As written by producer Nico Mastorakis and Curt Allen, Bloodstone is a lightweight clone of Romancing The Stone that piles on silly dialogue (some of it wittier than expected), a handful of slapstick moments and a few low-scale action sequences - including a burning rope bridge scene, which you know is a must in this type of movie.

In the Kawaran region of India in 1221, Princess Lafla dies in an accident, which causes the entire area to mourn as well as her spirit to be transferred into a priceless ruby-like gem (or at least that's sort of what we're given the impression of, even though it's never brought up again).

It's modern day and the gem has recently been stolen by some crooks. Traveling American couple Sandy (Brett Stimely) and Stephanie (Anna Nicholas) are textile company owners who are out in India to see the sights as well as do a little bit of business on the side. They run into a suspicious looking fellow who, it turns out, was responsible for stealing the gem and is currently on the run from the police and baddie Van Hoeven (Christopher Neame).

The gem ends-up being slipped into the luggage of our fun loving foreigners and soon they find themselves becoming the target of some inept hit men (there's a dopey fist fight in their hotel room about a third of the way in) while a local police inspector with a penchant for proclaiming "outrageous!" called Ramesh (Charlie Brill) is trying to hunt down the gem.

Eventually Sandy has to team-up with small time crook (and taxi driver) Shyam (Rajni Kanth, a huge Bollywood star making one of his few American film appearances and stealing the show out from under everyone with his charm) when Van Hoeven kidnaps Stephanie and threatens to kill her unless he gets the stone for himself.

Filled with lots of mild "sneaking about" scenes and pretty light on action moments, Bloodstone still manages to be a watchable time. It could've used a lot more adventure and a tad less comedy but you can't help but get a few chuckles at all the goofing around that's going on.

Stimely (who would go on to make brief appearances on numerous television shows as well as have a reoccurring role on soap opera "The Bold And The Beautiful") makes for an okay "macho type" hero, Brill is hammy and agreeable in his role, and the rest of the largely Hindi cast does quite well, but the entire thing belongs to Kanth and his unexplainable charisma.

Director Dwight Little, who doesn't get to do much exciting here apart from a finale where he gets to film sword fights and a horse cavalry, would go on to direct the fourth Halloween movie as well as the Steven Seagal starring Marked For Death and Brandon Lee's underrated Rapid Fire before heading into a career of mostly television directing. Producer/co-writer Mastorakis would continue to sporadically put out B-flicks under his Omega Entertainment moniker. (Chris Hartley, 2/10/07)

Directed By: Dwight Little.
Written By: Nico Mastorakis, Curt Allen.

Starring: Brett Stimely, Rajni Kanth, Anna Nicholas, Charlie Brill.