizard. The evil sorcerer Shurka starts a coup, aided by the King's wife, killing the king, and imprisoning the princess, Aura. Before he is slain by Shurka, Wulfrik teleports Simon and his friend Gulfax to safety and gifts him his powerful magic ring. However, unbeknownst to all, Simon loses the ring during his escape. Simon teams up with the warrior Kor to free the kingdom and rescue the princess. After narrowly escaping one of Shurka’s

insectoid An insectoid is an insect-like creature. Insectoid may refer to: * Insectoid robot * Insectoids in science fiction {{dab ...

creatures, they make camp for the night. Seeking help to defeat the evil wizard, Simon summons long-dead legendary warriors from their resting place, using his powers to

resurrect Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

them, but only provokes the reanimated corpses into attacking him before they return to their graves. Kor and Simon stumble upon the cottage of the

hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nigh ...

Hurla, which is attacked by

lizard men Reptilian humanoids, or anthropomorphic reptiles, are fictional creatures that appear in folklore, fiction, and conspiracy theories. In folklore In South Asian and Southeast Asian mythology, the Nāga are semi-divine creatures which are ha ...

. Simon uses magic to defeat them. The hobgoblin afterwards joins forces with Simon on his quest. On the way to the castle, Kor is then captured by

cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

es to be wed against his will or eaten, though he is rescued by Simon. The next day, while at a waterfall, they notice a woman drowning. Kor attempts a rescue, only to discover she is a

Naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who ...

and the guardian of the river. They have passed her test of heroism, allowing them to go further, reaching the castle. Meanwhile, Shurka has imprisoned the queen, usurped the kingdom, and hypnotized the princess to make her his bride. Returning to the castle after exile, they release a group of townsfolk from prison, leading to a huge battle outside. Simon, having retrieved the ring, and Shurka face each other on the towers using

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 145 ...

, where the latter is slain. Simon and Aura are crowned the new King and Queen of Axeholme. Kor departs, looking for more adventure.

Cast

* Bo Svenson as Kor * Vidal Peterson as Simon *

as Shurka *

Barbara Stock Barbara Stock (born May 26, 1956) is an American former actress, best known for roles as Susan Silverman in ABC crime drama series '' Spenser: For Hire'' (1985–1988), and as Liz Adams in CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas'' (1990–1991); she al ...

as Udea *

María Socas María Antonia Socas Ortiz Lanús (Buenos Aires, August 12, 1959) is an Argentine actress. Although active in various media in her native country, particularly ''telenovelas'' and stage,Edgardo Moreira Edgardo is an Italian-language form of the name Edgar. It may refer to: * Edgardo Abdala (born 1978), Chilean-Palestinian football midfielder *Edgardo Adinolfi (born 1974), Uruguayan football player *Edgardo Alfonzo (born 1973), former Major Leagu ...

as Wulfrik, Old Simon, and Gulfax *

Augusto Larreta Augusto is an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: *Augusto Aníbal *Augusto dos Anjos * Augusto Arbizo *Augusto Barbera (born 1938), Italian law professor, politician and judge *Augusto Ben ...

as King Tylor *

Michael Fontaine Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

as Hurla *

Marcos Woinsky Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portugue ...

as Rongar *

Marina Mangalli A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

as Linnea * Norton Freeman as Sipra *Arch Gallo as Bobino *Mark Peters as Timmon *Rick Gallo as Malkon

Production

The film re-used a large amount of stock footage from '' Sorceress'' (1982) and ''

'' (1983). Ed Naha later recalled:

I don't think this movie was so much shot as it was beaten to death. When they whittled it down to what was useful from the footage, it only ran 58 minutes. Now
Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
had done a lot of sword-and-sorcery films, and so he told a couple of the editors to pull all they could from them and edit that footage in. So now the finished movie has a 15 or 20-minute prologue that has nothing to do with rest of the film!

Reception

''Wizards of the Lost Kingdom'' received a mixed-to-positive reception from critics, who consider it a lighter and softer improvement on the

Barbarian films of the 80s.

Legacy

Sequel

In 1989, ''Wizards of the Lost Kingdom'' was followed by a sequel (featuring none of the cast or crew of the original film), ''

''. Ed Naha 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!'

''Mystery Science Theater 3000''

In April 2017 ''Wizards of the Lost Kingdom'' and its sequel were both featured on the eleventh season of ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 1985 films 1980s fantasy adventure films American fantasy adventure films American sword and sorcery films Films about wizards Fiction about regicide 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Argentine fantasy adventure films Films directed by Héctor Olivera