Deathstalker (2025)★ 6.9/10
- Action
- Adventure
- Fantasy
Directed by: Steven Kostanski
Written by: Steven Kostanski
A remake of the cult classic 1983 sword and sorcery film.
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Matthew Alan SchmidtOctober 4, 2025
Matthew Alan SchmidtOctober 4, 2025VIFF 2025 #2
Oct 3 – Rio Theatre – 9:00pm
I mean...
For what it is, it literally could NOT be any better.
Perhaps the most competently made B-movie of all time? A homerun of an effort in every sense. A beautiful reminder that you can just do whatever the fuck you want with a movie and it will work as long as you put in the elbow grease.
The movie plays into its limitations and makes them part of the gag. There's one great example in a fight sequence featuring an assassin (who throws a rotating saw blade at the end of a chain) is filmed in a way where the two characters fighting are never on screen at the same time. It's so hilariously deliberate. They just keep cutting back to the same reaction shot from the assassin.
The practical effects are out of this world. Heads being sawn in half! Arms being ripped off! Hearts being ripped out! Bog monsters. Two-headed trolls. Stone Golems. Flying Banshees! Cyclops Bats! Everything is so PAINSTAKINGLY practical.
They go out of their way to not use CG for basically anything I think other than maybe a green screen or two, and I'm not kidding. It all LOOKS like costumes and props, but it doesn't matter because it's TANGIBLE. They're not trying to make it LOOK real — they're just making it real. And because they did it for real, it LOOKS better than real — you following me? It's straight out of the GWAR universe.
The script is so cheesy and self-aware — it's borderline satire if not outright. It's making fun of all those goofy sword and sorcery b-movies of yesteryear while also paying homage, and becoming a damn good one of them in its own right. And it doesn't deliver gags by winking at the audience — it plays everything with utmost sincerity. Every moment is let linger just as long as it needs to.
If you like cheesy fantasy action, goofy comedy, ridiculously over-the-top gore, heavy metal, sweaty dudes with big muscles and massive unwieldly swords, Deathstalker is a feast for the ages.
Oct 3 – Rio Theatre – 9:00pm
I mean...
For what it is, it literally could NOT be any better.
Perhaps the most competently made B-movie of all time? A homerun of an effort in every sense. A beautiful reminder that you can just do whatever the fuck you want with a movie and it will work as long as you put in the elbow grease.
The movie plays into its limitations and makes them part of the gag. There's one great example in a fight sequence featuring an assassin (who throws a rotating saw blade at the end of a chain) is filmed in a way where the two characters fighting are never on screen at the same time. It's so hilariously deliberate. They just keep cutting back to the same reaction shot from the assassin.
The practical effects are out of this world. Heads being sawn in half! Arms being ripped off! Hearts being ripped out! Bog monsters. Two-headed trolls. Stone Golems. Flying Banshees! Cyclops Bats! Everything is so PAINSTAKINGLY practical.
They go out of their way to not use CG for basically anything I think other than maybe a green screen or two, and I'm not kidding. It all LOOKS like costumes and props, but it doesn't matter because it's TANGIBLE. They're not trying to make it LOOK real — they're just making it real. And because they did it for real, it LOOKS better than real — you following me? It's straight out of the GWAR universe.
The script is so cheesy and self-aware — it's borderline satire if not outright. It's making fun of all those goofy sword and sorcery b-movies of yesteryear while also paying homage, and becoming a damn good one of them in its own right. And it doesn't deliver gags by winking at the audience — it plays everything with utmost sincerity. Every moment is let linger just as long as it needs to.
If you like cheesy fantasy action, goofy comedy, ridiculously over-the-top gore, heavy metal, sweaty dudes with big muscles and massive unwieldly swords, Deathstalker is a feast for the ages.
