Red Sonja (4K UHD Review)
Director
Richard FleischerRelease Date(s)
1985 (March 24, 2026)Studio(s)
Dino De Laurentiis Corporation/MGM/UA Entertainment Co. (Arrow Video)- Film/Program Grade: C+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
After the financial success of Conan the Barbarian and its sequel Conan the Destroyer, the latter of which was only modestly successful, producer Dino De Laurentiis opted to continue to the Conan legacy, but without having the actual rights to do so. Not only that, but his star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was moving on to other projects, most notably James Cameron’s The Terminator. Unfortunately, these types of films were also falling out of favor with the public, and combined with incredibly negative reviews, Red Sonja was not a success, surviving instead as a cult oddity on cable and home video. Many of its fans consider it to be the third unofficial Conan film, at least in spirit, but also appreciate it for what it is, rather than what it should be.
The origins of the Red Sonya character date back to Robert E. Howard’s 1934 historical fiction short story The Shadow of the Vulture. In it, “Red Sonya of Rogatino” aids the protagonist in a war against an Ottoman army. Much later on she became the basis for the “Red Sonja” character in the Marvel Comics version of Conan the Barbarian, which was published in the 1970s (she would get her own comic on down the line). According to her comic book origins, her family is slaughtered, and she’s raped and left for dead. Subsequently, she’s granted her revenge by a ghostly spirit that imbues her with superior sword-fighting skills, with the proviso that she never give herself over to another a man unless he defeats her in a fair fight.
The film version mostly adheres to this, adding in the evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman, who appeared as the character of Valeria in Conan the Barbarian), the one responsible for Sonja’s plight, as well as the eventual death of her sister Varna (Janet Agren). Queen Gedren is also seeking a mysterious Talisman with untold depths of power, while Sonja is aided by the child Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.), his loyal servant Falkon (Paul Smith), and the roaming warrior Lord Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), in an effort to destroy the queen. Other cast members include Ronald Lacey, Pat Roach, Terry Richards, Sven-Ole Thorsen, and Erik Holmey.
Schwarzenegger’s presence in Red Sonja is perhaps its most talked about aspect. For all intents and purposes, he returned to portray Conan once more, but in the guise of a different character, at least unintentionally. At the time, he felt a certain amount of loyalty to Dino De Laurentiis for helping to make him a star and agreed to appear in the film, but according to him, he was secretly coerced into being more of a co-star, which strained their relationship. The eventual marketing for Red Sonja was also more focused on his appearance, especially in Italy where Lord Kalidor’s character was renamed Yado, as was the film.
Unfortunately, Brigitte Nielsen wasn’t given nearly enough attention at the time, even outside of Italy, which is all the more tragic since the story is hers to carry. She’s excellent in the film, kicking ass and taking names and looking incredible while doing so. Had the story been more about her and Conan going on adventures together, as it was portrayed in the original comics, it would perhaps have felt less one-sided than it does. Then again, Red Sonja’s lack of success combined with the failure of other female-starring vehicles like Supergirl led many (male) producers and film critics to the conclusion that women couldn’t carry these types of films.
But let’s not kid ourselves here. I’m not going to pretend that Red Sonja is some misunderstood piece of high art that everyone missed the boat on it. Far from it. To this day, it’s considered one of the worst movies ever made, but if anybody truly believes that, they haven’t seen enough movies. Red Sonja is well-paced and entertaining, even if the performances are not all perfect and some of the story elements are vague or underutilized. Brigitte Nielsen commands the screen with great presence and beauty, and it’s interesting that Schwarzenegger’s Lord Kalidor is following her around and wanting to help her, not necessarily rescuing her like in a typical damsel-in-distress situation. It’s true that there are times when she’s in over her head, but if Lord Kalidor hadn’t shown up (outside of one small instance in the finale), she could have handled herself just fine. In other words, she doesn’t need anybody to save her, but she does manage to make a few friends along the way who wind up being valuable in her quest.
