Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time | |
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Directed by | Sylvio Tabet |
Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Based on | The Beast Master by Andre Norton and Characters by Don Coscarelli Paul Pepperman |
Produced by | Sylvio Tabet |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ronn Schmidt |
Edited by | Adam Bernardi |
Music by | Robert Folk |
Production company | |
Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million [1] |
Box office | $773,490–869,325 [1] [2] |
Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time is the 1991 American sequel to the 1982 film The Beastmaster . Marc Singer reprises his role as Dar, a barbarian from another dimension who travels to 1990s Los Angeles and befriends a young woman, Jackie Trent, played by Kari Wuhrer. Dar must stop his evil brother, played by Wings Hauser, from bringing back a neutron bomb.
Dar, the Beastmaster, learns of a previously unknown half-brother, Arklon, who plans to conquer the land with the help of a sorceress named Lyranna. Both escape to present day Los Angeles through a dimensional portal. Dar and his animal companions, Ruh, Kodo, Podo and Sharak, must follow them through the portal and stop them from obtaining a neutron bomb. During his visit, Dar meets a rich girl named Jackie Trent, and they become friends.
Jim Wynorski was originally meant to direct and wrote a screenplay with R. J. Robertson for producer Sylvio Tabet. Wynorski later said:
We wrote him a helluva good screenplay. Then at the last moment, he pulls the rug out from under me and says he's directing it himself. And then tops it off by threatening to take our writing credits off the picture. I took the bastard straight to court. He hired big time attorneys to stall paying out the final script installments. I hated his guts. But I got the last laugh when Republic Pictures picked up the show. They wanted a picture totally clean of legal entanglements. So they came to me to make a deal and I held them up but good. Cleaned up. I still remember Tabet's pained face when I told him what it would take to get me to sign off. Even my own lawyer whined! [3]
Shooting locations include Glen Canyon [4] and Antelope Canyon. [5] Parts of the film were also shot in Los Angeles and Canoga Park, California as well as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. [4] Director and co-writer Sylvio Tabet was a producer on the original film. [6] Andre Norton's novel The Beast Master was credited as an inspiration. After reading the first film's screenplay, Norton had her credit removed, but her agent talked her into allowing it for the sequel. [7]
Beastmaster 2 was given a limited release in the United States, [7] where it grossed between $773,490 and $869,325. [1] [2]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 17% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3/10. [8] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a silly, ill-advised sequel" that is not funny despite Singer's "likable presence". [9] Roger Hurlburt of the Sun-Sentinel wrote that the film is tongue-in-cheek enough to make audiences forgive its frivolity. Hurlburt also complimented Douglas' acting. [10] Chris Hicks of the Deseret News wrote that the film is not clever or funny enough to overcome its silliness. [11] TV Guide , in rating it 2/4 stars, wrote: "The satire in Beastmaster 2 hardly breaks new ground, but it's a tonic that makes the minutes pass more or less agreeably". [7] Like Beastmaster, it was broadcast regularly on American cable television stations TBS and TNT. [12]
Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery film directed by Roman Polanski from a screenplay by Robert Towne. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. It was inspired by the California water wars: a series of disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century that resulted in Los Angeles securing water rights in the Owens Valley. The Robert Evans production, released by Paramount Pictures, was Polanski's last film in the United States and features many elements of film noir, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama.
The Beastmaster is a 1982 American-West German sword and sorcery film directed by Don Coscarelli and starring Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. Loosely based on the 1959 novel The Beast Master by Alice "Andre" Norton, the film is about a man who can communicate with animals, and who fights an evil wizard and his army.
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Don Coscarelli Jr. is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in horror films. His directing credits include the first four films in the Phantasm franchise, as well as The Beastmaster (1982) and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).
Kari Samantha Wuhrer is an American former actress, model, and singer. She is known for her time as hostess of the MTV game show Remote Control (1988–1989), her portrayals of Abigail on USA Network's Swamp Thing (1991–1992), and Maggie Beckett on the Fox/Syfy series Sliders (1997–2000). Wuhrer has appeared in horror films such as Anaconda (1997), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), King of the Ants (2003), The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003), Hellraiser: Deader (2005), two entries in the Prophecy series, and Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014). She portrayed Agent Tanya in cutscenes of Westwood Studios' real-time strategy video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and its subsequent expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge. She also provided the voice of Maria Hill for Disney XD's The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010–2012).
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Sylvio Tabet is a Lebanese filmmaker and Producer. The only movie he directed was Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time.
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