Golden Temple Amazons (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Oct 04, 2018
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Alain Payet/Jesus FrancoRelease Date(s)
1986 (September 11, 2018)Studio(s)
Eurocine (MVD Classics)- Film/Program Grade: D
- Video Grade: B
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: D
Review
Golden Temple Amazons (aka Les amazones du temple d’or and Amazons in the Temple of Gold) is a French jungle adventure thriller about a woman named Liana (Analía Ivars). As a small child, she witnesses her explorer parents being killed by a female Amazon tribe after discovering a hidden golden temple, but the tribe decides not to kill the girl and raise her instead. Years later, Liana now seeks revenge against the tribe. She, along with her pet monkey and an African witch doctor named Koukou (Stanley Kapoul), they join forces with a small group of explorers that are also looking for the tribe's mysterious golden temple, which is guarded by Uruck (William Berger). But what the explorers find in the temple is more dangerous than they expected.
Besides being an exploitation film, Golden Temple Amazons was obviously made on the skimpiest of budgets. Action scenes are so poorly-staged that it causes the tension to be minimal during moments when it should be reaching its peak. Filmed at a wildlife park in Spain, the jungle sets are also pretty laughable. Pace is non-existent, not just because the film loses any momentum that it might gain, but also in part because of the overuse of stock footage, which doesn’t cut well at all. Even the music is lousy, and to make it even worse, the same tune plays to an infinite redundancy.
The film may be grand entertainment to a select few, but after a while, the constant exposure to nude women only adds to the tedium of an already dull story. For the most part, the Amazon women are either wearing revealing animal skins with exposed chests or just roaming around topless. Suffice it to say, if Golden Temple Amazons was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, then maybe it could be given a pass, but otherwise, it’s really difficult to take it seriously, or enjoy.
MVD Classics brings Golden Temple Amazons to Blu-ray with A/V quality that is surprisingly above average. There are plenty of vibrant colors and lots of detail on display. Many of the outdoor colors look remarkably dynamic, especially greens. The interiors, such as the temple, also have excellent detail and textures. Flesh tones, which there are plenty of, are accurate. Film grain is present throughout, but with no signs of excessive DNR applied. On the flipside, some parts of the film are soft or blurry. The stock footage is in pretty bad shape, almost to the point of unwatchable. There’s also some mild print damage, but nothing all that horrendous. For the audio, there are two options: French and English 2.0 LPCM. For the majority of the film, the English language track is more subdued until the action kicks in. The French audio is much stronger and more aggressive by comparison. There are no subtitle options to be had, nor are there any extras outside of a set of trailers for the film itself, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and The Violence Movie.
Golden Temple Amazons, is definitely one incoherent mess of a movie, even with two directors behind it. Despite my thoughts about the film, I’m sure fans of Jess Franco and Eurosleaze will get something out of it. MVD Classics has done a commendable effort with their Blu-ray release, making the viewing experience a good one for those fans.
- David Steigman