Another interesting aspect of Red Sonja is that it’s a slick Hollywood production, but made almost entirely with an Italian crew. Knowing that, it gives the film a subliminal feel akin to the 1950s and 1960s Steve Reeves-starring Hercules films, as well as 1980s Conan the Barbarian knock-offs like the Ator, the Fighting Eagle series, She (also featuring Sandahl Bergman), and The Barbarians. Overlooked entirely in Red Sonja by most are the meticulously-crafted sets and matte paintings, as well as some excellent cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno (The Leopard, Carnal Knowledge, Amarcord, and many other terrific-looking films). Let us also not forget the score by the great Ennio Morricone, which aids the film dutifully in giving it an epic feel. By far the most objectionable facet of the film is Ernie Reyes, Jr.’s character of Tarn, a blowhard child prince who thinks he’s better than everybody else in his path, even after he’s repeatedly bested. Thankfully, there is some redemption for him by the end, which makes him a little less conceited.
All of this is an extended preamble just to say that Red Sonja is better than its reputation would lead you to believe. There’s a simple charm to it, and an obvious attractive draw in its star, but it nowhere near reaches the depths of the poor cinema barrel as some would suggest. It’s imperfect, but it’s an enjoyable and good-looking romp nonetheless.
Cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno shot Red Sonja on 35mm film with Technovision (anamorphic) lenses, the results of which were finished photochemically and presented theatrically in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Arrow Video debuts the film on Ultra HD with a new 4K 16-Bit scan and restoration from the original negative carried out by StudioCanal, which has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and encoded to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. This is an amazing upgrade since previous presentations weren’t so stunning. The base scan and encoding are outstanding. Grain is much better resolved here with higher levels of fine detail and maxed out bitrates that sit in the 90 to 120Mbps range most of the time. Even the matte paintings blend better than before. The color offers a much more nuanced range of hues, thanks in no small part to the HDR passes. Unlike the StudioCanal 4K release, it’s a more organic-looking palette with more natural variations of green, brown, gold, and of course, red. Flesh tones are mostly natural, though occasionally appear pallid in some scenes. Blacks are deep with excellent contrast, but white levels seem a tad high in certain areas, including the opening titles. It’s a clean and stable presentation, and miles beyond anything seen previously, including StudioCanal’s own UHD release.
Audio options include English 1.0 mono LPCM and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, with optional subtitles in English SDH. This is one of those cases where the multi-speaker spread of a mono source only hampers what was already there, and even alters some minor things along the way, including the quality of the dialogue and the sound effects. The restored mono track handles everything much better with a crispness that’s missing from the 5.1 option. Ennio Morricone’s score has plenty of room to breathe on both tracks, but neither track has an advantage in this regard as they’re fairly equal. The mono track is the only solid option here, though some will prefer the additional speaker space and minuscule amount of additional reverb and low end.
The Arrow Video 4K Ultra HD release of Red Sonja sits in a black Amaray case containing six artcards and double-sided artwork, featuring the original U.S. theatrical artwork on one side and new artwork by Renato Casaro on the reverse. Alongside it is a double-sided poster with the same artwork options and a 40-page booklet containing cast and crew information, Red Sonja: The Crimson Warrior’s Legacy by John Walsh, Morricone Meets Red Sonja by Barry Forshaw, Brigitte Nielsen: The Warrior and the Icon by Nanni Cobretti, restoration information, production credits, and special thanks. Everything is housed in a rigid slipcase with a slipcover, both featuring the new artwork by Renato Casaro. The following extras are included on the disc:
- Audio Commentaries:
- Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth
- Dave Baxter
- The Prince and Me with Ernie Reyes Jr. (HD – 13:41)
- Swords, Stunts & Sonja with Vic Armstrong (HD – 15:59)
- The Last of the Invincibles: An Interview with Pietro Torrisi (HD – 26:09)
- The Danish Girl: An Interview with Ottaviano Dell’Acqua (HD – 16:08)
- The 12 Labors of Red Sonja: An Interview with Stefano Spadoni (HD – 30:43)
- The Marvels of a Primitive Technology: An Interview with Domingo Lizcano (HD – 28:10)
- Moulding Fantasies: An Interview with Adriano Carboni (HD – 20:18)
- Bodybuilding the Imagery: An Interview with Renato Casaro (HD – 22:34)
- A. Schwarzenegger: The Man Who Raised Hollywood (HD and Upscaled SD – 15:39)
- Red Sonja vs. Kalidor: The Making of a Misunderstanding (HD and Upscaled SD – 12:03)
- U.S. Theatrical Trailer (HD – 2:05)
- Image Gallery (HD – 55 in all)
The first audio commentary features the familiar combo of film critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth, and unfortunately, it’s not one of their better efforts. Ercolani dominates the conversation but seems unprepared most of the time, repeatedly uttering “uh” and “umm,” which is difficult to stick with, at least for me personally. They do attempt to cover the film’s release in the United States and Italy, and also address its primarily Italian crew, but you have to get over that obvious hurdle to get anything out of it. In other words, your mileage may vary. On the other hand, the other commentary with comic book expert Dave Baxter is quite excellent. He’s much better prepared and more consistent than his counterparts, detailing differences from the source material versus the final film, the origins of the Red Sonya character, the era in which the film was made and how it affected its creation, and the various comic book adaptations.
