Deathstalker (Another goodie)

Score: 7 Out of 10

   This is now the second film I've seen in this genre (low budget sword and sorcery) and I have to say that I am really enjoying these movies. "Deathstalker (1983)" was directed by James Sbardellati. It stars Rick Hill, Barbi Benton and Lana Clarkson (who also played the lead in "Barbarian Queen (1985)). The film tells the story of an adventurer who enters into a fighting tournament in order to rescue a princess. This is another film just like "Barbarian Queen." It has plenty of action and nudity and the pacing is really good. Unfortunately the film is marred by bad acting, bad dialogue and bad writing. In addition, the first half of the movie does not seem to make a lot of sense. Most of the scenes leading up to the fighting tournament do not seem to serve a purpose. They do little in the way of character development and with the exception of a few lines of dialogue here or there, the film as a whole does almost nothing to build a back story for any of the characters. The end result is a cast of characters who feel very one dimensional. When a couple of the main characters die, I felt almost nothing for them.

    Humor, however, is this films strong point. The movie from start to finish does not take itself seriously at all. It almost feels as if the director knew he did not have a chance at making a really good movie so he just had fun with it. The violence in the movie is also presented from a humorous stand point. There is quite a bit of gore in this movie (an amount that almost makes it more like a horror film than an action film) but even when a character was being pulled apart by horses it managed to get a chuckle out of me. Overall this is a pretty fun movie. It is also the first of a four part series so I look forward to watching the sequels.

Love,

   The B-Movie Guy

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