BARBARIAN QUEEN 40th ANNIVERSARY

[Darthsaad]

I remember it like it was yesterday - the first time I saw this at around age 19.
...I just wish Barbarian Queen III hadn’t been cancelled, because who know how much farther she could have taken it.

Thanks much for sharing your experience, it's appreciated.

I was working overseas, and our videolibrary had a copy of Barbarian Queen on VHS.
Needless to say, I checked it out numerous times! If the library clerk knew what was in it (and I'm sure he did), he probably had me pegged for a perv. I wonder if he knew the torture scenes turned me on?

I thinks it’s fair to say the owner of my local video store had the same thoughts about myself lol.

But then, it was the 80s, a decade of deliciously exploitative movies. Between Roger Corman and Andy Sidaris we hardly needed playboy at all (and indeed Sidaris’s movie starred a plethora of ex-playmates).

Speaking of, it is only fitting to mention more of Corman, without whole BQ would not exist at all. His contributions to cinema are expansive, and many actors got their break from working on his movies. From Wikipedia…

Actors who obtained their career breaks working for Corman include Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Charles Bronson, Todd Field[184] Michael McDonald, Dennis Hopper, Tommy Lee Jones, Talia Shire, Sandra Bullock, Robert De Niro, and David Carradine, who received one of his first starring film roles in the Corman-produced Boxcar Bertha (1972) and went on to star in Death Race 2000 (along with Sylvester Stallone). Many of Corman's protegés have paid their mentor homage by awarding him cameos in films, such as in The Godfather Part II,[185] The Silence of the Lambs,[186] Apollo 13,[182] and as recently as the Demme film Rachel Getting Married (2008).

[La Reine Margot]

I remember it like it was yesterday - the first time I saw this at around age 19.
...I just wish Barbarian Queen III hadn’t been cancelled, because who know how much farther she could have taken it.

Thanks much for sharing your experience, it's appreciated.
(...)
Speaking of, it is only fitting to mention more of Corman, without whole BQ would not exist at all. His contributions to cinema are expansive, and many actors got their break from working on his movies. From Wikipedia…

Actors who obtained their career breaks working for Corman include Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Charles Bronson, Todd Field[184] Michael McDonald, Dennis Hopper, Tommy Lee Jones, Talia Shire, Sandra Bullock, Robert De Niro, and David Carradine, who received one of his first starring film roles in the Corman-produced Boxcar Bertha (1972) and went on to star in Death Race 2000 (along with Sylvester Stallone). Many of Corman's protegés have paid their mentor homage by awarding him cameos in films, such as in The Godfather Part II,[185] The Silence of the Lambs,[186] Apollo 13,[182] and as recently as the Demme film Rachel Getting Married (2008).

I have a nice anecdote about Corman. Jac was friends with Monte Hellman, a director in his own right, who worked with Corman in many of his films. Monte had a friend, Jack Nicholson, who once asked him to take him to see how he works. Monte took him to one of the sets where Corman was working on a couple of films with Vincent Price. Corman saw Nicholson and thought that maybe he could play a part on a movie. He cast him as a French soldier in a film with Boris Karlof. The title of the film "The Terror". Nicholson was awful in that film.

But Corman kept working with him in some of the motorcycle films he produced. Monte Hellman asked Nicholson to star in a film he was going to direct, The Shooting, with the then young beautiful star Millie Perkins. All Nicholson had to do for the most part was to be quietly riding a horse.



The Shooting went to Cannes, Nicholson took a copy under his arm to that festival. Some people were impressed with his acting in that film, one of them was Peter Fonda who was about to produce Easy Ryder. Nicholson got a great role in that film, his acting was amazing and made Hollywood take notice. The rest is history. Monte told the story of how Nicholson got started to Jac at a festival where they met, in France. Millie Perkins was also at that festival, she was one of the Jurors, Jac was another, and I heard that Millie had a crush on Jac.

True story.

[Darthsaad]

The impact of Barbarian Queen is far reaching. For example, this little treasure has turned up on Deviantart- the classic scene, with some photoshopping of Lynda Crater in the lead role…

[Mr. Hyde]

My pics for fanfic:

[Mr. Hyde]

[Mr. Hyde]

[frog]

Inspired by Barbarian Queen:

[Darthsaad]

My own contribution - the look we never bot to see on Amalthea’s face as Zohar the torturer removes his pants…

[yyy02]

download/file.php?id=78895&mode=view

"You know where to take her!"

Schwing!

[Hofrax1]

My own contribution - the look we never bot to see on Amalthea’s face as Zohar the torturer removes his pants…


IMG_5900.jpeg

Excellent work as always Darthsaad!

I might add I’ve always found it fascinating the different approaches to sadism the torturers in I and II have. The villain in I is more businesslike, like he is doing a job, but still one that he enjoys. The one in II though seems like an ordinary Joe taking pleasure in cooking his favorite meal. And the fact that this guy had been a laughable and inept adversary for most of the film to that point, and yet was able to so thoroughly dominate and humiliate the strong heroine was quite a pleasant and unexpected surprise.