Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-23 21:53:40

Great Bad Movie

I saw it when i was 12, loved it. Was a big Fantasy movie fan. Conan, Sword and Sorcerer. Anyways here is a quote from a friend in the early 90's " I have this VHS of this really cheezy fantasy flik, I forget what it is called but it is good, but the acting and plot are generally horrible, but you got to like it when you watch it." 2 seconds after said VHS is in player, I shout with glee, Hawk the Slayer, excellent!! Friend is surprised I have seen it. Needless to say it is a bit of a cult type film, my friend from Florida emailed me a month ago and said "Didn't know if you heard, Hawk the Slayer is being released on DVD." So that is why I am here. It is a must purchase for me, even if it is a bad movie. It is a "GREAT BAD MOVIE".

2012-05-23 02:06:12

Perfect B-grade fantasy!

I gave this five stars not because it's some kind of Oscar-worthy achievement, but if you are a fan of the quirky, B-grade fantasy genre that had its heyday in the late seventies to late eighties, then this film is a must. "Hawk" offers hilarious jump-cut editing, dialogue that is spectacular in its badness, and probably the most memorable elf character ever put to film. For all that, the film is also remarkable for its innocence, in a time when cheesecake T&A fantasy like "The Sword and the Sorceress" and the infamous "Deathstalker" series were the norm, "Hawk the Slayer" keeps it clean, and is all the funnier for it.If you have the right sort of friends, then snap this gem up, invite them over for beer and pizza, and have a go. It's more than worth it.

2012-05-23 08:38:03

Magic Sword + Band of Heroes + Nuns + Schlocky Baddie

"Hawk the Slayer" reminds me why they don't make a lot of high fantasy movies -- most of them are pretty terrible, and they totally fail to sweep you up in the fantasy world. This movie not only has countless gaping plot holes, but it also has painfully clunky acting, a hilariously bad villain, and a cast of... a few dozen.As the movie begins, the evil prince Voltan (Jack Palance) kills his father (who looks younger than he does) because Daddy won't give him a Magic McGuffin. But before Daddy expires, his younger son Hawk (John Terry) is given the McGuffin in the form of a magic sword... which basically just comes to him when he thinks about it. You could get the same effect by training a dog to fetch it.But instead of walking down the hall and killing his murderous brother, Hawk sort of... wanders off into the woods and becomes a sort of knight errant.An unspecified number of years later, a wounded warrior is found and nursed back to health by a group of nuns, just before their Mother Superior is kidnapped by Voltan for... some reason. So the warrior sets out in search of Hawk, who in turn uses a sorceress he saved to help him find his old buddies -- an always-hungry dwarf, a rather small giant, and an elf in orange pajamas.I honestly wish that I could have liked "Hawk the Slayer," but there were just too many things wrong with it. For one thing, it obviously had a very, very low budget -- at times it looks like it was shot in someone's backyard for about $15 and snacks. Seriously, the evil green forest is about twenty feet long!And honestly, the acting is awful. Palance chews the scenery like a piece of gum, managing to be both hammy and wooden. Terry is just a wooden "noble hero with a tragic past," who doesn't even show any emotions when his loved ones are killed in front of him, and most of the supporting cast is just bland and underdeveloped. The only saving grace of this story is the dwarf -- the actor plays his role with lots of gusto, and he's the only one who seems to be having fun.The worst miscast: Ray Charleson as Crow, an elf archer who runs around with Spock ears, orange pajamas and a horribly nasal flat voice. Any shreds of coolness or ethereality this elf has die as soon as he opens his mouth. Director Terry Marcel obviously has a lot of passion for this story, but not much talent -- most of the movie consists of Hawk and his posse and/or Voltan and all four of his thugs wandering around, talking a lot and occasionally fighting someone. And not only is the plot full of holes, but it's littered with stuff that is just never explained (like the elf, dwarf and giant all being the last of their species... WHY?)."Hawk the Slayer" has high aspirations, but not the talent to carry it off. Wooden acting, a headscratching plot and some massive plot holes, with only the dwarf to redeem it.

