Tales of an Ancient Empire

Tales of an Ancient Empire
Directed by Albert Pyun
Produced by
  • Nicholas Celozzi
  • Cynthia Curnan
  • Sazzy Lee Calhoun
Written by Cynthia Curnan
Starring
Music by Anthony Riparetti
Cinematography Philip Alan Waters
Edited by David Lamb
Production
company
New Tales
Release dates
  • 2010
Running time
 85 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Tales of an Ancient Empire is a 2010 American fantasy-sword and sorcery film directed by Albert Pyun. It is the sequel to Pyun's directorial debut, The Sword and the Sorcerer.

Synopsis

Queen Ma’at finds her kingdom of Abelar under attack when treasure seekers accidentally open the tomb of vampire queen Xia. The Queen sends her half-sister, Princess Tanis, to the outlaw city of Douras to find her real father so he can save the kingdom. Meanwhile, servant girl Kara who shares the same father as Tanis, but her mother is Xia and discovers she (Xia) is really a vampire and begins hunting Tanis. Once in Douras, the Princess finds her half-brother Aedan and convinces him to help her. Together they locate half-sister Malia, another half-sister Rajan and her daughter Alana. With this small group they plan to thwart vampire queen Xia.

Cast

Production

The sequel was originally announced in the end credits of The Sword and the Sorcerer. The production officially beginning with the writing of the script in November 2007.[1] Principal photography was completed in California.[1] According to Pyun, actors considered for the film included Yancy Butler, Kari Wuhrer, Mark Dacascos, Val Kilmer, Steven Seagal, Olivier Gruner, and Christopher Lambert.[1]

Release

The film had its official North American premiere at the Fright Night Film Fest during July 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky.[2] The film was released in the United States by Lionsgate in January 2012.[3]

Reception

Bob Calhoun of Salon.com wrote that Sorbo "sinks to sad new lows" after starring in the film.[4] Scott Weinberg of Twitch Film called it "one of the worst films I've ever seen". Weinberg said that it is "the sort of movie that makes you reconsider Uwe Boll's status as the reigning king of movie crap".[5] Nick Hartel of DVD Talk rated it 0/5 stars and also called Pyun worse than Boll, whom he called merely lazy rather than incompetent like Pyun.[6] David Johnson of DVD Verdict wrote that the film's only redeeming quality is that it is "laughably short".[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Tale behind the making of Tales of an Ancient Empire". pyun.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  2. ↑ "Tales of an Ancient Empire to Debut at Fright Night Film Fest". dreadcentral.com. Retrieved 2011-04-04.
  3. ↑ Moore, Debi (2011-12-12). "Watch the First 18 Minutes of Tales of an Ancient Empire". Dread Central. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  4. ↑ Calhoun, Bob (2012-01-22). "The tragedy of Kevin Sorbo". Salon.com. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  5. ↑ Weinberg, Scott (2011-07-18). "Weinberg Reviews TALES OF AN ANCIENT EMPIRE". Twitch Film. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  6. ↑ Hartel, Nick (2012-02-14). "Tales of an Ancient Empire". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  7. ↑ Johnson, David (2012-01-09). "Tales of an Ancient Empire". DVD Verdict. Retrieved 2015-03-27.

External links