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Les Amazones du Temple d'Or
Golden Temple Amazons
Amazons of the Temple of Gold / Temple of Amazon Women
France 1986
produced by Jess Franco, Marius Lesoeur, Daniel Lesoeur (executive) for Eurociné
directed by James Gartner (= Alain Payet, Jess Franco)
starring Analia Ivars (as Joan Virly), William Berger, Antonio Mayans (as Robert Foster), Stanley Kapoul, Eva León, Emilio Linder, Alicia Principe, Francoise Blanchard, Jean-René Gossart, Olivier Mathot, Claude Marchal, Jean-Claude Lerner
written by Jess Franco, music by Norbert Verrone
review by Mike Haberfelner
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When Liana (Analia Ivars) was still a child, her father (Jean-René Gossart), missionary in Africa, discovered
the secret city of the amazons, and under it a vast goldmine. But the
amazons are rather keen on keeping the secret city a secret and their gold
theirs, so they shoot the missionary and his wife. Liana is forced to grow up
on her own, with the (obligatory) jungle animals. Years later, Liana is a
woman now and living the jungle life, wearing nothing but a loincloth and a threesome of foxtails around her neck to cover (or more often not cover) her
breasts, when father John (Oliver Mathot) stops by to tell her a few things
about the murder of her parents ... and Liana of course knows nothing better
to do than to swear revenge. Soon she sets out to find the secret city,
accompanied by bumbling shaman KouKou (Stanley Kapoul), and soon they
are also joined by a trio of explorers, Harvey (Emilio Linder), Bella (Alicia
Príncipe) and their guide
Bob (Antonio Mayans), who soon becomes Liana's love interest. They soon
enough find the secret entrance to the secret city alright, but fail
to notice this entrance is protected by narcotic gasses until it is pretty much
too late, and they are taken prisoner by the amazons. Their leader Uruck
(William Berger)
cares little for his prisoners and soon enough sentences them to torture and death ... except for Liana whom he has laid his eyes on
and now wants
to make her his favourite concubine ... much to the dismay of Rena (Francoise
Blanchard), his current favourite concubine ... and just to be a fair enough
ruler, he sets up a fight between Rena and Liana "until the first blood
is spillt", to decide over whom to bed next. But to break Liana's spirit,
he locks her away with her friends, whom Rena has brutally tortured. The next
day though, Liana's spirit seems far from broken and she wrestles down Reena
... and as a reward is raped by Uruck. But being all horny, Uruck seems to
have forgotten to disarm Liana ... so after the act she pulls the knife she
brought and stabs him. Trying to escape though, Liana is stopped short by an
arrow shot by Rena, who has taken over from Uruck at the drop of a hat, and
with him gone, she lets loose her sadistic side - and it ain't pretty ... Now
I won't mince words, Golden Temple Amazons isn't a very good film -
in fact, it's fair to say it's a bloody bad movie, a grossly underbudgeted
jungle girl picture with a few too many excuses to show naked breasts,
very tacky "jungle" outfits, cheapish props and sets, and while
the location shots (alledgedly done in a safari park in Spain) at least
look kind of authentic and do feature actual jungle animals, fences around
the area can be seen a few times too often in the background, as well as
cars passing on a motorway a mere stonethrow away. And add to that acting
that's not always on the convincing side and you've got ... a pretty
entertaining movie, actually, at least if you're at all into low budget
1980s genre fare. Thing is, bad as the film might be on an objective
level, it does play a fun riff on the genre, incorporating many a genre
cliché into its story (many of which might not stand the test of
political correctness in this day and age), the film's attempts at
titilation are pretty charming, and one can't help but assume that
filmmakers Alain Payet and schlock veteran Jess Franco haven't taken their
stuff too seriously at all. In all, you might have to be a trash movie
enthusiast like me to properly enjoy this movie, but then you'll be richly
rewarded ... ...
and if at all interested, you can get the movie on Blu-ray here:
https://mvdshop.com/products/golden-temple-amazons-blu-ray
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