Well, yes, but only if they have hot topless babes fighting to the death, with some bondage and discipline thrown in.

If you do, too, then this video is for you.

Nikki Rises is part of the "Ultimate Gladiatrix" series by Olaf Winter and Mia Mane. This videoclip, which lasts just over fifteen minutes, tells the story of Nikki, an Amazon warrior forced to fight in the arena of Heria "where glory is only for the winner, and no one cares about those who fail."

The female gladiatrix theme is nothing new and Olaf Winter has made his fair share of these types of films over the years. But, with each clip he shows continuous positive improvement in his storytelling, and certainly this videoclip is a good example of that. For one thing, the costumes in all of his clips, since the beginning, have been top notch. So have the models he’s used – they’ve all been really lovely specimens of the female form and have managed to play their role as Amazon warriors to the hilt. His indoor set is wonderfully versatile and never goes stale no matter how many times he uses it. For a production with a very limited budget, he manages to get a lot of out what he has to work with, and that’s certainly to the benefit of the viewer.

This particularly clip has a couple of things going for it. First, there’s a very good use of CGI in giving us the introduction to the world he’s created. Here’s a screenshot from the opening montage:

Honestly, you won’t find too many low-budget clip-makers who will go to that much trouble to create a CGI opening that actually helps tell the story. They’ll just do it all with a panel of text and be done with it. Sometimes you don’t even get that much. So to see a producer go to the trouble to create that sort of opening is a very welcome touch.

The other thing that Olaf Winter has improved is the depiction of violent death. His use of special effects is convincing without being overly bloody. Take this one for example, where Mia Mane gets her throat slit in the introduction.

Not bad, right? If you’ve ever seen the Chechen decapitation videos on LiveLeak (and if you haven’t, I don’t recommend you go find them – they are most definitely not for the squeamish), you’ll see that this is pretty close to accurate. As the victim screams, the initial surge of blood is forced up the esophageal tract and out the mouth. Then, as the throat is opened up, the lungs simply push the blood out of the gaping wound until the victim dies from blood loss and/or chokes to death.

But enough of this. Let’s get to the story.

Four Amazon captives, stripped to the waist, on their knees with hands bound behind their back, are forced by their overlord to make a choice: death by execution, or death in the arena.

One Amazon decides that she will not let her death be for the amusement of her enemies, so she elects to be executed on the spot.

What I like about this scene, other than the girls being topless, of course, is that there is a just a little bit of CGI blood splatter to make it more dramatic, without being excessive. You may not see it very well in this screen capture, but in real-time it makes a nice touch to the drama.

That brings up another thing I like about this film. It’s in HD and immediately goes Full Screen on launch, with no loss of resolution or image clarity. You see the video exactly the way you would see a major motion picture. The camera work is top notch. Unfortunately, when I shrunk the screen caps down, a lot of the detail was lost, but trust me, this video looks a lot better in real-time than what you see in these caps.

Ok, back to the story. Our hero elects to fight in the arena, so she is bound in chains and led through the forest by her new master, who takes her back to his ludus. Once there, he throws her to the ground and removes her leash.

Then he lifts her up, slaps her around to remind her who’s the boss, and removes her ropes.

Next, she’s strung up spread-eagle, ropes around her wrists and chains around her ankles, where she’s whipped into submission by her new master as a lesson in dominance, while two harem slaves look on.

The whipping is well done, and although we don’t see any actual contact, there’s enough there for you to fill in the blanks with your imagination. I was both appreciative of, and frustrated by, the producer’s use of creative lighting to give the scene a “graphic novel” look. It’s like watching a strip tease act – you really wish you could see the naughty parts better, but they are revealed to you in such a tantalizing way that you keep begging for more, which is part of the entertainment of the piece. It’s a tribute to the old film noir style of filmmaking that was so popular in the 40’s and 50’s. In fact, the whole movie has that feel of a 40’s black-and-white serial, where at any moment something fantastic could happen. It’s this artistic consideration in shooting the story that I really respect.

After the whipping is over, the master places a bag over his new slave’s head to remind her of her helplessness, then hands his leather instrument of pain to a harem girl and gives her permission to demonstrate her status above the “fresh meat” strung up in the courtyard of the ludus. The harem girl, who had enjoyed watching our hero’s whipping, takes advantage of the opportunity while her friend plays with an abandoned sword. They decide it’s more fun to see the anguish on their victim’s face, so the first harem girl takes the bag off and goes to work on her subject with the whip.

After the first harem girl has had her fun, the second decides to see just what a blade can do to an Amazon’s bare back.

As the second harem girl is carving up the new slave, the master comes back to find that the two harem girls have done far more damage than he would’ve liked. Their punishment? Death! The master decides to test his Amazon slave’s skill with a sword, so he allows her to slay the two harem girls.

Now, Winter/Mane could’ve ended the story right there, but they don’t. Instead they go the extra mile by advancing in time to show our hero battling her way to glory against other gladiatrixes, including two that had been captured with her in the forest. What follows is a montage of stabbing, slashing, slicing, and hacking as our hero proves her worth. My favorite fighting moment comes when the hero pins her victim to the ground by the neck with her hand, then stabs her in the back, piercing the kidney and lung.

I won’t go into how the movie ends, as by now you should have a pretty good idea. If you’re into hot necro babes wearing leather loincloths with a blood trail or two, then the last two minutes are for you.

I was impressed with the production quality for such a small studio. Olaf Winter certainly knows his camerawork, and the presentation is top-notch; very slick and sophisticated in both editing and CGI. Compared to what was released just last year by this same studio, Mr. Winter (and by extension Ms. Mia Mane) are on a very good trajectory to achieve great things. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try their hand at a full-length (but low budget) motion picture within a year (or less). If you look at what the “Red Feline” team did for “Inquisition”-style horror films with just their small but very talented team, then you know that it is possible for a handful of dedicated and talented individuals to do some very good work on very little money.

As far as acting goes, it has some of my favorite “Amazon Warriors” staples. I’ve never been a fan of “Saphyra”, but here, in the lead role, she looks fantastic and does a good job as the tough Amazon. “Raven”, whom I suspect is mixed-race, makes a wonderful Amazon warrior with her tight, ripped body lines. “Aristhea” and “Ninea” are passable as the blood-thirsty harem girls, particularly Aristhea who seemed to really enjoy playing with that sword. Look for Mia Mane in several cameos throughout.

Could it be better? Certainly. There are a few places where a sword is obviously plastic (in fact, I think I’ve seen that exact prop for sale at my local dollar store), but I can forego that because I know the necessity for it (for example, it’s easier for the women to handle due to its light weight, and it’s easier to cut and shape for special effects). And since your focus is on the gladiatrixes and not the weapon, it really doesn’t detract from the film all that much.

Another thing that I would’ve enjoyed seeing in this would have been a branding. It makes sense to me that, if a gladiatrix is nothing but property, then the owner would want to mark his chattel in some way, lest she run off and assert herself as a free woman. A branding scene would’ve been a great way to add a dramatic flourish to the proceedings, and would’ve been a good way to show how the Amazon has been reduced from a human to an animal for slaughter. But that’s just me.

Overall, I enjoyed this film, and I look forward to seeing what else the Winter/Mane team has up its sleeve… or rather their arm bracers and pauldrons.