Red Sonja

Saddle up your dragons because it’s SWORD AND SORCERY Month at Mondo Mondays, featuring a B-movie barrage of beefy barbarians, plucky princesses and sinister sorcerers!

“A woman and a warrior who became a legend!” Brigitte Nielsen charges full-speed into trash movie history as the flame-haired heroine who takes down evil queens, mad magicians and Arnold Schwarzenegger with a flash of her mighty sword in the goofy action epic, Red Sonja!

 Based on the character created by Robert E. Howard, this Conan the Barbarian sort-of spin-off sends butt-kicking warrior Red Sonja (Nielsen, sporting an awe-inspiring red medieval mullet) on a journey to avenge the slaughter of her family after she’s granted extraordinary powers by a mysterious vision. On her way to settle the score with the nefarious, cackling Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman, who returns from the original Conan, but as a totally different character), she meets a gaggle of enemies and allies, including Lord Kalidor (Schwarzenegger, who takes on a supporting role, and who, in a shocking twist, is NOT playing Conan), a pec-popping stranger whom Sonja battles, beds and begrudgingly accepts help from. Much magic, monster mayhem and muscle flexing ensues. Filled with wooden acting, kitschy fantasy and unintentional hilarity, Red Sonja is a fun and cheesy slab of Sword and Sorcery hokum. (Dir. by Richard Fleisher, 1985, USA, 89 mins., Rated PG-13)