Birdsanctuary 2012-05-22 22:06:54

Loved it as a kid.

Cheezy, 80's movie with Dungeon's and Dragons influenced plot. Saw this movie over and over again as a kid. The Elf character in the film fired in rapid style and put Legolas from the Lord of the Rings series to shame. If you come across this one and you are a fantasy fan, watch it, the plot is fairly predictable as the protagonist moves along adding unlikely helpers in his quest. The fight scenes featuring the Elf are worth rewatching, definitely way ahead of its time.

2012-05-21 15:02:01

Great nostalgia value

Simple good vs evil, with all the traditional sword & sorcery fantasy characters. The dwarf is brilliant! No swearing, nudity or blood anywhere.

2012-05-21 08:40:20

NOT AD&D as a film...

This review is from: Hawk the Slayer (DVD) Many people have compared this film to AD&D and other fantasy role playing games. I think that is unfair because, frankly, it is fun to watch. I think Jack Palance is a great bad guy and sometimes is the only reason movies are remembered at all. In fact he is one of the tag suggestions! I also enjoyed the sets built in the middle of the forest - they looked like they were in the Middle Ages. There are a few great actors, mostly unknown actors, and lots of heart. The story is a simple must-save-the-Abbess-of-Caddonbury A-Team kind of plot and the characters are solid if the acting is sometimes wooden. The weapons are kind of silly but were designed to give the small group of Good Guys a chance against the numbers of the Evil Guy's Minions. The music seems like a mixture of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds' musical and some Western movies. The extras include stills from the movie and a trailer of the movie.Get the pop corn, turn down the lights and enjoy yourself.

podge_uk_2001 2012-05-20 09:45:38

Terrible but brilliant

This film is terrible. It's actually possibly the worst film ever. Butthat's why i give it 10/10. It is just SO bad that it's hilarious.Don't expect it to be something like Lord of the Rings. I has a cheesydisco-synth-80s-crap-pop-knockoff soundtrack for a start. Also, to myknowledge only two of the actors in it have gone on to do...well,anything. Annette Benning, who's a minor character really, went on todo One Foot In the Grave (TV), and John Terry went on to playcentre-back for Chelsea and England. Wait, no, different John Terry.This one went on to play Bob Warner in series 2 of 24.This film should be watched with a bunch of mates and some beers (aslong as you're old enough of course. If not, the mates are fine). Justsit back and enjoy it. Pick holes in it, laugh at the cheesy dialogue,and then FEAR the bow-and-arrow ability of Crow. Orlando Bloom wisheshe was that guy....possibly.I can't recommend this film as itself. It is simply terrible. But thatis why you HAVE to watch it if you get a chance. If you laughed yourway through Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow (and any otherfilms of a similar ilk) you will love this. I guarantee it*.*Guarantee does not constitute a guarantee.

valerie rink 2012-05-19 15:42:12

fantastic effort

For a fantasy movie they really tried to capture the feeling of a greatbook. One you get lost in because of the characters,except you get nobackground on anyone except the title character and his brother. I founditenchanting and a little funny despite the serious feeling it gave to theaudience. When I wish to lose my self in a book but don't have one on handIplug this tape in. I also liked the weird music, which tried to sound likeamix of irish and welsh folk songs. All in all I really enjoyed this moviedispite its shortcomings.

2012-05-19 00:19:07

found it

I saw this movie when it first came out 20 odd years ago. I recorded It, and it came out pretty bad but I still watched it.Lost track of it and really forgot about it. Messing around on amazon I found it and bought it. It kinda reminds me of the twin towers movie ,with the characters a little ,only with early 80's special effects(bad). Still for what they had to work with, a very good movie.

2012-05-18 16:22:11

"The hunchback will have something to say about this!"