The Prince and Me interviews actor and martial artist Ernie Reyes Jr., who speaks about testing repeatedly for the part, incorporating martial arts into his character, working in Italy for the first time, his Dad being on set and a part of the production, crushing on Brigitte Nielsen and it helping with their scenes together, working out with Schwarzenegger, being comfortable with Paul Smith, working on real sets with horses, his experiences with the mechanical effects and shooting in water, his memories of the premiere and seeing his name on the screen for the first time, and the film’s longevity. Swords, Stunts & Sonja speaks to action unit supervisor Vic Armstrong about his long-time working relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger, being contracted to work on Red Sonja after Ridley Scott’s Legend, working with the mechanical effects, and having positive memories of director Richard Fleischer and the film itself. The Last of the Invincibles speaks to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stunt double Pietro Torrisi about working on Cleopatra, the many dangers and complications he’s faced on various projects, missing out on being the lead in a film that could have changed his career, working with Francesco Prosperi and Michele Massimo Tarantini, being hired for Red Sonja, his experiences with Paul Smith, appearing in bodybuilding competitions with Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu, and his memories of Red Sonja.
In The Danish Girl, stuntman Ottaviano Dell’Acqua discusses his beginnings in the business, learning on the job, shooting in Abruzzo, being captivated by Brigitte Nielsen, working with Schwarzenegger and his stuntmen, working in the “American cinema system,” safety coming first, Richard Fleischer’s style of shooting, working in different genres and having different approaches, and his memories of the cast. In The 12 Labors of Red Sonja, production assistant Stefano Spadoni talks about the creative sides of his father and grandfather, getting into the business because of his father, being fond of Red Sonja for the production experience and learning more about the business, learning a lot from Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian and American ways of making movies, rising production costs as the film went on, Schwarzenegger on the set, cell phones changing the film business, and the many merits of the film. In The Marvels of a Primitive Technology, special effects artist Domingo Lizcano discusses the career and work of set decorator and special effects artist Emilio Ruiz del Río in depth. In Moulding Fantasies, son of Rino Carboni and make-up artist Adriano Carboni talks about his father and special effects make-up in Italy from the beginning.
Bodybuilding the Imagery features an archival interview with artist Renato Casaro from 2018, who talks about becoming a poster artist and his various works. A. Schwarzenegger: The Man Who Raised Hollywood is an archival documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career, featuring interviews with directors Arthur Allan Seidelman and Peter Hyams, assistant director Michael Ferry, producer Edward Pressman, director and journalist Yannick Dahan, and screenwriter and journalist Stéphane Moïssakis. Red Sonja vs. Kalidor sees assistant director Michel Ferry returning to discuss Red Sonja more fully. Last is the U.S. theatrical trailer and an Image Gallery containing 55 images of production and promotional photos, posters, and promotional materials.
A few items from previous releases of the film haven’t carried over. The 2022 StudioCanal UHD release in France includes the documentary Renato Casaro: The Last Movie Painter, a gallery of Casaro’s artwork, and the German and U.K. theatrical trailers for the film. Also absent from StudioCanal’s previous Collector’s Edition DVD release is an exclusive interview with director Richard Fleischer.
Despite lacking a few of those extra items, the Arrow Video 4K presentation of Red Sonja is quite excellent, and it’s bound to bring new appreciations of the film into the fold, as well as reappraisal. If you’re a fan of the Conan universe or simply a fan of this one, it comes highly recommended.
- Tim Salmons
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