Deathstalker

This is a remake of the 1983 Deathstalker directed by James Sbardellati, executive produced by Roger Corman, among others. That was no more than a cash-in on the recent successful Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, Conan the Barbarian. I haven’t seen the original but by all accounts its sole gift to the world of cinema is its now iconic poster.

So taking this version on its own merits the film opens with a massacre and an introduction to the red exoskeletal Dreadites as they kill everyone in sight. Into this comes Deathstalker (Daniel Bernhardt) who kills a few of the Dreadites and then steals an amulet from a dying man. Deciding it's not worth anything he tries to get rid of it, only it keeps coming back.

A visit to the witch Toralva (Tanya Saari) and he’s told its enchanted, and he's stuck with it until his death. But there is a way he can escape the curse. From there it’s a quest that takes him through the kingdom making friends and fighting enemies, while being chased by bounty hunters. All the while a big bad has his eyes on him and it desperate to use the amulet for his own nefarious purposes.

Written and directed by Steven Kostanski, Deathstalker is a fairly predictable sword and sorcery quest tale with the usual genre tropes. There’s plenty of sword play hacking, stabbing and chopping, monsters, magic, villains and companions.

The effects go from not that good to passable, which is no more than anyone should expect and, in a sense, not what this is about. This is a low budget, big and bloody fun film that is probably fifteen minutes or so too long. The key here however is the cast. The characters are all played with a degree on knowing humour, some hamming it up, though not to the overall detriment of the film.

This could in a sense be described as a cash-in as there may be a resurgence of sword and sorcery, at the cinema, with the success of 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. That is the more likely, rather than any sort of pressure to remake the original Deathstalker.

Deathstalker will be on Shudder from 3 April 2026.