Joe D’Amato was a prolific Italian director, cinematographer, and producer, known primarily for horror (e.g., Anthropophagus, Beyond the Darkness), erotic films, and adult cinema. He also directed several exotic/exploitation films set in Africa or Asia, often using recurring themes of queens, jungles, and deserts. However, the specific title Queen of Elephants 2 does not appear in his filmography.
The most likely possibilities are:
Given that, I will provide a general analytical framework for a hypothetical essay on such a film, based on D’Amato’s known stylistic and thematic patterns, particularly his desert-set, exotic-erotic productions. This will allow you to adapt the essay if you locate the actual film or substitute a similar work.
The late 1990s was a transitional moment for European adult cinema. The widespread availability of internet pornography was beginning to kill the traditional "erotic thriller" and "softcore adventure" market. D'Amato, ever pragmatic, simply lowered his budgets further and sped up production – sometimes filming two movies simultaneously.
Queen of Elephants 2: Sahara belongs to a subgenre of "desert erotica" that includes earlier films like The Sheik (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, The Desert Fox (erotic remakes), and D'Amato's own The Desert of the Damned (1991-ish?). By setting his story in North Africa, he tapped into European colonial nostalgia and timeless exoticism, safe from modern political correctness.
Moreover, the "elephant" motif, while barely visible in the sequel (budget constraints likely meant stock footage of elephants from an earlier documentary), serves as a symbol of memory, strength, and matriarchy – fitting for the Queen figure.
Joe D’Amato (born Aristide Massaccesi) is one of cinema’s most protean figures: prolific, controversial, and endlessly adaptable. Best known for low-budget genre work across horror, erotic thriller, and exploitation cinema, D’Amato developed both a recognizable visual shorthand and an instinct for maximizing shock, atmosphere, and marketability on tiny budgets. “Queen of Elephants 2: Sahara -19...” reads like a title scraped from the wildest corners of exploitation distribution catalogs—one of those intriguing, half-mythical entries that invite curiosity: is it a lost sequel, a miscataloged rarity, or an evocative pastiche that channels D’Amato’s obsessions?
This post examines the probable identity of such a title, teases apart its thematic DNA, and imagines how D’Amato might have built a film around that name—useful both for cinephiles tracing his filmography and for writers or filmmakers inspired by his methods.
Director: Joe D’Amato (Aristide Massaccesi)
Subgenre: Erotic Adventure / Softcore Safari Joe D-Amato - Queen Of Elephants 2- Sahara -19...
If you know Joe D’Amato, you know not to expect Lawrence of Arabia. The man gave us Emanuelle in America, Anthropophagus, and a mountain of pseudonymous erotic cash-grabs. Queen of Elephants 2: Sahara—a sequel in name only to his earlier Queen of Elephants—fits comfortably (or uncomfortably) into his later period: shot on cheap video, dubbed poorly, and held together by sunburned skin, jangling jewelry, and the faint smell of desperation.
Plot?
Our heroine (insert blonde, foreign actress with limited English) travels to the Sahara to find… something? A lost treasure? A missing lover? The film isn’t sure. She encounters a sheikh with a tiger-print turban, a rival adventurer with a permanent sneer, and several local “tribesmen” who appear to be Italian bodybuilders with a single day’s tan. Mostly, the plot stops every 12 minutes for a softcore encounter involving silk sheets, sand dunes, and the least convincing animal wrangling since Roar.
The D’Amato Touch
True to form, D’Amato directs with his signature “zoom-and-grope” aesthetic. The cinematography is either glaringly overexposed (daytime desert shots) or murky brown (nighttime tent scenes). The elephant promised in the title appears for roughly 47 seconds—stock footage spliced with a medium shot of our heroine riding something that might be a real pachyderm or might be a very patient man in a rug.
Performances
Everyone delivers dialogue like they’re reading cue cards in a windstorm. The lead actress spends 70% of her screen time in various states of undress and 30% looking confused at the horizon—perhaps wondering how her agent talked her into this. The male villain has a mustache that deserves its own credit.
Sex & Violence
The sex scenes are standard 90s late-night Italian softcore: repetitive synth music, heavy breathing, and lots of pearl-clutching close-ups. Violence is minimal—a dagger threat here, a slap there. This isn’t D’Amato at his gory peak (Beyond the Darkness); it’s D’Amato paying for a camel rental.
