The first “Deathstalker” was undoubtedly a very cheesy fantasy flick but “Deathstalker II” oversteps the mark and feels more like a parody than a legitimate entry in the sword and sorcerer genre. I saw scenes that made fun of films including “Rocky” and “Goldfinger” so I was puzzled by the filmmakers’ intentions. It still has some entertaining moments but it just does not work on the same level as the first one.

Deathstalker (John Terlesky) teams up with Reena the Seer (Monique Gabrielle “Bachelor Party”) to challenge the evil sorcerer Jarek (John Lazar “Beyond The Valley of the Dolls”). At every turn, our hero faces perils to secure his place as a legendary warrior.

The Deathstalker in this film is unrecognisable. He is nothing like the one in the first film, either physically or in terms of personality. I preferred the big muscly one from the original because this new one seems way too self-aware. I’m not entirely convinced that it is even meant to be the same character or if it is just another warrior that goes by the same name. The acting in this film is absolutely atrocious. The performances in the first movie were far from good but they suited the genre well. By far the worst is Monique Gabrielle, who plays both Reena and her evil doppelganger.

The sets in this film look incredibly cheap and the movie even resorts to recycling shots from the original so it was clear very little money was used to make this. There are plenty of amusingly bad moments but the movie feels a lot more self-aware. When you look at the comedic tone and the scenes that parody other films, it seems like the filmmakers wanted to make something in the same vein as “Airplane!” or “The Naked Gun”. “Deathstalker II” will make you chuckle quite a bit but I definitely cannot recommend it.