Deathstalker IV: Match of the Titans



The fourth and final film in the Deathstalker Series. It is probably the least well known of the quadrilogy and is also the least memorable - likely because of the large amount of Stock Footage used in the making of this movie. The vast majority of the Stock Footage came from the earlier Deathstalker movies, with other bits and pieces coming from other Roger Corman produced fantasy films.

We open with Deathstalker (once again played by Rick Hill) looking for an old friend who borrowed his magic sword and then disappeared. He quickly joins forces with the maiden (and secretly, the lost princess of the realm) Dionara who - after the death of her warrior sister at the hands of the local beast men- decides to take her place in a tournament being held by the castle of Evil Sorceress Queen Kana.

Once at the castle, Deathstalker gets the feeling that something isn't right and begins sneaking around the palace at night to investigate. He and Dionara enlist the aid of the monk-like Vaniat, run afoul of the Psycho Lesbian Janeris and her Amazon Brigade and eventually uncover Kana's plot to turn all of the participants in the tournament into living stone golems under her control.

Given the patchwork nature of the movie, it is perhaps not surprising that the basic plot mirrors that of the first three movies in The Deathstalker Series. You have an Evil Sorcerer using a tournament to mask their true objectives, just like in the first movie. You have a disposed princess turning to Deathstalker for help, just like in the second movie. And you have the Evil Sorcerer trying to make an invincible army, just like in the third movie.

Deathstalker IV Match of the Titans contains these tropes:

 * All Amazons Want Hercules: Averted with gusto. Janeris and her Amazon Brigade are most definitely interested in girls and only girls.
 * Amazon Brigade: Janeris and her followers.
 * Barbarian Hero: Deathstalker. Actually a hero this time.
 * Chaste Hero: Vaniat, who practices a training regiment that rejects all sexual activity.
 * Depraved Homosexual: Janeris, who will kill you if you get between her and whatever girl has taken her fancy.
 * The Dragon: Rakshia.
 * Evil Sorceress: Kana
 * Fan Service: Lots of well-oiled gladiators, lesbian amazons and leather armor for all!
 * Faux Action Girl: Dionara, who fights like a princess pretending to be an amazon... because that's what she is.
 * Fridge Logic: Why doesn't Dionara tell Deathstalker that she's the lost princess and that she knows the layout of the castle and where everything is before he starts scouting the castle looking for signs of what Kana is up to? Might have saved him a lot of time and sneaking around, to say nothing of keeping him from being captured. Seriously, you trust the guy enough to undress in front of him and sleep with him but not to tell him that you know your way around the castle?
 * King Incognito: Dionara, who was coming to the tournament with her warrior sister, nominally for whatever prizes were being offered. It turns out that she's a lost princess and that Kana has set up shop in what was her ancestral castle.
 * Stock Footage: The movie is made up of a fair bit of it, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't Stock Footage taken from the first three Deathstalker movies!