Verdict
Queen of Elephants 2: Sahara is for D’Amato completists and fans of so-bad-it’s-hypnotic erotic trash only. If you want desert adventure with competent filmmaking, watch The English Patient. If you want to see a fake sheikh fondle a European tourist while a man in a cheap elephant costume stomps past a tent in the background… well, you’ve found your oasis.
Rating: ★½ (out of 5) – One star for the sheer chutzpah. Half a star for the elephant’s cameo.
Title: Joe D’Amato’s Desert Delirium: A Look Back at "Queen of the Elephants 2: Sahara" (1995) Confusion with Emanuelle in Egypt (or other Black
If you are a connoisseur of the bizarre, the sleazy, and the gloriously low-budget, there is one name that stands above the rest in the pantheon of Italian exploitation cinema: Joe D’Amato.
The man was a cinematic chameleon. He dabbled in horror (the infamous Beyond the Darkness), post-apocalyptic action (Endgame), and hardcore porn, often blurring the lines between all three. But in the mid-90s, D’Amato turned his gaze toward the adventure genre—or at least, his version of it. The result was a string of exotic, softcore adventure epics that tried to ride the coattails of Indiana Jones but with a fraction of the budget and a surplus of nudity.
Today, we’re venturing into the sandy, surreal world of "Queen of the Elephants 2: Sahara" (also known simply as Sahara in some markets).
By 1998, Joe D'Amato was operating in a low-budget, digital-video frontier era. Many of his late-90s films were shot on 16mm or early digital video, then transferred to VHS and eventually DVD for international markets, especially Germany, France, and Japan. Queen of Elephants 2: Sahara likely followed this pattern.
No official theatrical release occurred. DVD-era boutique labels (like X-Cess in Germany or NoShame in the US, though they focused on earlier works) have largely ignored the late-period D'Amato catalog, making Queen of Elephants 2 a rare collector's item today.
The adult film industry has been home to numerous directors who have left their mark on the world of cinema, pushing boundaries and exploring themes that are often considered taboo. Among these, Joe D'Amato stands out for his prolific career and the sheer volume of work he produced. One of his notable works, "Queen Of Elephants 2- Sahara -19," invites us to reflect on the themes, cinematography, and the director's vision that defined his career.
Joe D’Amato films often have 5–10 alternate titles (Queen of the Elephants could be a re-cut of Sahara or Violence in a Women’s Prison etc.). Fans looking for “Queen of Elephants 2 – Sahara” might find nothing, yet the footage exists under another name. No tool currently maps scene-by-scene across different edits.
The narrative is essentially a clothesline for the action set-pieces—and by "action," I mostly mean simulated sex scenes and people pointing guns at each other. Given that, I will provide a general analytical
Set in the sun-scorched deserts of an unspecified North African location (likely filmed in Italy or a cheaper Mediterranean stand-in), the story follows a group of adventurers. Our heroes are on the run from bandits, corrupt officials, and rival treasure hunters. The goal? Survival, mostly.
D’Amato’s direction here is surprisingly competent in terms of lighting and framing. By 1995, he was a veteran, and he knew exactly how to shoot a scene to make it look glossy enough for the video store shelves. The pacing, however, is pure exploitation—alternating between tedious exposition and bursts of softcore erotica.
The term "exotic erotic" was coined precisely for films like this. D'Amato was not attempting realism but a dreamlike, orientalist fantasy reminiscent of 19th-century Orientalist painting (Delacroix, Ingres) filtered through 1970s Italian peplum and Russ Meyer-style bosom-heavy aesthetics. Key genre elements include:
The "Lost Civilization" trope: An ancient kingdom untouched by modernity, where sexual customs differ from Western morals. This allows for nude ceremonies, tribal dances, and harems.
The Powerful Queen: Unlike the helpless women in some D'Amato horror, the Elephant Queen is dominant – often wielding a whip, dagger, or staff. She selects lovers and casts out interlopers. She represents both maternal power and castrating threat.
Sand as sensual element: D'Amato often films bodies rolling in dunes, sand clinging to damp skin. The Sahara is not an enemy but a voluptuous, warm bed.
Minimal dialogue, maximum lensing: The story is secondary to rhythmically edited sequences of undressing, baths, rituals, and softcore couplings.
Compared to Queen of Elephants 1 (possibly set in India or Africa), Sahara pushes toward a more monochromatic color palette – golds, browns, oranges – and less greenery, heightening the heat and isolation.