Wizards of the Lost Kingdom is a 1985 Argentine-American sword and sorcery film written by Ed Naha and directed by Héctor Olivera. It stars Bo Svenson as Kor the Conqueror, Vidal Peterson as Simon, and Thom Christopher as Shurka. The film is an entry in a series of nine films that Roger Corman produced in Argentina during the 1980s; the first one being Deathstalker.
Plot
In the peaceful kingdom of Axeholme lives the teenage boy Simon, son of the king's court wizard. The evil wizard Shurka and his warriors kill the king and Simon's father and imprison the princess, Aura. Simon finds a sword while one of Shurka's men attack hearing his father's voice to use the sword killing him. Simon escapes, but loses the magic ring his father had given him. Meanwhile, Shurka hypnotizes the princess to make her his disciple. Simon teams up with warrior Kor to free the kingdom and rescue the princess. Simon summons long-dead great warriors from their resting place using his powers to resurrect them, but only provokes the reanimated corpses into attacking him before they return to their graves. Traveling through the woods, Simon is tempted and seduced by the leader of a forest nymph coven, who is later revealed to be a spider creature working for Shurka. Kor and Simon stumble upon a hobgoblin's cottage which is attacked by lizard men. Simon uses magic to defeat them. The hobgoblin afterwards joins forces with Simon on his quest. Kor is then captured by cyclopses to be served at a wedding, though 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 fish-tailed Naiad and the guardian of the river. They have passed her test of heroism, allowing them to go further. Returning to the castle after exile, they release a group of townsfolk from prison, leading to a huge battle outside. Simon and Shurka face each other on the towers using white and black magic, with Shurka being blasted by his fireball. Simon and Aura are crowned the new King and Queen of Axeholme. Kor departs, looking for more adventure.
Production
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 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 Roger Corman Barbarian films of the 80s.
Legacy
Sequel
In 1989, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom was followed by a sequel, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II. 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!'
