Deathstalker (1983)

Truly Dreadful Film

Brilliant and touching

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

If your a fan of pretty ladies especially undressed ones and a fan of warrior flicks this is my favorite. Believable action hero and plenty of beautiful starlets including Lana Clarkson (one of my personal favorites).Don't expect great acting or a big budget but the premise is great and while not quite like Arnold playing Conan which is another great example of the genre with a bigger budget and and better known cast. I watched this many years ago and bought both the DVD and VHS and enjoyed it many times in between. What's not to like about an near immortal holding a contest to find the greatest Warriors in the land while they eliminate each other in their quest for glory.There are a few others from this time era I enjoyed but most never had all the things in place. If your gonna do a warrior film have the following. 1. premise of plot Yep pretty thin but a plot none the less.2. Lots of pretty ladies including at least one well known one.3. Have the hero with at least fighting skills.4. Actually release a sequel or several.Missing any of the above and it goes downhill pretty quick.Incidentally for those wondering Conan The Barbarian and Destroyer are among my other favorites.Don't expect a lot and you will be surprised as for a low budget film this has everything from Humor (yes for real)a quest (no need for a hero without one right). Barbie Benton (the reason I watched it the first time). And the lovely Lana Clarkson (the reason a watched many times since). I got my DVD at a discount and was glad to finally get it again having sold the tape many years ago. So have fun, pop some popcorn grab a drink and kick back and escape for a hour and half to a time when they only knew one law and that was survivable of the fittest.If you got this far yes it's a grade b movie but in my opinion one of the best.It's the kind of movie just made for late night cable or DVD that does just what a movie should do and that's entertain you.

Firstly let's not beat around the bush! This is a low budget, and I mean LOW budget fantasy film. Right now if you accept that then this film is great fun. Especially for a bunch of guys to watch with a few beers. The film makes no apologies, it's just totally gratuatious with heads flying off all over the place and barely a scene goes by without a good solid flash of naked females. Rape scenes, free sex, mud wrestling, magic, swords, muscles, blood it's all in there.As a film it is nowhere near the quality of Conan The Barbarian, but it's one of these films you don't watch expecting to be moved to tears (Except by laughter!) Overall a fantastically bad fantasy epic that film snobs should avoid at all costs but everyone else should give a bash on those Saturday nights in with the mates.

Woosh…! Man… What can I say...?The opening-scene, maybe? We see a bunch of mongoloid-barbarians with bad make-up jump off the walls of some ruins. They sneak around and attack some dude with a scantily clothed captive girl. The dude runs off, the mongoloids follow him and one of them stays behind seemingly to rape the girl, but instead he exposes one of her breasts and kidnaps her. Then, the dude (still on the run) sees a horse and tries to steal it. Suddenly… a blond god-like looking hero with a bad wig appears, saying "That's my horse!". The Mighty Deathstalker just made his appearance. The mongoloids arrive, Deathstalker kills all of them (including the dude) on the tunes of some rather inappropriate Mexicanos western score (this is supposed to be a Swords & Sorcery flick, so what's with the 'arriba-trompettos'?), and then goes up to Captive Girl and exposes both her breasts. He starts to rub them and Captive Girl seems to like it. She starts liking her lips and caressing Deathstalker. Just when they are about to get down to it, this old dude appears, interrupting what could have been the end of a perfect day for Deathstalker (and a possible perfect ending for a short-film).Now tell me… Isn't that the point where either a feminist would angrily switch off the movie, or any other male viewer would say "This is going to be one hell of a good movie!" The plot is as simple as throwing a kitten from the balcony: Deathstalker must obtain the Sword of Justice and use it to steal the Amulet of Life and the Chalice of Magic from the evil sorcerer Munkar.Aside from decapitations, dismemberment, random bloodshed, retarded fist fights and embarrassing sword fights, this film also contains a massive amount of t!ts & a$$ shots. I initially wanted to add one extra point to this movie for each gratuitous shot of naked boobies I could count. After 9 points (not even halfway into the movie), I had to give up counting. It was distracting me from the rest of the movie. And the rest of the movie was worth it. Totally crazy stuff. Check out this mutant cat/worm-like creature Munkar has as a pet and which he feeds eyeballs and fingers. And here's an interesting question: What would you do if a man in a woman's body would enter your bedroom and try to kill you with a knife? The answer is simple: You slap him around a bit, take away the knife and then try to rape him. Then you discover that he's actually not a woman, so you throw him out of your bed and tell him to leave your room. It works out well, I tell you. Deathstalker does it too, and the Deathstalker-way, is the right way!DEATHSTALKER is a wonderful movie, really, as pointed out in other comments. The villains are vile. The women are delicious. There's blood, sex, violence, rape and tasty chicken. There's a completely pointless tournament which just features a bunch of barbarians beating, slashing and hacking the crap out of each other. My favorite weapon used in that tournament was a giant wooden hammer, used to beat a poor contender to bloody pulp. And my favorite contender undoubtedly was that one brute with the Warthog-head (reminiscent of the Gamorrean Guards from RETURN OF THE JEDI). I won't reveal how the movie ends, but just prepare to ravish in delight when I tell you a 4-way dismemberment is thrown into the movie's climax.And of course, there's a wonderful display of ineptitude throughout the whole movie. See a guy being dragged behind a horse over a dirt road, and the next point-of-view shot shows him being dragged over grass (no road). See that awesome tattoo on the sorcerer's head magically change sides within the same scene (on shot has it on the left side of his head, the other on the right). Well, after all, Munkar is a magician. It's that, or this movie was shot in an alternate universe where things like "continuity" simply don't exist.As much as I enjoyed this and as much as I am looking forward to the other 3 installments in this series, I do have enough shreds of decency left in me to not let this movie pass. I am prepared, though, to give it the maximum amount of minimal points, just so I could be able to deduct a couple of more points for the possibly inferior sequels to follow. DEATHSTALKER might be a superbly fun, trashy & sleazy CONAN rip-off, it also is an abominable movie.

DEATHSTALKER is perfect for B-fantasy movie fans; this barely 80-minute travesty of film-making features everything hecklers can ask for--non-existent plotting, terrible acting (save for at least a raspy-sounding old lady), laughable scripting and schlock editing, and bargain-basement style background settings. There are no characters that come across as likable or interesting (in particular, the lead doesn't have ANYTHING appealing about him), and the actors assembled barely do anything to rise above the F-grade material. If that's not enough, then how about the lack of a compelling plot (which this movie has nothing of the sort) to make DEATHSTALKER qualify as a major turkey? I was also offended that the women in this movie barely serve any purpose other than to 1) be topless and/or scantily clad; 2) get raped; 3) have sex with the hero; 4) all of the above. In addition, the background music is hideous; a bizarre mess of electronic noise, cheesy choral bursts, and blaring orchestral cacophony. Ear numbing and eye numbing all in one packed with nary a thing to keep one interested, DEATHSTALKER is probably best suited for folks looking for something to laugh at (and believe me, there's plenty of that in here). Otherwise, I do not recommend this 100th-grade CONAN wanna-be to anyone in the least.