..You know what to expect from this another Conan the Barbarian rip-off this time from Albert Pyun and 1982. The Sword and the Sorcerer is incredibly stupid and the film makers were of course serious. It is funny how these film makers who cashed in with the success of Conan (John Milius) and Excalibur (John Boorman) miss the point which made these two films so great and classic. It was and is not about big men playing with magic swords and every place filled with busty females (always naked), but still these rip offs are so much guilty pleasures that I think I can sit the film for the second time in near future before selling my DVD away.
The atmosphere is occasionally, especially at the end in the cave, pretty nice as the ground is covered with mysterious mist and fog. Also, the sword fight in the cave with the fountain on the background looks great, really. So Pyun must have some visual eye, too, unless some other directed those scenes, which I don't want to believe, for Albert's sake.
But when the monster arrives the credibility tones down a "little" bit. The monster is very cheesy even though it was meant to look scary and HORRIFIC! The sword action and fist fights are there to deliver some violence and on that level this succeeds as greatly as showing the females naked. When the stupid and calculated finale and irritating attitudes and pieces of dialogue are added, I should already hate this film, and that, unfortunately, I think I do. If it was even little less childish and more serious I would appreciate this much more, but now I have hard times even to appreciate it as a turkey. Fortunately there's Kathleen Beller, who is very beautiful creature in this film otherwise full of ugly men and macho attitude. The three bladed sword is pretty interesting and seems to work fine, too.
Albert Pyun has made alarmingly many bad films (check out Cyborg (1989) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme), and The Sword and the Sorcerer isn't an exception. Some may enjoy this but I think this is too stupid and I don't want to waste my time with this kind of cinema as there are so many greater films which still wait to be watched and discovered. But due to the few scenes of genuine atmosphere, I give this 2/10.
The atmosphere is occasionally, especially at the end in the cave, pretty nice as the ground is covered with mysterious mist and fog. Also, the sword fight in the cave with the fountain on the background looks great, really. So Pyun must have some visual eye, too, unless some other directed those scenes, which I don't want to believe, for Albert's sake.
But when the monster arrives the credibility tones down a "little" bit. The monster is very cheesy even though it was meant to look scary and HORRIFIC! The sword action and fist fights are there to deliver some violence and on that level this succeeds as greatly as showing the females naked. When the stupid and calculated finale and irritating attitudes and pieces of dialogue are added, I should already hate this film, and that, unfortunately, I think I do. If it was even little less childish and more serious I would appreciate this much more, but now I have hard times even to appreciate it as a turkey. Fortunately there's Kathleen Beller, who is very beautiful creature in this film otherwise full of ugly men and macho attitude. The three bladed sword is pretty interesting and seems to work fine, too.
Albert Pyun has made alarmingly many bad films (check out Cyborg (1989) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme), and The Sword and the Sorcerer isn't an exception. Some may enjoy this but I think this is too stupid and I don't want to waste my time with this kind of cinema as there are so many greater films which still wait to be watched and discovered. But due to the few scenes of genuine atmosphere, I give this 2/10.