WIZARDS OF THE DEMON SWORD (1991) **

Fred Olen Ray was a day late and a dollar short when he made this dumb barbarian comedy.  It was released (by Troma) well after the sword and sandal craze of the ‘80s had died down.  Fans of Ray’s work will find some sources of amusement here, but for the most part, Wizards of the Demon Sword fails to deliver in just about every department.

Ulric the Elder (Russ Tamblyn) is entrusted with a magic sword.  The evil Lord Khourda (Lyle Waggoner) imprisons Ulric with the intention of using the sword for his own devious purposes.  Ulric’s daughter (Heidi Paine), whose blood is the key to activating the sword, teams up with a rugged warrior named Thane (Blake Bahner) to rescue him. 

Wizards of the Demon Sword goes down a lot smoother if you refuse to take it seriously.  This movie contains some of the least convincing barbarian actors since Deathstalker 3.  Hoke (The Sidehackers) Howell is embarrassing as “The Seer of Roebuck” (get it?).  His phony beard and wig don’t do him any favors either.  Waggoner is woefully miscast as the villain.  Are we supposed to believe Wonder Woman’s boyfriend is an evil sorcerer?  I think not.  I also had a hard time buying Tamblyn as a wizard.  It was fun seeing Jay Richardson as Waggoner’s right-hand man, although he seems more like a Mafia henchman than a sorcerer’s assistant.  Michael Berryman is pretty good as a thief, but even though he’s featured prominently on the video box, he's only in it for like a minute.

I could excuse the dumb humor and anachronistic dialogue.  However, the awful sword fights and strange casting decisions ultimately sink it.  What can you say about a hero that’s so lame he's got to subcontract another hero to help him save the damsel in distress?

Of the cast, Lawrence Tierney fares best as a rascally slave trader.  The slave auction scene is far and away the best part of the entire film.  (Although the briefly seen stop-motion dinosaur effects are well done.)  It’s only in this sequence where Ray successfully blends the humor and barbarian genre clichés.  My favorite moment was when Tierney pulls off a slave girl’s top and says, “Take a look at that treasure chest!”