Blog 275!!!! The Beastmaster!!!

Hey hey, hey boys and girls!!! Welcome back to Director of the Week: Don Coscarelli and I bet you would like to hear about Phantasm II… Well it is archived so look it up.  That’s right I reviewed it ages ago but don’t worry my little munkins I have another film in mind that spawned two sequels and even its own TV series of three seasons worth.  So don your loincloth, commune with nature and talk to the animals. This is The Beastmaster.

He is...Chest Waxer!!!

Dar: I have my eyes…I have my cunning…and I have my spoiler.

Based on the award winning sci-fi fantasy writer Andre Norton (Astra, Beast Master, Carolus Rex,Witch World, Trillium and Estcarp Cycle), Don Coscarelli and writer Paul Pepperman (The Beastmaster, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time and Beastmaster: The Eye of Braxus) collaborate to bring this tale of kings, tryants and monsters to life.

This is the story of Dar (Marc Singer of V, A Man Called Sarge, Watchers II, Dead Space, Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time and Angel Blade), son of King Zed (yes, that is his character’s name) who was claimed from his mother’s womb by an evil witch in order to end the Empirical order and install the dark, menacing high priest Maax (Rip Torn of Tropic of Cancer, Slaughter, Cotter, Payday, City Heat, Men in Black and Wonder Boys) leaving him free to reign Hell on Earth.   The witch women prepare young Dar for his ritual sacrifice when a poor villager swooped in and rescued the boy.  Good timing on his part.

Tuesday Night is deep fried toddler night at the Sizzler.

The villager raised Dar as his own son and begins to notices how the boy is adept to fighting from their sparring lessons.  Proud father he is, he also notices the strange interaction the lad has with the animals around them.  It is almost as he is speaking with them.   No sooner is the village joy and prosperity is ruined (Cue Conan the Barbarian incidental music) as the villages is sacked, pillaged and burned to the ground by beast like warriors known only as the Jun Horde.   Dar being the only survivor of this horrific attack, vows revenge and journeys (while not listening to Journey) to the land of his father’s former kingdom with only the death of Maax on his mind.

I have just a few tidbits on this particular film now. The kingdom and surroundings are mostly scale model representations and a bit of superimposed pictures but the way it is shot only a persnickety film student would be hip to it.  Minatures modeler Bret Culpepper (The Beastmaster, Human Highway and The Jupiter Menace) working in sync with Visual Effects Cinematographer William Cruse (City on Fire, The Amityville Horror, TRON, Repo Man, Firestarter and The Haunted)really bring the A game in this delivery.  

Wardrobe malfunction in Sci-fi Fantasy!!

Between the copious amounts of stuntmen, not to mention animal trainers you get the feeling this was an impressive production value.   The story is a bit cliché of the seeking vengeance aspect but it was a pretty common theme in loads of genre films, TV and books.  All in all, this was pretty enjoyable and one of the few sci-fi fantasy films I could watch again.