Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Review: Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues

When the live-action Red Sonja movie came out in 1985, I couldn’t have been more excited. I was in my early teens and playing Dungeons & Dragons as often as possible, and was eager to eat up anything that was in any way related to swords and magic. Now, coincidentally, with the release of the animated movie Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues, I am once again playing Dungeons & Dragons (though am far removed from my teens), and am again excited about this character. It is being released as a two-disc set, with both the Blu-ray and DVD in one package.

Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues is based on the recent comic book written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Walter Geovani, and it uses both the dialogue and illustrations from those books. Thus, it has an interesting and unusual look, and the characters’ movements have a somewhat awkward, slow, deliberate feel. I could do, however, without the shaky camera at moments near the beginning; that doesn’t really work well with animation.

The movie opens at the end of a battle, and quickly establishes the characters of King Dimath and his son. When going to release the prisoners from the dungeon, they find only two survivors, one of whom identifies herself as Red Sonja. Then, three turns of the seasons later, two young women approach Red Sonja on behalf of King Dimath, who seeks her help in protecting what’s left of his kingdom. There are some oddly humorous lines, like when one of the girls addresses Sonja as “Oh, she of the excellent cleavage.” Later she calls her “Queen of all fermented beverages” due to her passion for the drink.

The King wants Sonja to teach the population to be soldiers before they’re attacked by the Zamorans. And we see the training of women and children, and then Sonja leading them into battle. Dark Annisia, a woman Sonja refers to as her sister, leads the opposing force of monsters. Three years ago they were forced to fight each other as slaves, and now Annisia believes she’s haunted by the ghosts of other slaves they were forced to kill. This sequence features some very cool-looking animation, with Annisia surrounded by tormented souls. But Annisia’s line “They want hell to be full of souls to ease their solitude” makes no sense at all, as there are so many of them. What solitude?

King Dimath is slain and suddenly Annisia reveals that Red Sonja has the plague. There are hints of a past sexual relationship between Sonja and Annisia, as Annisia kisses her, but then Annisia forces Sonja to surrender and to agree to a life of exile in the mountains to the north in order to have the rest of the soldiers’ lives spared. The movie then follows her into exile, where she has visions and is reminded of her past. Meanwhile, Annisia is allowing the people of that kingdom to starve, so it can’t be long before Red Sonja returns.

The movie has an odd feel, with more dialogue and voice over than action, almost like the story is being read to us. But there is some wonderful animation. The movie features the voices of Misty Lee as Red Sonja, Shannon Kingston as both Ayla and Nias, Becca Strom as Dark Annisia, Scott McNeil as both Tiath and Bazrat, and Tyler Nicol as King Dimath.

Special Feature

Both the Blu-ray and the DVD include the special feature, The Making Of Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues. This includes an interview with Brian Ward, the supervising producer, who also produced and directed this special feature. He talks about the project, including using the original illustrator’s artwork. There are also interviews with writer Gail Simone and actor Misty Lee, and we’re shown some behind-the-scenes footage of the recording of some of the dialogue. This feature is approximately nineteen minutes.

Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues is scheduled to be released on August 2, 2016 through Shout! Factory.