Yes, it's time to travel back to the dying days of Lew Grade's ITC Films, an age of darkness, of low-budgets and even lower-tech special effects, of bad acting and even worse writing: a world where clichés run rampant and Hawk the Slayer and his mindsword set the cause of sword-and-sorcery back several years. Shot almost entirely on a single Abbey set in Pinewood and the woods surrounding the studios in the heart of Autumn, this demented no-budget British spaghetti sword-opera - a sort of would-be A Fistful of Swords - pits John Terry's virtuous hero against his evil one-eyed brother with a taste for Darth Vaderesque headgear Jack Palance after the latter kills their badly dubbed dad Ferdy Mayne in a squabble over "The power that is rightly mmmmiiiiiiinnnnnnneee!" That power being a magical mindsword with a glowing green handle that can fall into your hand if you think about it (and run the film backwards). Mind you, as flashbacks later reveal, the evil Darth Voltan (okay, he's not really called Darth) has already killed the love of Hawk's life, something which almost shocks one-time Felix Leiter (in The Living Daylights) John Terry into changing his expression, before moving on to underline what a bad egg he is by kidnapping guest star Annette Crosbie's Mother Superior, prompting Hawk into action. Well, not exactly action, more riding around the same stretch of woodlands while ineffectually ripping off The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful of Dollars (you half expect John Terry to say "My pony don't like Begin' laughed at.") as he assembles his A-Team - a giant played by Carry On veteran Bernard Bresslaw, an elfin bowman who talks like a constipated Dalek, a not particularly short dwarf and Patricia Quinn's witch with a particularly naff line in sorcery involving, er, smokey eggs. But then it's pretty obvious that the budget didn't really stretch to much in the way of even the cheapest special effects, with those there are largely of the stopping-the-camera-and-starting-it-again after-the-actors-have-left-the-frame variety, alongside a magic neon hula-hoop left over from some disco movie, a pair of Spock ears from a novelty shop and, in one memorable killing, silly string (or as the DVD chapter stop calls it 'The silly string of death'). And my, didn't they get a good deal on the fog machine that week! Long shots also seem a bit of an alien concept for director Terry Marcel, who cut his teeth as a third assistant director on Carry On Cleo and never seems to have scaled those lofty peaks again. Most of the film is played in medium shot to cut down on the number of actors required and to hide the fact the set isn't that big - or perhaps just out of the fear that if they move the camera too far back, the actors will take the opportunity to run away before they have to deliver lines like "My son Drogo speaks true!" "Even as we speak, the wizards gather in the south" or serial overactor Shane Briant's immortal "I am no messenger. But I will give you a message. The message of DEATH!" Jack Palance doesn't get much good dialogue either, but chews on what he gets for more than it's worth anyway - he's the only actor who could make the word "Wiiiiizzzzzaaaaaahhhrrrrrrdddddd!!!!!" last almost as long as Hamlet's soliloquy, so it's a shock to see how relaxed and, well, normal he looks in the raw onset interviews on the UK DVD (where he expresses far more admiration for Dinsdale Landen than Elia Kazan). Although even he might have balked at Bernard Bresslaw's defiant "I'd sooner eat cowdung." (Met with the inevitable response "That can be arranged, and you can wash it down with your own blood if need be.") Indeed, when Hawk addresses Patricia Quinn as "Woman" - as in "Woman, we need the use of your magic" - you half expect her to reply "I'm a man. I'm not old, I'm 37. What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior. Oh, Slayer eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. Just because some dying character actor lobs a mindsword at you is no basis for a system of government." Sadly much of the film is more dull than unintentionally funny: writer-producers Marcel and Harry Robertson clearly intended this, you know, for kids, so it's a bloodless school panto affair for much of the running time, visually bland and lethargic even at a modest hour-and-a-half. How they expected to stretch it out to a series of five movies is anyone's guess (the film ended up as the supporting feature to Saturn Three). Still, on the plus side former pop star and Hammer and Children's' Film Foundation regular composer Harry Robertson (who wrote the superb Hammer Transylvanian Western score for Twins of Evil as Harry Robinson - it really is outstandingly good) turns in a score that's like a demented disco combination of an Ennio Morricone paella Western and Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, and the film is nowhere near as soul-destroyingly awful as Marcel and Robertson's subsequent collaboration seven years later, the almost unwatchable-even-at-gunpoint Jane and the Lost City. Naturally for a naff movie this boasts a good UK DVD, with Network's PAL DVD offering a superb transfer (but then it's not as if the negative got much use) and an array of more on-set interviews than any sane individual could ever want to watch, including one great moment where Marcel is asked if it's true he turned down a $10m budget because he didn't want to cast big names: "That's a load of rubbish" he replies while trying not to burst out laughing.

