Amazons

Amazons is a 1986 Argentine-American fantasy adventure film directed by Alejandro Sessa and starring Penelope Reed, Danitza Kingsley, Joseph Whipp, Ty Randolph, and Jacques Arndt. The screenplay was written by Charles R. Saunders, based on his short story Agbewe’s Sword, which first appeared in the 1979 anthology Amazons! The short story is included as part of the series Dossouye, about the real-life female warriors of the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, gathered together in a novel published by Saunders in 2008. Plot Amazons is an epic story that follows a legendary tribe of warrior women from a mythical time, whose spirits are tied to magical trees. The amazons are currently being attacked by an army led by the evil king Kalungo, whose magic powers are given by the Weird Ways and the demonic being Balgore. The amazons' High Priest performs a ceremony, which reveals the magic sword of Azundati in the future of amazon warrior Dyala. Thinking the sword can stop Kalungo, the Emerald Queen selects Dyala and Tashi to retrieve the sword. Unbeknownst to Dyala, Tashi's mother, the one-armed combat instructor Tshingi tasks her daughter to kill Dyala and retrieve the sword for her, as she wants revenge for Dyala's mother cutting of her arm due to a fight over a man. Tshingi is also revealed to be working for Kalungo, who promised to make her the next Emerald Queen. She warns Kalungo, but tells him Tashi will get the sword for her and that he shouldn't worry. Not trusting Tshingi not to turn on him, Kalungo tasks his shape-shifting servant Akam to trail the two warriors, make sure they reach the sword, and then kill them. Meanwhile, oppressed servants of Kalungo plan a rebellion against him. The guards capture one of them, Vishti, but she manages to stab the guard who tries to rape her and escape in his clothes to join the amazons. Dyala and Tashi are attacked by bandits while bathing, who try to rape them, but Akam, shapeshifted to a lioness, kills a bandit and Dyala kills the rest. They enter the area of the reptilian demon-worshipper Pagash, who kidnap some drugged women sent to the forest as sacrifices for a demonic tree. The Pagash capture Tashi with a trap as well. Dyala lures the Pagash away and kills them with the traps she has set, and saves Tashi from sacrifice in the last minute. They meet a horse that leads them to a nomadic seer.