DeathStalker Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1983

Deathstalker is the black sheep of the sword and sorcery movies of the 80's, one despised by the critics and chock full of violence and gratuitous nudity. Yet with everything going against it this low-budget guilty pleasure still managed to earn a following that has lasted even to today. Does this B-movie deserve the cult following it has gained, or is it a waste of celluloid as the critics shouted?

The early 80's saw a rise in the popularity of barbarian and fantasy movies, spurred on in large part by the commercial success of Conan the Barbarian and the limited success of The Beastmaster. Directors and studios were anxious to take a piece of the pie with their own fantasy creations, and each ranged in quality and budget. Deathstalker was one such attempt, and the result was a film on the low end in both quality and budget scales.

Richard Hall plays Deathstalker, a wandering vagrant that cares about little more than thieving, wenching and killing. Suddenly he finds himself charged with a task: retrieve and unite the three powers of creation (a sword, a chalice and an amulet). The anti-hero successfully obtains the sword and then journeys to Munkar's (Bernard Erhard) domain, an evil sorcerer who is also striving to collect the three items to obtain unrivaled power.

Ultimately Deathstalker enters the gladiatorial games being sponsored by Munkar, fights for fame and glory, saves a princess (Barbi Benton) and confronts the sorcerer to ultimately determine who will reunite the three powers of creation. This isn't really a plot to get too excited about; it just provides enough of a backdrop to justify the swordplay and scantily clad (and often unclad) women.

The acting by all parties in the movie leaves a lot to be desired – it's wooden and rather unconvincing. In addition the sets betray their low budget origins. Nonetheless, even with everything going against the movie it somehow manages to sneak into the guilty pleasure category. Whether this is because the sword and sandal craze was short lived and thus entries in this genre are slim pickings, or because the movie provides enough action and nudity to provide mindless amusement for just under 90 minutes, who can say?

When I was a teen I enjoyed this scattershot mess, enough that I revisited it again around 10 years later. Although I have to admit my nostalgia surrounding the film was much higher than my opinion of it now, it still managed to entertain somewhat. It fails as a movie, but in a genre with limited entries it still delivers some enjoyment. Just don't let your significant other catch you watching this film – you might have some tough explaining to do.

Due to the nature of the film I'm going to separate the movie rating from the guilty pleasure rating.

Movie Rating: 4
Guilty Pleasure: 6

If you enjoyed Deathstalker you may also find the following films to be of interest:

Enjoy the Deathstalker experience in the comfort of your own home with these related products!

DVD

Movie Sitemap

Wondering if the Netflix service is all
it's cracked up to be? Read our
detailed review and find out!