2012-05-14 12:51:14

At Last!! The great movie no one ever heard of.

"Hawk the Slayer" is one of those great movies that seemed to have slipped between the cracks of public interest. When I watched this movie way back in 1982, I knew this movie was special. Here you had all the elements of a great hero myth,the forces of good against evil, a truly memorable villian (JackPalance doing an inspired turn as "Voltan" the arch nemesis ofHawk, and his brother.), a band of heroes, and a quest.For a long time this movie languished in obscurity, and was only available to watch in the form of very hard to find VHS tapes.For all those fortunate people who even knew about this movie,and begged for it to come out on DVD, here you go.Buy the DVD, tell your friends about it, and let the world know how good this movie is.

2012-05-14 00:19:42

Pivotal Fantasy Film

I can remember when this film first came out in the sword and sorcery boom of the early 80s, but did not actually see it until a couple of years later on VHS. After having watched it once, I was under its spell and have remained so ever since. In the late 80s and early 90s, it seemed as though it was on cable tv at least once every two or three weeks, and be it scheduled for two PM or two AM, ladies and gentlemen, I was in front of the television for every showing.I'm not exactly sure what insures it's hold over me. People have reported John Terry's portrayal of Hawk to be wooden, I prefer to think of him as the stoic hero who has difficulty displaying emotion because he is so purpose driven, expecially after his brother murders his wife. Crow the elf gives a real sense of what it would seem to be like to be an alien in your own world. As for the dwarf and the giant, every group needs someone to crack wise and a straight man for him to crack wise on. Patricia Quinn is also very good as the blind sorceress (I cannot bring myself to address her as Woman), my love for her coming from her portrayal of Magenta in RHPS. You can say that this picture is formulaic if you wish, and many have, but if you grew up in this era with a sentimental attachment to comic books, science fiction, and fantasy novels, then you know what I'm talking about. This picture speaks to the hearts of us who love all those things best. It it high budget ? No, clearly not. Does it have inconsistencies in plot (python in a diciduous forest)? Sure. Does it have Jack Palance chewing up every bit of scenery he can get his teeth into ? You better believe it does !!!!!! Does it have much loved character types and a storyline that we can all ride along with ? Absolutely. This picture may not be fantasy on the epic scale of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings (but who ever thought anybody could adapt Tolkien's work to the screen that well ?, nobody at the time this picture was made), but it still owns my heart. Give me a cold wintry afternoon, fire in the den fireplace, curled up under the afghan, with the opening of Hawk the Slayer on cable tv, and twenty five years later, I'm still a happy man. :)

Xyzandra 2012-05-11 22:24:52

Ludicrous piece of Nonsense. I love it!

