Monday, April 20, 2020

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)

A low-budget fantasy where our heroes are transported to a parallel universe where people fight with swords, wear loin cloths but still speak English. Dr Hartmann (Kenneth Hendel) has developed a way to transport objects between parallel worlds but falls onto his portal and is sent there himself. TV reporter Carrie (Kay Lenz) and electrician/kendo master Dan (Richard Hatch) also end up being transported after various displays of imbalance.

But where are they transported to? A strange world inhabited by giants in furs, midgets with flashing eyes and Kleel (John Saxon), an evil warlord who has imprisoned Hartmann as a sorcerer to do his bidding (though Kleel mostly seems to be interested in sleeping with his slave women and killing people). Carrie ends up a prisoner of Kleel while Dan enlists the help of The Greenman (Ray Charleston), Vosk (Larry Taylor) and Malachi (Peter O'Farrell) to save Carrie and defeat Kleel...

Although pretty low-rent, cheesy and unoriginal, the film is quite entertaining although is padded out with a little too much wandering aimless through the bush (which helped the budget no doubt). The leads put on good performances though especially Saxon. The concept and plot makes little sense of course but the sheer strangeness and camp will keep you watching.