Review of Deathstalker (1983) by Matt . — 21 Sep 2009

If the prolific Italian spear and sandal movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s were an acquired taste, the sword and sorcery movies of the 1980s qualify as an even greater acquired taste. Greater, in this instance, is used in a pejorative sense. Sword and sorcery movies were lowest denominator adventure epics that fixated on bared breasts, bloody swords, and beefy biceps. Some infamous tyrant ruled a kingdom without right and a hero challenged his dominance. These movies were generally classified as guilty pleasures. Nobody took them seriously. After all, they amounted to ancient, larger-than-life hokum about mesomorphic heroes and wicked villains pitted against each other in a life or death struggle in fantasy settings. You could also find witches and other forms of phantasmagoric creatures lurking about in caves.

John Frankenheimer protégé James Sbardellati made his directorial debut with the colorful but cheesy R-rated opus DEATHSTALKER, an 81-minute spectacle was lensed on location in Argentina, South America. Like THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER and ATOR--THE FIGHTING EAGLE, DEATHSTAKER and its three sequels were produced to cash in on the success of CONAN THE BARBARIAN with Arnold Schwarzenegger. CONAN depicted the exploits of a mighty, muscle-bound individual who clashed with wizards, demons, and witches. CONAN also boasted a big budget, thanks to its indulgent producer Dino De Laurentiis. Schlockmeister Roger Corman helped foot the bill for DEATHSTALKER and it looks threadbare. A native of Kentucky, Rick Hill, who later starred in THE DEVASTATOR and WARRIOR QUEEN, provides the brawn as the eponymous strong man who turns from a life of outlawry to become a hero. Initially, his conduct is far from positive. In the first scene, Deathstalker rescues a damsel-in-distress from loathsome adversaries and then takes up where they had left off.

Later, he teams up with the warriors, Oghris (Richard Brooker) and Kaira (Lana Clarkson), and they got to compete in a tournament hosted by an evil sorcerer Munkar (Bernard Erhard) to determine which warrior will inherit Munkar's kingdom when he dies. The only problem is that sorcerer never die and only Deathstalker seems to appreciate this fact.

DEATHSTALKER is hilarious fun. My favorite character is Howie, the box monster that Munkar feeds fingers and eyeballs to. The best scene has Munkar changing one of his warriors into Playboy model Barbi Benton so he can get close enough to kill Deathstalker. If you are interested in the plot, it concerns the efforts of Deathstalker to collect the amulet of life, the chalice of magic, and the sword of justice so that he can have the power to control everything and live forever.