Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Prolific and dependable B level filmmaker Jim Wynorski had started out working for Roger Corman, and began his respectable directing career with this exploitation epic that he wrote, produced, and directed. All the hallmarks of his work are present and accounted for here, including a breezy, campy feel, a heavy sense of humour, a self-awareness (without doing too much winking at the viewer - the actors do have straight faces most of the time), and of course well endowed female cast members baring their breasts whenever an opportunity presents itself. He sure knows what he's doing: the very first shot in his movie is an iris shot that opens up on a womans' cleavage!The story hits the ground running: tough female cop Angel Wolfe (lovely Melanie Vincz) loses her brother Rob (Bill Thornbury of the "Phantasm" series), who's also a cop, to a trio of deadly ninja types in a bungled robbery. When Rob produces a throwing star kind of weapon left at the scene, it leads Angels' FBI agent boyfriend Rick (Paul Coufos) to believe a religious cult head named Dr. Sin Do could be involved. He knows that Sin Do recruits young women in groups of three to be trained as assassins, so Angel gathers together two of her friends - the Indian warrior Whitestar (Raven De La Croix) and bubbly blonde jailbird Heather McClure (Angela Aames) so that they can infiltrate the madmans' remote island fortress.There's a delightful cheesy charm to these proceedings, complete with some really fun looking sets and lots of animation effects. The dialogue is amusing, especially when spoken by De La Croix (also the associate producer and designer of her characters' costume); she has a fair number of truly groan inducing one liners to deliver. The colourful lighting is courtesy of Jacques Haitkin ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" '84) and the catchy score by Alan Howarth is reminiscent of the other work he did with John Carpenter in the 1980s.Wynorski obviously had a lot of fun in the casting decisions: "Phantasm" series villain Angus Scrimm is our nefarious bad guy (although he doesn't show his face until well into the movie), notable screen tough guy Robert Tessier plays Koro, and Blackie Dammett ("National Lampoons' Class Reunion") is the sleazy Prager; there are also cameos for the great Kenneth Tobey (using his character name from "The Thing from Another World"), Linda Shayne (who co-wrote "Screwballs" with Wynorski), and Angelique Pettyjohn ('Get Smart', "Repo Man").People who adore the wacky side of low budget cinema will likely adore "The Lost Empire" for its spirit and energy...and, of course, the assets of its actresses.Eight out of 10.

A trio of rough'n'tumble gals take on evil genius Dr. Sin Do (robustly essayed with lip-smacking hammy brio by Angus Scrimm) on the baddie's remote island fortress. The ladies must prevent Sin Do from finding three sacred jewels that will give him the power necessary to rule the world. Writer/director Jim Wynorski relates the immensely entertaining story at a brisk pace, maintains an engaging lighthearted tone throughout, stages the action scenes with rip-roaring aplomb, and further spices things up with amusing touches of pleasing campy humor. Better still, there's also a vicious catfight, a yummy shower scene, a deadly laser cannon that resembles a maleficent phallus, and, naturally, a satisfying smattering of tasty distaff nudity. The lively and appealing performances by the game and gorgeous female leads gives this picture an extra kick in the pants: Melanie Vincz as tough cop Angel Wolfe, Raven De La Croix as the formidable Whitestar, and Angela Aames as the feisty Heather McClure. Veteran villainous character actor Robert Tessier snarls it up nicely as Sin Do's fearsome henchman Koro while Paul Coufos makes a favorable impression as Wolfe's amiable partner Rick Stanton. Popping up in nifty bits as Linda Shayne as the doomed Cindy Blake, Angelique Pettyjohn as mean top con Whiplash (yep, this movie makes a welcome and refreshing detour into chicks-in-chains exploitation territory), and Kenneth Tobey as the gruff Captain Hendry. Jacques Haitkin's crisp widescreen cinematography provides a splashy and colorful live action comic book look. Alan Howarth's throbbing and syncopated synthesizer score does the pulsating John Carpenterish trick. A super fun Grade B flick.

OK, this isn't a good film by any stretch of the imagination but you don't really get it for that do you? I bought it just to see Raven de la Croix as I remember seeing this when a youngster and her being this incredible figure of white on a horse (white star is her character name).The plot and FX are laughable but the music was surprisingly better than expected almost sounding like the works of John Carpenter.Unfortunately the film is only a 15 so there's no real sex but the image of Raven in some kind of very short, dream state when she has a snake draped round her neck is mind bendingly erotic and worthy of the purchase price.

This movie, although a grade 'B, movie.. warrants viewing ... believe me, if you like MST3k videos, you'll like this one even without robotic comments. There's something about the honesty and simplicity of the actresses that makes it a very wholesome movie ... so watch it, or drop out!