Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back

Plot Summary

Athalia (Clarkson) is a proud and beautiful princess in a troubled realm. One day, news reaches her that her father, the king, has disappeared in battle and is presumed dead. Athalias treacherous brother Ankaris, aided by his sadistic second-in-command Hofrax, wastes no time in claiming the crown (and the magic scepter which is the source of the kingdoms power) for himself, much to Athalias protests. He has Athalia sentenced to death by hanging unless she reveals the magic spell of the scepter to him.

Athalia escapes and flees to the countryside, where she encounters a group of all-female rebels. After defeating their leader in hand-to-hand combat that leaves both women covered in mud and nearly naked, Athalia gains their trust and begins building an army to overthrow her brother. She proves herself a capable leader, and more than a match for any man in battle.

As the rebel armys successes grow, Ankaris and Hofrax become more alarmed. Hofrax devises a trap for Athalia, drawing her out into the open by threatening to execute innocent peasants in the castle courtyard. Although Athalia successfully assaults the castle and valiantly slays many enemy soldiers, she is finally overpowered and captured on a rampart, where her all-woman army is unable to aid her.

Having earlier been humiliated by Athalia, the revenge-minded Hofrax repays her by binding her and stripping her topless, fully exposing her ample breasts. He then decides to punish her by stretching her shapely body on a torture rack. Tamis, Ankaris daughter (played by then 14-year-old Mexican child actress Cecilia Tijerina), enters the chamber to observe Athalias torture. Having always been jealous of Athalia for her beauty, she smiles with glee as her blond rivals horrific screams of agony echo through the dungeon. It is thus that Athalia learns that Tamis enjoys torturing her subjects and has plans to become queen once Athalia is dead. In a bid to break Athalia, and to demonstrate the racks capabilities to Tamis, Hofrax tilts the racks table forward, suspending Athalia over a bed of spikes. He then leaves her there to contemplate her fate; her large bare breasts hanging precariously over the pointed tips beneath her.

Alone in the dungeon, Athalia manages to work her hands loose and escape from the rack (surprisingly without impaling herself on the spikes beneath her), and flees to the guarded chamber where the scepter is stored. She is soon recaptured when she refuses to utter the spell necessary to work the scepters magic power. Because she wont use the scepters magic to save herself (since using the power will result in the king dying in the off chance he is still alive), Ankaris knows that she will never surrender it to him, and she is condemned to a slow death by torture at the hands of Hofrax. It is later revealed that the king was in fact already dead, so Athalias sacrifice was for naught.

When we next see Athalia, she has been stripped completely naked and again bound to the upright torture rack; her sweat-covered body stretched so taut that her arms have almost been dislocated from their sockets. Hofrax gloats over the helpless nude heroine, who grimaces in agony and moans in her bonds as Hofrax gleefully tells her that she is being slowly tortured to death. The once-mighty warrior princess is now utterly humiliated and broken after days of excruciating torture; her demeanor transformed from haughty defiance to whimpering submissiveness. As Hofrax resumes the slow and brutal execution of the naked blond beauty, she thrusts out her bare breasts and with her final words to him gasps that someday someone else will take her place and defeat him.

Reaction

Whereas this films predecessor Barbarian Queen was able to benefit from the publicity of the successful big-budget Conan film and get some play in discount movie theaters, Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back was not so fortunate. The movie was released straight to video/DVD and never generated much attention within the sword and sandal genre.

Lana Clarkson had established herself as a capable sword and sandal character actress, and the big-breasted blondes bombshell attractiveness was at its peak. Unfortunately the genre she was so closely associated with had run its course. While she would later work in smaller offerings, this would be the then 27-year-old Clarksons last role as a sword-wielding heroine.

Cecilia Tijerina, who was only 14 years old at the time of the films making, turned in a capable performance as the bratty young daughter. She would later go on to perform in Mexican and Mexican-American films supplemented by guest appearances in Mexican television shows.

Release

While the predecessor, "Barbarian Queen," capitalized on the publicity surrounding the successful high-budget film "Conan the Barbarian" and was shown in some discount movie theaters, "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back" was released directly to video and DVD.