Rating: **
Review Date: 5/9/21
Cast: Tawny Kitaen, Brent Huff, Zabou Breitman
An erotic action farce based on the BDSM comic strip "Sweet Gwendoline" that was published in the 1940's. A naïve and air-headed young woman named Gwendoline (Tawny Kitaen) escapes from a convent with her nursemaid Beth (Zabou Breitman) and travels to China in a shipping crate to track down her missing father who was last seen trying to capture a rare butterfly in the deadly land of the Yik-Yak. She has a knack for getting into trouble and is immediately captured and sold to a sex trafficker. As luck would have it, she's accidentally rescued by a scoundrel named Willard (Brent Huff) who shows up demanding some money that he's owed. Gwendoline and Beth beg Willard to help them find Gwendoline's father, and he eventually relents. When they find the fabled land of the Yik-Yak, it turns out to be a lost civilization of cruel warrior women and the outsiders are captured and sentenced to die.
This film is definitely a product of the 1980s, although the musical score has a strong disco vibe. It's a good looking film with colorful cinematography, attractive locations, and impressive sets. Unfortunately, the acting is dreadful, the dialog is appalling, and the action scenes are embarrassingly awful. It tries to be playfully sexy and funny, but that's constantly undermined by the film's abrasively sexist and misogynistic tone. The film is mostly remembered for its fetish wardrobe, bondage imagery, and Tawny Kitaen's topless scenes. If any of those pique your interest, it might be worth checking out. Otherwise, you're better off avoiding this bizarre piece of foreign cheesecake.