Product Details

• Actors: Margaret Markov, Pam Grier, Lucretia Love, Paul Muller, Daniele Vargas
• Directors: Steve Carver
• Writers: John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington
• Producers: Mark Damon, Roger Corman
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Concorde
• VHS Release Date: February 19, 2002
• Run Time: 83 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304989199
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,956 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Four women are kidnapped by Roman soldiers, never to see their native peoples again. They are forced to be concubines for the gladiators and handmaidens to the other wealthy patrons who frequent "The Arena". But when the crowd grows tired of the usual man versus man or man versus lion, the local ruler must find something more exciting to please the fans. What could be more thrilling than watching these exotic women, a Nubian named Mamawi (Pam Grier), a fair priestess from Brittany, Bodicia (Margaret Markov) and others, fight one another to their deaths? Unwilling to kill each other, the armed and dangerous women turn on the crowd.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gladiator-babes in ancient Rome!, March 20, 2001

By 

Bill W. Dalton (Santa Ana, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Arena (aka Naked Warriors) (DVD)

This is Roger Corman's version of Gladiator and Caligula rolled into one, years before them! And it's not bad, either. Beautiful slave girls must fight to the death in the arena in ancient Rome as a novelty for the jaded Romans. The gladiator girls learn to fight and then use their skills to revolt and escape. Sort of a feminist take on Spartacus.

And the production values belie the usual low-budget restrictions. The costumes, sets, props, and fight scenes are good, and Pam Grier, in her pre-Coffy star-making role, is feisty, pugnacious, and naked, too. Her nude scene, in fact, got a top 3-star rating in Craig Hosoda's The Bare Facts video guide!

The bonus features on this DVD include not one, but two Leonard Maltin-Roger Corman interviews, but neither of them is about this movie in particular! There's the movie trailer, trailers of several other Corman films, a chapter index, booklet, and a few mini- biographies of cast and crew. The image quality is good.

Unfortunately, though, the movie is in full screen format when it would have really benefited from the widescreen treatment. All in all, not quite what it should have been, but still worth it to all us diehard Corman/Grier/ancient Rome fans! MORITURI SALUTAMUS!

"O Cæsar, Morituri Salutamus!"

"O Cæsar, we who are about to die Salute you!" was the gladiators' cry In the arena, standing face to face With death and with the Roman populace.

--Longfellow

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Movie, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Arena [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was an awesome "guy" film. 4 elements made it stand out as such. 1) The main characters were Pam Grier and Margeret Markov. Two very attactive women. 2) There was constant action throughout the movie. Even a couple of catfights. 3) Of course it wouldn't be a guy film without tons of unnecessary nudity. Both Grier and Markov have full frontial shots! 4)But to top it off, it's not like you're sitting though a bunch of mindless scenes just to see Grier and Markov. Rather this film has a really great storyline. The plot is believable (except for maybe one scene) and the message really touches your heart. It's a great film worth owning. and if you like it you should check out.."Black Mama, White Mama"..not nearly as good but has it's moments.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining B movie, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Arena (aka Naked Warriors) (DVD)

This movie will take you back to the 70's, when one would go to action double features in second run movie theaters such as the Ambassador in San Juan. It's basically the standard Roger Corman "women in prison" formula but set in Roman times. But it's still a lot of fun. Pam Grier is, as usual, amazing. And she has two really good nude scenes which should really please fans. The action sequences are pretty good for this kind of movie. It would have been great to have some commentary by Pam Grier, but, all in all, it's a great movie to sit back, grab some popcorn, have a couple of beers and have a great time.