Hawk the Slayer

I think I would have been about fourteen at the time and probably in grade 8 when I first saw this film. Being a super geek and totally into Dungeons & Dragons it was almost a religious experience the first time I saw it, I was completely, totally and absolutely amazed. A fantasy world full of Wizards, elves, giants and Dwarves, a world were good battled evil, and hero's like "Hawk" with his magical sword emergered victorious and triumphant. Of course that was then and this is now, and in the here and now I've had the opportunity to once again see this film. For the first time in almost 25 years I sat down to watched it on DVD... it was an interesting experience to say the least.

.....To say this film doesn't hold up would be putting it far to lightly, some people have voiced the opinion that this is the worse move ever made and they might very well be correct , but it is also one of the most amusing. I personally like to refer to films like these as Cheestastic. This film is like junk food for the brain, a guilty pleasure, and a movie you don't admit to liking in front of fans of true cinema. Hawk the Slayer was produced as a knockoff of the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fantasy genre. Somehow the producer mixed those elements up with the budget of Dr. Who. The resulting mutation is quite vile with cheesy effects, unintentional hilarity, and a sound track straight from hell, I absolutely loved it. The story is simple, the dialog ridiculous, the action sequences are badly staged the special effects are laughable, the set design was anywhere from cheap to non-existent, despite purporting to be a different locations check out Hawk's journey through the forest, he rides past the tree covered in skulls about three times!, I think Ed Wood would be proud.

........Hawk the Slayer is an English production done in 1980 it was co-written & directed by Terry Marcel & Harry Robertson, it stars John Terry as Hawk and Jack Palance as Voltan. It follows the story of Hawk our hero who has watching both his father and fiancée die at the hands of evil his brother Voltan. Hawk sets out for revenge. equipping himself with the "mind-sword" and recruiting a group of henchmen that include a Giant, a Dwarf, a one-armed man with a machine-crossbow and an elf that fires his long bow so fast, it's more like an AK-47 than a bow. Hawk leads the battle against his brother to free the land from the forces of evil and avenge his loved ones.

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Hawk the Slayer is a great bad film, best viewed with Friends after drink alot of beer or smoking alot of errr, you know what... I think we've all been spoiled recently with films like the new Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and it's easy to forget that this is the way fantasy films were done back in the 80's. I did like Hawk The Slayer for reasons previously mentioned, but I have to say Thank God for progress...

Chips Productions Ltd

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Writer.......................Terry Marcel, Harry Robertson

Director.....................Terry Marcel

Producer...................Harry Robertson

Box Office Take..........your kiddin right ?