What can you say about Hawk the Slayer?The plot is silly, the acting is often wooden, The lines are unbelievable,the effects? cheap.In summary? It's one of the best films I've seen in ages.So what if its a cheaply made tv movie. It's so funny.Some of the things that happens makes you fall off your chair fromlaughing.Crow, with his halted speach and never ending supply of arrows that appearin his bow without any assistance, is probably my favourite character,though it's a close call with many of the other characters.It's one of those films that you have to see.you have to see it to believe it.Xyzandra

mattcoulshed 2012-05-11 03:41:41

Legendary

Some would say this film is one of the poorest ever made. They would becorrect. However it is also one of the most amusing. Such classicmoments as 'a bit falls off the set really obviously' and 'the baddieslair is a skanky old tent', and of course the cheesy soundeffect/soundtrack make this a great movie, especially when drunk. Toassist this, the Hawk the Slayer Unofficial Drinking Game is asfollows: Drink when: Anyone says 'Hawk'; Anyone says 'Voltan'; Everytime they show a picture for the backdrop instead of a real set; Everytime they use the ridiculous electronic sound effect (first used at thestart with the sword); Every time someone dies (can be limited to 3drinks for a fight scene as its hard to keep count); Every time thecrazy disco soundtrack starts up; Every time there are poor specialeffects; Every time there is a cheesy flashback Every time the top ofthe set is visible.Enjoy!

2012-05-10 22:26:40

Wonderful!

A dreadful script, terrible dialogue, awful directing, bad acting, lots of Ham, silly special effects, overused locations, no plot whatsoever - I can't think of anything bad to say about this film. With the exception of John Terry (here playing the hero as a large plank of wood) no-one is taking this nonsense remotely seriously - as well they shouldn't. Being pros however, they serve the (cough) script well with some superb ham acting. There are umpteen British character actors you've seen before, all of whom give it the works- delivering dreadful lines and non sequiturs with the just the right amount of strait-laced portentiousness. Jack Palance's Voltan is equally entertaining, wheezing and overegging his way through every scene, assaulting nuns, villagers and loaves of bread. In fact, the whole film is merely a race against time to prevent him carrying out his initial threat of slicing every leavened or unleavened loaf in 'the land'. An excellent way to hang the brain out to dry for a while, while you drink beer and laugh until you choke.

dawnstarrising 2012-05-10 07:39:18

The Cheesiest of the Cheese!

Ahhhh! Hawk the Slayer. What can I say, that hasn't already been said.Its just one of those films that can only be called a classic, becauseits so bad. It just goes to show that 2 rights can make a wrong.Its awful, the acting it diabolical and the special effects, even forthe 80's, are dreadful, but it has to be seen. Don't even mention thesoundtrack! Its a must see. I love this film so much. Look out for the earliest robot ever in the form of an elf. His linedelivery makes my fridge look positively animated. It defiesdescription. 9 out of 10 just for the sheer campness and bad acting.

2012-05-09 21:21:23

Honestly...

This review is from: Hawk the Slayer (DVD) Director Courtney Solomon once proudly proclaimed that his in-the-works fantasy film would be the polar opposite of a little-known fantasy flick called "Hawk the Slayer." This is more than a little amusing, given that a few months later his film, "Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie", hit theaters and critics, laymen, and even avid D&D fans found it hard to stomach. Using "Hawk the Slayer" as a demonstration, Solomon said, "This is exactly the kind of fantasy movie I don't want to make." The strange thing is, he pretty much made the modern equivalent. Both movies are enjoyably bad fantasy fare that cannot be taken very seriously despite their attempts at earnestness, and therefore demand to be watched by more open-minded fantasy fanatics with an eccentric taste for the absurd. "Hawk the Slayer" tells the tale of... well, Hawk, who isn't much of a slayer, when it comes right down to it. Hawk is instead a noble prince with a magical sword seeking vengeance upon his eldest brother, who in turn couldn't help but be evil since he was named Voltan. I presume this is why Voltan kills his own father, for giving him such a ridiculous name. At any rate, this patricide sparks Hawk's fury (as if Voltan's slaying of his beloved weren't enough), and the prince sets out to rid the land of his brother, and amass a band of companions along the way. Much of the film centers around the compilation of Hawk's adventuring band, and each and every one of them is in deep trouble just as Hawk happens upon them - wouldn't you know it? Hawk, A giant (who must be short for his race), an elf (who looks the part but speaks like a cyborg parody), a dwarf, an aging knight (with only one arm and a crossbow that must reload itself in mid-battle), and a blind sorceress are all that stand between Voltan and the so-called Devil's Agents from conquering the world. This is rather funny since Voltan comes off as a less-than-powerful nuisance and nothing more. Still, it's hard not to admire an effort that comes from 1980 and works with presumably limited coffers. These things must be taken into consideration - although the dreaded puppet-monster from the Forest of Were is still unforgivable. If you don't have the means to actually create a believable monster, don't bother trying... That should be Rule #1 when making a low-budget fantasy movie, but it happens a lot. In the end, "Hawk the Slayer" is bad, let's be honest. However, if you like fantasy AND you appreciate bad movies, "Hawk the Slayer" should easily fit the bill. The acting is generally horrendous (Jack Palance and Hawk himself are the biggest offenders - but boy are they funny!), the storyline is trite and predictable, and the film's reach is far beyond its means... but, hey, at least it's not "Deathstalker," right? [Kudos to Hen's Tooth video for releasing this on DVD]

