Deathstalker

A warrior named Deathstalker is sent on a quest by a witch to find a chalice, an amulet, and a sword. Soon, he's making new allies while battling warriors, creatures, and a wizard, in a story that's as thin as parchment but somehow still compelling in its brazen absurdity.

Hot off the back of Conan the Barbarian (1982), director James Sbardellati (credited as John Watson) delivers a film in the vein of The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), though without the latter's sense of scope or panache. Howard R. Cohen's adult-oriented plot is paper-thin-more a skeleton for chaos than a story-but it suits the kind of low-budget, testosterone-fueled nonsense this era of sword-and-sorcery demanded.

Modeled on He-Man, Rick Hill (with a dash of Peter Weller and Dolph Lundgren) does a serviceable job as Deathstalker, bulking up the brawny charm while looking permanently winded from wearing so little. The late Lana Clarkson, however, steals every scene she touches, exuding both danger and allure with effortless presence. Richard Brooker as Oghris is a welcome oddity; one of those performances you remember for no good reason other than sheer theatricality.

Gratuitous nudity, a dash of unnecessary rape, and all the hallmarks of Roger Corman production shortcuts are on full display-cheap sets, choppy editing-but the high-concept lunacy carries it for the most part. Óscar Cardozo Ocampo's score deserves a nod: it lifts the proceedings, energises the fight scenes, and even when intrusive, it somehow feels part of the charm, like a synth-powered alarm announcing chaos.

The giant pig-man gladiator fight scene is a highlight, ridiculous and unwieldy, nothing like the promotional art but all the better for it. The showdown borrows from Superman II (1980) with Flash Gordon's Ming-like sorcerer Munkar, played by Bernard Erhard, getting his moment to shine-somehow lending gravitas to an otherwise gleeful trashfest.

Overall, it takes itself seriously, it's violent, and wall-to-wall scantily-clad leads and extras parade through every frame. Yet there's an undeniable appeal: low-budget 1980s sword-and-sorcery shenanigans, a dash of audacious nonsense, and just enough spectacle to make it one of the better Conan cash-ins. Poster art is still better than the film, but in that gleeful, slightly trashy way, Deathstalker has its own charm.

This is a classic that is so bad it's good. It's a likely intentional parody of itself.

It's cheap, dumb fun, something to relax and shut off your mind. This makes it pretty hard to rate, but let me try anyway.

Will this movie make you think? Absolutely not! Not a chance.

Will it make you burst out into laughter? That depends on your taste. It might, but also it isn't a comedy. Instead it plays with cliches, cliche fantasy and I think at that it does a decent job.

The story, as is usual with such movies is extremely thin. You can essentially ignore it. If you feel like something doesn't make sense, you are absolutely right! Nothing makes sense, but it's also not really meant to.

If you want to go for a silly, 80s cult movie, maybe watch something with friends, be it real ones or a can of beer, or whatever you are into, this movie might make for a wonderful, joyful evening.

This is an incredibly silly yet entertaining swords and sorcery flick from executive producer Roger Corman. Richard Hill stars as Deathstalker, an oiled-up beefcake of a hero with long blond hair and a lantern jaw, who is tasked by an old witch with finding a trio of magical artifacts before the evil wizard Munkar does and can become all-powerful. Along the way on his quest, Deathstalker meets up with a variety of friends, including a guy who starts off as some kind of goblin in a cave, another happy-go-lucky adventurer, and a warrior-woman who remains shirtless throughout (played by Lana Clarkson, the B-actress who was shot dead by Phil Spector in 2003).

The early 1980's were a big time for fantasy films, with the two Conan films with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dragonslayer, The Beastmaster, and The Sword & the Sorcerer. Deathstalker is their trashy exploitation cousin. This film has it all: a bald bad guy with a dumb tattoo on his face, a pig-man with a snotty nose, giants, lots of people with no shirts, a weird puppet monster in a box that eats fingers and eyeballs, a fighters' tournament, lots of people with no pants, gangs of mutants, silly costumes, harem girls, flashy spells, and Barbi Benton. I was able to appreciate its good points - maybe it's just nostalgia - but most rational people will find it lurid and dumb. This was an American-Argentinian co-production with a sequel that actually is an improvement.

The man known as Deathstalker (Rick Hill) is asked by an old king to rescue his daughter from the evil wizard Munkar (Bernard Erhard). Deathstalker rejects this plea saying that the days of heroes are over. But when all sword-fighters of the land are called by Munkar to a tournament, he can't resist...

"Deathstalker" picks up all the clichés of fantasy movies, from wizards and princesses to mystical artifacts with great powers, and it adds a whole lot of sex and violence. Actually that happens to a degree that it gets hilariously funny. For example a giant kills a dwarf with several strokes of a heavy war hammer - and only a bit of blood red mud remains. Or the female warrior Kaira (Lana Clarkson) fights topless throughout the film. Go figure. "Deathstalker" goes w-a-y over the top, the ironical music indicates this was probably intended, and the action scenes are at least better directed than those of all the following flicks.

Lana Clarkson became the "Barbarian Queen". Screenplay writer Howard Cohen went on to script "Barbarian Queen" and "Deathstalker 3". Rick Hill returned for "Deathstalker 4". Executive producer Roger Corman spent another 75 bucks (roughly estimated) on the 3 Deathstalker sequels and "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom", to name but a few. And why not, if "Deathstalker" was a success.

This is the first of four movies (so far) to feature the hero/barbarian/rogue character of Deathstalker.

Now when you think of heroes in the Sword & Sorcery genre, they often have, shall we say, somewhat loose morals.....fair enough, as the films are often set in the dark ages or even earlier and we could therefore theoretically suppose that chivalry, at least as we know it today was not exactly in place back then (for that matter does it exist now?!) However, having said this, the heroes do still tend to be basically amiable chaps who adhere to some form of justice and honour.

Take Dar from The Beastmaster for instance, he seems like a really decent chap in fact (as long as you don't get on the wrong side of him - in which case he'd probably slice you in twain!)

The case of the eponymous Deathstalker is rather different however, for here we have a 'hero' who's immoral actions (particularly against women) give the main villain of the film a good run for his money! Yes, it has to be said that in the annals of cinematic good guys, Deathstalker (at least as portrayed in this entry in the series) will hardly be winning any accolades for his chivalry!

Aside from the somewhat unlikeable hero, the film itself starts off in a decidedly disjointed manner.

In fact, the first half of the film is filled with a series of scenes that make very little sense whatsoever! For instance one particularly stupid, pointless scene set in a cave from which our hero must retrieve a magical sword, left my jaw agape at just how ridiculous it was!

Thankfully, the second half of the movie is much better and features some rather exciting fight scenes as our hero battles it out in a gladiatorial contest. There is also a fair amount of gore on display here to, a factor which always ups the enjoyment value in these type of films.

Another positive for the movie (at least from a red blooded males perspective) is the copious amount of nudity displayed by the female cast in this. Hardly a minute seems to go by without a beautiful woman baring her breasts (all in the most gratuitous manner of course!)

Overall then, whilst this film isn't likely to be remembered as a milestone in cinematic history, it does have a few of it's own (B-movie) merits and is certainly not a bad way to spend an hour and a half or so, on perhaps a lazy night in.