Film

Barbarian Queen

A 1985 low-budget sword-and-sorcery adventure about three warrior women liberating their enslaved village from Roman occupation. Shot in Argentina with a cast of B-movie regulars, it's earnestly pulpy — enthusiastic about action, indifferent to plausibility, and refreshingly unconcerned with historical accuracy. For fans of camp adventure and women who solve problems with swords.

TMDb rating2.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love cheerfully disreputable 1980s action fantasy, where a loin-cloth heroine, sword fights and gloriously stilted dialogue deliver more pleasure than polish ever could.

Skip it if you need subtle performances or a grounded, serious take on history, since the acting is broad and the tone swings between earnest and absurd.

What it asks of you: It runs about seventy minutes and moves briskly, so you can settle in without commitment, but it wants you to take its B-movie excess in good humour.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Conan the Barbarian1982

The template for 1980s barbarian cinema: muscular action, a world of genuine danger, and an operatic sense of revenge. Schwarzenegger commits entirely to the fantasy.

But Slower and more ponderous than you might expect. The sword-fighting is less nimble than the muscle-flexing.

Conan the Barbarian poster

Amazons1984

A nearly identical premise — warrior women fighting oppression — with the same low-budget earnestness. Lena Wertmüller directed it, which means it has more on its mind than most films in this vein.

But The budget shows everywhere. Action sequences are choppy and sometimes confusing to follow.

Amazons poster

The Beastmaster1982

Another 1980s fantasy adventure with a modest budget that becomes a cult film anyway. Weird creature design, a hero with a cause, and an unpretentious commitment to spectacle over sense.

But The pacing drags badly in the middle. It takes itself more seriously than it can quite support.

The Beastmaster poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Barbarian Queen

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Venom1981

Both films are low-budget 1980s action cinema unafraid to be scrappy and strange. Where Barbarian Queen dreams of liberation, Venom dreams of entrapment — they're the same era's opposite moods.

Klaus Kinski as a sinister man-for-hire holding a household hostage while a black mamba loose in the building creates chaos. Claustrophobic, darkly comic, and genuinely suspenseful — pure genre craft from Piers Haggard.

But The premise is genuinely bleak. There is no heroic sword-swinging, only desperation and a poisonous snake indifferent to human drama. If you want triumph, this film refuses it.

Venom poster
More like this (7)

Red Sonja1985

Contemporary sword-and-sorcery with a female lead fighting for justice. Brigitte Nielsen commits fully to the role, and the film doesn't apologize for its pulpy ambitions.

But Schwarzenegger's presence overshadows Nielsen despite being a supporting character. The script is thinner than it needs to be.

Red Sonja poster

Krull1983

A space-fantasy hybrid with inventive creature design and a genuine sense of wonder. The castle-on-an-alien-world visuals still hold up, and it dares to be genuinely weird.

But The plot meanders badly. The pacing suggests it was heavily edited after poor test screenings.

Krull poster

The Warrior and the Sorceress1984

A desert-planet fantasy with Kev Merlin as a wandering warrior embroiled in local wars. Unpretentious low-budget fun with practical creature effects and genuine creative effort.

But The film barely held together on its original budget. Rough editing and occasionally incomprehensible action sequences.

The Warrior and the Sorceress poster

Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans1987

Embraces its own campiness with a wink and a grin. The same low-budget, high-enthusiasm adventure mode as Barbarian Queen, but more self-aware about the absurdity.

But The comedy sometimes drowns out the spectacle. If you want genuine danger or stakes, this is not your film.

Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans poster

Sorceress1982

A female-centered fantasy adventure in the same budgetary universe, with practical location shooting and a heroine who uses cunning alongside combat. Underrated chunk of 1980s B-fantasy.

But The editing is choppy and occasionally makes action hard to follow. The sound design is thin.

Sorceress poster

The Hidden Fortress1958

Both films use a group of unlikely warriors fighting against empires to exploit lower castes. But Kurosawa saw the tragedy in that struggle; Barbarian Queen sees only revenge. Watching both shows you the full temperature range of the adventure film.

Kurosawa's masterpiece about two soldiers caught up in a general's hidden war and a princess's escape through enemy territory. Widescreen, funny, thrilling, and in black-and-white. The direct ancestor of all adventure cinema.

But Shot in 1958 without quick cutting or modern pacing. It asks patience. The subtitles require attention. It is the opposite of disposable.

The Hidden Fortress poster

Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn1983

Both films are 1980s low-budget action movies where the hero leads a ragtag rebellion against a cruel authority. Barbarian Queen is trying to be serious about it; Metalstorm is accidentally surreal. Both prove that sincerity plus limited resources can be more interesting than competence.

A post-apocalyptic western with Jeffrey Byron as a lone gunslinger fighting a despot in a desert wasteland. Genuinely bizarre vision mixing genres, shot on a shoestring, with practical stunts and unironic earnestness about its weird world.

But The script is nearly incoherent. Plot logic collapses constantly. It's a film held together by refusal to stop moving forward, not by craft or clarity.

Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn poster

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Recommended by

Hawk the Slayer, Masters of the Universe, Red Sonja, Sorceress, Deathstalker, Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans, Prisoners of the Lost Universe