- Title: Red Sonja (1985)
- IMDb: link
Throwback Tuesday takes us back to the Hyborian Age and one of the worst sword and sorcery movies to come out of a pretty crappy genre. 1985’s Red Sonja stars model Brigitte Nielsen in her acting debut the sword-wielding She-Devil with a Sword who gained prominence in comics in the 1970s. Although Arnold Schwarzenegger gets top billing here, he’s a minor character who is obviously Conan but not Conan (as the film didn’t have the rights to use the character). Nielsen, with no real acting experience, is far from the worst thing about the film which is campy without being fun and ultimately a dreadful bore that makes Conan: The Destroyer look like Citizen Kane.
Realizing the character’s origins are the least interesting thing about her, and problematic for a PG-13 movie, the script races quickly through them to get to not-Conan bringing the now fully trained Red Sonja into an adventure involving the evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) who steals a magic energy ball and also has ties back to Sonja’s origins. There are also some goofy sidekicks thrown in.
A disappointment to both audiences and critics, Red Sonja killed any big-screen interest in the character for years. Recent attempts by the likes of Robert Rodriguez and Bryan Singer both failed to ever get off the ground with the likes of Rose McGowan, Amber Heard, and Hannah John-Kamen being rumored for the role over the years. Schwarzenegger publicly referred to it as the worst movie he ever made. While neither the costumes nor score are as impressive as in Conan the Barbarian, they are one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal thematic experience. The film has been released on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray multiple times over the years and can also be found on various streaming platforms.
Watch the trailer
