DEATHSTALKER/ DEATHSTALKER II
Conan The Vulgarian
RELEASED OUT NOW! 1983/1987 | 18 | Blu-ray
Directors James “John Watson”
Sbardellati, Jim Wynorski
Cast Rick Hill, Barbi Benton, John Terlesky, Monique Gabrielle
In the 1980s, legendary B-movie mogul Roger Corman produced a string of films in Argentina, of which trashy Conan-alike Deathstalker was the first.
By Crom, the casual misogyny makes it painful to watch today. It’s the tale of a barbarian outlaw who reluctantly goes questing for the magic items needed to defeat sorcerer Munkar. It’s fast-paced and brutal, but gratuitous nudity ruins almost every scene. One sure path to alcohol poisoning would be to chug a drink every time a woman is tied up, stripped and threatened with sexual assault.
The lead is recast for the sequel. Rick Hill is replaced by John Terlesky, who plays the character as more of a wisecracking thief. Deathstalker II reinvents the franchise as a lightweight parody of the swords-and-sorcery genre. Fights are slapstick, jokes are anachronistic, and there are nods to Indiana Jones, James Bond and ’60s Batman.
There’s some questionable acting on display, but people do at least seem to be having fun this time, giving it the vibe of a Carry On movie. It’s impossible to describe Deathstalker II as good, but it is at least much less mean-spirited than the original.
Extras Each film is accompanied by an amiable commentary track with its director and a couple of cast/crew; make-up expert John Carl Buechler died in 2019, so you can tell that these aren’t new.
You also get an image gallery for the first movie, and theatrical trailers for both films.
Dave Bradley
The mounted guards in Deathstalker were Argentinian cops and their horses that the crew had met in the street nearby.