Director: Steven Kostanski
Year: 2026
Country: USA/Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sword and Sorcery
Plot:
The Kingdom of Abraxeon is under siege by the Dreadites, heralds of the long-dead sorcerer Nekromemnon. When Deathstalker recovers a cursed amulet from a corpse-strewn battlefield, he's marked by dark magick and hunted by monstrous assassins. To survive, he must break the curse and face the rising evil. Death is just the beginning... of a great adventure!
Review:
Overall, this was a decent enough one-note genre effort. Those are mostly predicated on how much enjoyment is found in the presentation of a blood-soaked, practical-effects-filled genre romp, which this one provides in spades. The lighthearted approach here offers up the kind of premise that leads to a never-ending series of excuses for confrontations with different creatures, warriors, or demonic beings to take place in the name of trying to get the mission accomplished, setting up some of the fun to come about, where he sets out to battle the creatures. There’s a sense of cheese throughout the series of encounters that allows these fantastic-looking props, costumes, and puppets to be drenched in practical blood and gore in fine order, especially with the series of outright silly scenarios in place here.
This one works well enough in that regard when it’s just focused on the different battles, as pretty much everything else here doesn’t offer up much from a filmmaking sense. Its over-the-top, campy approach works nicely for a while before it becomes a generally difficult experience to get used to the series of over-the-top changes, as it wants to treat the story seriously, yet the action is presented as a goofy, silly mess. That leaves the various attempts at injecting pathos during what’s supposed to be a sad scene don’t land all that well, or the comedy isn’t necessary to highlight the moment, leaving this with the kind of jarring technical setups that work for a fun time, so long as it’s not thought too deeply about what’s going on. It’s fine enough for what it is, but it’s its one factor that holds it back.
Overview: ****/5
A generally solid if somewhat problematic enough genre effort, there’s enough to like here so long as the technical limitations aren’t all that important for a viewing, which is what holds it back. Those with an appreciation for this style of feature or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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