Fantasy Flix: Deathstalker (1983)

Director: James Sbardellati

Writer: Howard R. Cohen

The warrior Deathstalker is tasked by an old witch lady to obtain and unite the three powers of creation - a chalice, an amulet, and a sword - lest the evil magician Munkar get them and use them for nefarious purposes. After obtaining the sword, Deathstalker joins with other travellers going to the Big Tournament to determine the strongest warrior. The false king holds the true princess in captivity, and plots to have Deathstalker killed, and Deathstalker must fight to free the princess.

Deathstalker is one of the movies from the 80's (along with Hawk the Slayer, and Conan) that really got me into fantasy movies. Of course my time spent playing D&D table-top helped too. There is a lot of negativity towards this movie that I can tell. Of course it isn't "good", not many of these movies are, that's where a lot of the charm comes from. So the real question here is, upon recent re-watch, did it hold up for me?

Yes, it held up for me. I fucking love this movie. It could have a lot to do with nostalgia, but add on to that the sword-slashery, the gratuitous nudity, the one-liners, and the fact that it's fantasy. I still got a kick out of watching this again.

The story is simple. Our hero is tasked with saving a princess, kicking ass in an arena and getting laid. Typical fantasy fare, but we don't watch these for extensive plot do we?

Plot: 7

The acting is pretty good for a low budget flick like this. Hill is excellent as Deathstalker. Benton and Brooker are good. I really have no complaints here.

Acting: 7

Besides some animated lightning, there's really no computerized effects here, only practical make-up effects which I thought were done pretty well. Some of them are better than others... and besides, you have Pig-man.

I'm going to replace "cheese", with "action" since I really don't watch these FOR the cheese, but I do enjoy the action and think it should be discussed. The action here is, well... o.k. Some scenes are better than others and some actors are better than others. I thought the stuff with Deathastalker and Oghris were pretty good (except when they were homo-erotically wrestling each other in bed), but most of the action here is pretty 80's WWF stuff.

Action: 5

And of course we have the women. I have to admit, I'm pretty torn here personally. I think most of you guys will love all the gratuitous nudity here, but frankly, I'm not one for giant breasts. Benton and Clarkson honestly do nothing for me. I do like the brunette with Oghris who is not named and unfortunately I have no Idea who she is.

Eye-Candy: 5