Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy Films

[Voros]

Funny enough although I know we've had extensive conversations on the subject we don't seem to have a thread dedicated to S&S and fantasy films.

In English language film the success of Conan led to a bunch of knock-off S&S films in the 80s, many produced by the exploitation arm of the dying Italian film industry.

Most of these films are straight up terrible but some are terrible in an entertaining way.

What inspired me to start this thread is Scorpion Releasing's recent blu-ray release of The Barbarians.

Never seen this one, directed by the 'auteur' behind Cannibal Holocaust and starring a bodybuilding duo but the trailer looks fun and I trust the Scorpion blu to look far better than this kind of low-budget movie probably did upon its original release (which was likely direct to VHS).

 

[Raleel]

The barbarians is one of my favorites, and is hilariously horrible. It takes itself exactly as seriously as it should.

 

[Voros]

The barbarians is one of my favorites, and is hilariously horrible. It takes itself exactly as seriously as it should.

You just twisted my rubber arm into ordering the blu.

 

[TristramEvans]

Deathstalker II is a hilariously self-aware bordering-on-parody of the genre.

On the other hand, I think The Beastmaster is a legitimately good film. I like it better than either of the Conan sequels.

 

[Voros]

Deathstalker II is a hilariously self-aware bordering-on-parody of the genre.

On the other hand, I think The Beastmaster is a legitimately good film. I like it better than either of the Conan sequels.

One that I discovered recently and was surprised to find I really enjoyed is Brescia's Iron Warrior (a.k.a. Ator The Iron Warrior).

It has the surreal low budget look of a Derek Jarman film, like Dune as mounted by a local theatre troupe.

Trippy and dreamlike. Looks like the blu is not available on Amazon.ca but is available on Amazon Prime in Canada.

 

[Raleel]

David Paul, one of the brothers, died a year ago earlier this month.

Sword and the sorcerer has a three bladed sword. Great stuff. Let’s not forget red Sonja. Also Krull, which is a little more sci fi, but close

 

[Brock Savage]

The Warrior and the Sorceress was fun to watch with buddies online because it is basically Fistful of Dollars set in Carcosa on a very low budget. I am looking for more like this so keep the suggestions coming!

 

[Tulpa Girl]

The Sword and the Sorcerer is pretty good, as Raleel says.



Hawk The Slayer is... less good, but I still enjoy it as a proto-D&D b-movie.

 

[TristramEvans]

If we dip briefly out of the live action realm, I've got a long-standing love for Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta's collaboration, Fire & Ice...

 

[TristramEvans]

along those same lines is Spine of Night, which premiered at film festivals this year and I am eagerly awaiting a wide release in some form...


One of the vignettes in the film can be viewed on Youtube now...

 

[Brock Savage]

Sword and the sorcerer has a three bladed sword. Great stuff. Let’s not forget red Sonja. Also Krull, which is a little more sci fi, but close

The triple blade sword from S&S and the glaive from Krull were so cool to 8-10 year old me. South Park pays tribute.

Edit: Age restricted? Aw come on.

 

[Raleel]

I have watched fire and ice within the last 3 months and eagerly await spine of night. Very much in my space.

 

[Supervisor194]

Funny timing, I just started watching Dragonslayer (1981) on Prime.

 

[3rik]

The Barbarians

Never having seen the film, I used a pic of these two dudes to portray a duo of antagonists in a Barbarians of Lemuria game. The PCs apparently owed them money, though they didn't recall this themselves, and they kept popping up in unlikely places at unlikely moments to harrass them. The PCs eventually used their loot to hire an assassin to get rid of them.

 

[TristramEvans]

 

[Kilted Rob]

Oh man, let's see...

Barbarian Queen


Amazons

Conquest

 

[Kilted Rob]

Iron Master

Actor The Fighting Eagle

 

[TristramEvans]

Ator was barely watchable even as an MST3K episode

 

[Kilted Rob]

I own the restored Blu-ray with glow in the dark slip cover...

 

[Kilted Rob]

Sorceress, directed by Jack Hill.

 

[Brock Savage]

Yor, the Hunter from the Future. It is terrible and low budget even for this thread but it made a big impression on 9 year old me. It had all my favorites like cavemen, dinosaurs, mutants, lasers, robots etc and my young mind was blown away. Only thing missing was nudity, ya know? The theme song occupies the same brain space as the Flash Gordon theme song for me. It was burned into my brain LOL.

 

[Brock Savage]

Kilted Rob I have not seen any of these films you have mentioned! I would be interested to hear your impressions on 'em, just a sentence or two would be fine.

 

[Raleel]

I see there are many that are Gentlemen of Refined Taste on this forum, but Kilted Rob is truly a shining example

 

[Kilted Rob]

Sorceress is cheesy and suffers from Roger Corman cutting the budget, but it is directed by Jack Hill And has its moments, it is better than it should be, a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Iron Master is meh, nothing new or interesting, but watchable in a pinch.

Conquest is somewhat silly and even restored has a very soft look to it. It was directed by Lucio Fulci and is similar to so many other films in the genre "A young man, armed with a magical bow and arrows, embarks on a mystical journey through a mythical land to rid it of all evil and joins forces with an outlaw to take down an evil witch bent on claiming the magic bow for evil."

Amazons, women warriors from a mythical time with plenty of nudity... kind of like if Andy Sidaris directed a feature length Xena The Warrior Princess episode.

Barbarian Queen, Joe Bob Briggs said it best: "It's no Conan the Barbarian II, but it's got what it takes, namely: Forty-six breasts, including two on the male lead. Thirty-one dead bodies. Heads roll. Head spills. Three gang rapes. Women in chains. Orgy. Slave-girl sharing. One bird's-nest bra. The diabolical garbonza torture. Sword fu. Torch fu. Thigh fu (you have to see it to believe it)."

