Tag Archives: sword and sorcery

The Beastmaster (1982)

September 10, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

These winged beings digest their victims alive! — These winged devourers digest their victims whilst they’re still alive!

The villainous high priest Maax (Rip Torn) attempts to thwart a prophecy by sending one of his witches to kidnap and murder the unborn son of King Zed. The witch uses magic to transfer the baby from the queen’s womb to the belly of a cow! Before the witch can kill the child, however, a villager intervenes, killing the hag-faced woman and raising the boy as his own son.

The boy, named Dar, is taught how to fight and it’s revealed that he has the ability to telepathically communicate with all kinds of animals (presumably because he was born from an animal).

Dar (Marc Singer), now a man, witnesses his village being wiped out by a horde of masked barbarians called Juns, who are allied with Maax. Dar, the only survivor of the massacre, sets out to avenge his people. Along the way Dar is joined by an eagle, a pair of ferrets he calls Kodo and Podo, and a great panther.

As the adventure continues Dar teams up with King Zed’s younger son Tal, bodyguard Seth (John Amos) and slave girl Kiri (Tanya Roberts), who turns out to actually be a warrior woman. After the death of King Zed, there’s a showdown with Maax atop a sacrificial pyramid, and then there’s a final battle with a mass of Jun warriors.

Can Dar and his allies survive all this? Yes they can… with a little help from some weird, winged devourer beings.

Don't mess with Dar! — Don’t mess with Dar!

Director Don Coscarelli’s sword and sorcery movie is a fun romp, with Marc Singer proving to be a likeable hero and Tanya Roberts sticking in the memory as the attractive, feisty love interest Kiri. Then we have Rip Torn, who does a bit of scenery-chewing as the hawk-nosed bad guy Maax: he’s a high priest who is rather too fond of child sacrifice.

The screenplay, written by Paul Pepperman and Don Coscarelli, was based on a 1959 novel called THE BEAST MASTER, though the book is pretty different to the film: the novel’s hero is a Navajo warrior in a futuristic setting.

An amusing moment where Dar pretends his panther Ruh is a threat to them — An amusing moment where Dar pretends his panther Ruh is a threat to Kiri

THE BEASTMASTER is a colourful adventure yarn that features a fine score by Lee Holdridge, witches with the bodies of young women and the faces of hags, spike-gloved berserker madmen, a ring with an eyeball that can spy on the heroes, and the aforementioned bird-humanoid creatures that wrap their victims in leathery wings to digest them alive!

The fiery, climactic battle with the Jun horde is a well-mounted, exciting finale, where Dar has a one-on-one fight with the Jun leader and, basically, this modestly budgeted fantasy flick is a very, very enjoyable watch.

There's an impressive explosion when the oil-filled moat is ignited — There’s an impressive explosion when the oil-filled moat is ignited

I love this movie!

Here’s some movie concept art by Nikita Knatz…

City of Aruk concept art by Nikita Knatz

And here are some posters…

Believe it or not: this is actually a poster for the 1983 movie Yellowbeard, starring Graham Chapman!

Okay, a final look at those winged devourers…

Behind the scenes shot of the winged devourer costume — Behind the scenes shots of a winged devourer costume

And here’s a publicity shot of Singer and Roberts…

The Throne of Fire (1983)

July 24, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Bad guy Mora, who is the son of the devil (well, he’s actually the son of a messenger of the devil), wants to sit on the Throne of Fire, but he must marry a princess who is a rightful heir first. The princess that Mora sets his sights on is Valkari, who is helped by the very buff Siegfried (Pietro Torrisi), but the muscled hero finds himself dealing with such obstacles as the Well of Madness.

When the villain Mora is born he looks like this... — When the villain Mora is born he looks like this…

It turns out that Mora's soldiers look like this under their helmets... — It turns out that Mora’s soldiers look like this under their helmets

This Italian poster has 'borrowed' from Frazetta it seems... — An Italian poster that has ‘borrowed’ from Frazetta, it seems…

THE THRONE OF FIRE is an Italian sword and sorcery film (it comes across more like a peplum) directed by Franco Prosperi, who reuses the village raid sequence from his previous 1982 movie THE SWORD OF THE BARBARIANS. Princess Valkari is played by Sabrina Siani, who was the mask-wearing, sadistic, topless villainess Ocron in Lucio Fulci’s mist-shrouded fantasy barbarian yarn CONQUEST (1983).

This movie has some interesting elements, including the aforementioned Well of Madness, where the muscular hero is confronted by a panther, a python and fights an empty suit of armour. The villain’s origin is okay (you see brief shots of him as a newborn, slimy monster baby) and the titular throne is a fun concept: it burns alive anyone who is unworthy of sitting on it!

A floating mangled head — …and here’s a floating mangled head

Anyone who is unworthy gets incinerated on the throne!

So it’s a shame that this sword and sorcery film doesn’t do enough with its ideas, coming across as rather dull and meandering, even with a floating ghost head, some fairly decent sets, and the on-screen presence of Sabrina Siani as the blonde-haired warrior princess.

Yep, a shame.

Conquest (1983)

July 21, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Youthful hero Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) goes on a quest, helped by a tough outlaw named Mace (Jorge Rivero), in a land terrorised by warriors following the orders of villainess Ocron (Sabrina Siani).

Lucio (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) Fulci’s foray into the sword and sorcery genre, hazily lensed with filters and fog that constantly softens the image, boasts his trademark gore moments, 80s Italian synth score and a madcap lack of coherence.

Mace is caught by, er, cobwebby thingies!

There's a reason Ocron wears a mask... — There’s a reason Ocron wears a mask…

Wolf-headed warriors, a magical bow that fires laser arrows, rock-dwelling beings covered in what looks like spider webs, several snakes and a topless, mask-wearing villainess (who is finally revealed to have a hideous ghoul-face) add a lot of colour to this yarn.

Cobweb-covered thingy! — Another cobweb-covered thingy!

Fulci’s sadistic side comes to the fore with a woman getting split in two, bloody head-bashings, a wolf-headed warrior being roasted slowly on a red-hot boulder and lots of close-ups of festering pustules that start to cover a character’s body.

Well-shot footage of sunsets and landscapes, some crude special effects (a deluge of darts fired from foliage seems to have been created by simply scratching lines on the film stock) and odd moments like the part where the hero is saved by dolphins (!) make this a diverting, cheap, cheesy hodgepodge of scenes in search of a plot.

Deadly dart attack... or are they just scratches on the film?! — Deadly dart attack… or are they just scratches on the film?!

This is gonna hurt... — This is gonna hurt…

CONQUEST is certainly no classic. It is rather plodding at times, but this dreamy, dirgy, disjointed fantasy flick has its moments. I especially liked the scene featuring the fight with swamp-dwelling zombies and there’s also a surprising demise of a main character.