2012-05-09 15:12:58

Nostalgia Fantasy

This made for TV pilot was a defining moment in many young childrens' lives and will forever have a place in the hearts of many. But let us not forget, this was not picked up for a series and is terrible unless approached with a sense of nostalgia. If you have never seen it before, you may wish to pass on by, but if you have a DVD collection that includes Krull, Beastmaster and Battle Beyond the Star, you will want to snatch this movie up.The plot is simple, evil brother played by Jack Palance (Shane, City Slickers, Tango & Cash) wants to steal some gold so he kidnaps an Abbess, the good brother, Hawk, played by John Terry (Living Daylights, Lost) brings together a rag tag collection of misfits including a one armed man with an automatic crossbow (don't laugh, they dug one up in China not too long ago), the last Giant, Elf and Dwarf and with the help of a witch and a magic flying sword fight through several set pieces, slaughtering British actors until the climatic battle with Voltan (Jack Palance), who at this point has chewed so much scenery he has to have splinters.Pure nostalgia, glorious plagiarism and silly string combine to create a movie which is as bad as you remember but you just don't care. This is your childhood, enjoy it.

2012-05-09 06:12:55

It's not another cheesy fantasy about Good & Evil

I saw Hawk the Slayer when it was released on to the cable channels 22 years ago.It was very hard to find a Science Fiction/Fantasy film to view way back then. The film hasn't lost anything after all this time.You can't go wrong with this film if you love fantasy. The film was on a lower budget but to me this only adds to the films personality. It has all the elements you need in a Fantasy film. If you played Dungeons & Dragons as a young adult, Hawk the Slayer will take you back to your childhood.

2012-05-08 16:29:11

High fantasy, low,low budget

I saw this film in fifth grade and absolutely loved it. Recently on a nostalgic whim I picked up a copy and was pleasantly surprised. Though it is extremely low-budget, campy as leisure suits, and has a script any ten year old could have written, I still enjoyed it. Now I have to warn you if your expecting epic, Peter Jacksonesk film making here you will be very disappointed. Do not purchase or view this film if you are the highly critical, earnest, deeply intellectual sort. This is pure fun. The three supporting characters (the elf, the dwarf, and the giant) are the highlight of the film. The comradery between the dwarf and giant is especially enjoyable. Palance's Voltan is so overwraught he makes Ricardo Montolban's (I'm pretty sure I misspelled that,sorry) portrayal of Khan look subtle and nuanced. You're looking for the fishing line on most of the special effects shots, and I'm pretty sure the elf is wearing penny loafers. The soundtrack is phenominal, in a bad way of coarse, think of a fifth rate Rick Wakeman knock-off doing a disco/fantasy album. Yet inspite of all its weaknesses I have watched this film not once, but half a dozen times. It's a blast. It's got guilty pleasure written all over it.