Ator is another mid-grade flick, nothing special but if you need something on, go ahead.

 

[Kilted Rob]

I also have Death Stalker I & II, Iron Warrior, Fire and Ice on Blu-ray, The Warrior and Sorceress on dvd, and Beastmaster in 4K...so yeah, I enjoy the genre.

 

[TristramEvans]

I wish Beastmaster II had gotten a Region 1 bluray, or even a DVD release. It came out on VHS and theyve pretended it doesnt exist since 1991

 

[TristramEvans]

I'm not recommending it, but for completeness's sake, in 2010 a very late sequel to The Sword and the Sorcerer by the same director as the original (a film teased at the end of the original film, much like the never made Buckeroo Banzai sequel) came out, Tales of an Ancient Empire

 

[David Johansen]

Wow, there are more of these than I was aware of. I've seen Conan, Conan The Destroyer, Red Sonja, Krull, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Fire and Ice, and Hawk the Slayer. The had the Death Stalker movies at Block Buster.

 

[TristramEvans]

Don't forget...Hundra!

 

[Kilted Rob]

Hundra is getting a Blu-ray release from Dark Force Entertainment this year.

Hundra Blu-Ray

 

[Voros]

Hundra is getting a Blu-ray release from Dark Force Entertainment this year.

Hundra Blu-Ray

Excellent, it is a good one.

On a slightly different tip I also highly recommend the Turkish Tarkan and the Vikings, available on a OOP DVD with Deathless Devil by Mondo Macabro. There are more Tarkan films but last time I looked online they didn't have subtitles but may have got fansubs since.

 

[Mankcam]

The Warrior and the Sorceress was fun to watch with buddies online because it is basically Fistful of Dollars set in Carcosa on a very low budget. I am looking for more like this so keep the suggestions coming!

You beat me to it !!!

I thought The Warrior and the Sorceress was a great David Carradine flick, and yes it is pretty much a reworking of A Fistful of Dollars (which was itself a reworking of Yojimbo). Pity about that dodgy lizard creature puppet that is briefly in it, otherwise this film still holds up well, considering what it is.

Not sure about that trailer, it seems like the voice-over was presenting a completely different film !!!

For example, the narrator describes a plot that eludes to an epic scope, however the whole film is entirely set in an isolated fantasy village region.
The antagonists are small-time warlords and their rival factions. Insert the main character, a wanderer who initially feels very neutral towards everything, but eventually brings the whole situation to its kness, and liberates the harressed population of commoners from the reckless and cruel overlords.
The bit about David Caradine's character being the 'mightiest hero of all' is pretty much a complete fib, he's more of a wanderering sword-for-hire type of anti-hero. Pretty much the typical fantasy adventurer of the rpg sessions of my youth.

This film is great inspiration for a classic sword & sorcery/fantasy rpg module, it hits all the beats that a rpg author would do when presenting a setting and adventure.

I quite like this flick, it's one of my forgotten B-grade gems

 

[Mankcam]

I'm surprised that no one has gone into Zardoz territory yet...



Well I guess it's not really Sword & Sorcery, if anything it's Sword & SciFi - kinda like a cross between Planet Of The Apes meets HG Wells Time Machine.
Well maybe it's more John Carter on Drugs
Still, Zardoz feels like it at least needs a mention here

 

[TristramEvans]

Zordoz has the weird feel of Italian Conan rip-off films of the era, but I'm not sure I'd class it Sword & Sorcery

 

[TristramEvans]

 

[TristramEvans]

 

[Gabriel]

I wish Beastmaster II had gotten a Region 1 bluray, or even a DVD release. It came out on VHS and theyve pretended it doesnt exist since 1991

There was a stand alone DVD, but it was one of those really early ones and it is long out of print and hard to find.

Beastmaster is included in this DVD pack. I can confirm this pack plays in the US region.

Amazon product

 

[Gabriel]

Deathstalker is one of my favorites. I didn't like Deathstalker II back in the day, but I rewatched it in the streaming era and changed my mind about it.

Warrior & the Sorceress is one I often start up to just be playing in the background while I do something else. It's OK. Barbarian Queen is roughly in the same category, just a little worse.

Fire & Ice is pretty awesome. I got that one back in the VHS era and used to watch it a lot.

I saw Ator on streaming. That one is fucking unwatchable.

Sorceress was one that used to always be in the video rental store in the 80s, but I never rented it. I didn't see it until recently, and I didn't like it.

The Barbarians and Yor: Hunter From the Future are movies I only know about because of The Spoony One, and his videos.

Of course, Conan the Destroyer is another favorite. There's also the Brigitte Nielsen Red Sonya movie, which I think is one of those so bad it's good movies.

There's kind of a semi-related post-apocalyptic barbarian genre. Yor sort of belongs to that genre. Phoenix the Warrior is another one. I remember HATING that one on USA Up All Night and thought it was one of the worst movies ever, but on streaming I've grown to like it and tend to start it up to play in the background.

Another post-apocalyptic sorta-barbarian movie is America 3000. I love the future lingo they use in it.

 

[TristramEvans]

There was a stand alone DVD, but it was one of those really early ones and it is long out of print and hard to find.

Beastmaster is included in this DVD pack. I can confirm this pack plays in the US region.

Amazon product

That's Beastmaster, not Beastmaster II

 

[Gabriel]

That's Beastmaster, not Beastmaster II

Sorry. Missed the II.

Edit:

I did find this Region 0 option. Don't know anything about that site, though.

Beastmaster 2 Through the Portal of Time DVD (1991)

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