The sorcerer Maax receives a prophecy that he'll be killed by the King's unborn child, so Maax gets a witch to transfer the baby into a cow's womb and then be sacrificed. A man stumbles across the activity, rescues the baby and adopts the child as his own. He was born with the gift to communicate with animals. Dar would be his name and he would grow up to be a muscularly skilled warrior. After his father and his village are butchered by the sorcerer Maax's orders, he sets out for revenge. Along the way he gets in contact with some resourceful animals, a slave girl Kiri and the captive king's right-hand man Seth.
Director Don Coscarelli's cult b-grade sword and sorcery epic (well it's close enough to one) "The Beastmaster" is an enjoyably mystical adventure, which knows it's all a bit of fun. There's no doubting how silly and cheesy it just happens to be, but gladly this item is not overly put off by it. There's a real kid-like mentality to it, but it breathes an sincereness that sweeps you along for the journey. Coming out the same time as "Conan the Barbarian" , it was hard no to compare the two. While Conan is obviously the better made grandeur production, it kind of had a pretentious feel to it and pacing was incredibly sluggish. Beastmaster might be systematic in the story, but to me it was far more entertaining. I might not win any votes for what I have just typed, but I'll stick to it.
Coscarelli who co-wrote the story with Paul Pepperman takes the central idea of our hero communicating with animals from Andre Norton's novel of the same name. The campy plot is routine (there's no real twists or surprises) with a constant mixture of sub-plots and ideas involving different adventures (which were mostly about rescuing someone/ or thing), which all lead onto the main story of Dar getting revenge. Some might be worthless and too straightforward with relax pacing, but I never found a boring moment within them. The direction by Coscarelli has a muscular touch to it and imagination to spare in some creative stabs and visuals. He knows how to create a rich atmosphere and his at his top when his going for that dark edge. The way he staged some of the one-on-one combat scenes though, came across as too clean and choreographed (especially the final climax). The larger battle scenes were gritty, kinetic and relentlessly staged though. Also don't expect much in the way of blood from this mainstream aimed piece.
Since the budget was reasonably modest, it did give the film a slick technical advantage, but it definitely tried to outdo itself with the budget it had. The camera-work by John Alcott is beautifully sprawling and nippy. Same treatment for Lee Holdridge's grandly bravura sounding musical score that only heightens the atmosphere, locations and actions. Sound effects were effectively cutting and location sets were cleverly shaped. Only draw-card in this would be that editing at times came across as very ragged. Reading that the film was far shorter in the first cut, the producers then got the editors to extend certain scenes and Coscarelli and Pepperman had no say in it. That's disappointing, because it would have been better off with the first cut and maybe gained more respect. The acting is nothing sensational, but acceptably good. Marc Singer wasn't too bad and felt right at home in the part of Dar. Tanya Roberts looks drop dead gorgeous, but isn't called on to do too much. Chewing it up as the villain is Rip Torn as he fabulously turns it up with plenty of flavour and John Amos is acceptably solid as Seth. Then you got the well-trained animals that impress and charm when on screen.
"The Beastmaster" is extremely goofy, but at the same time this humorous corker makes for great comic-style entertainment. There's nothing spectacular to it, but this cult fantasy flick (which gained popularity on cable TV) is one of the better genre efforts.
Director Don Coscarelli's cult b-grade sword and sorcery epic (well it's close enough to one) "The Beastmaster" is an enjoyably mystical adventure, which knows it's all a bit of fun. There's no doubting how silly and cheesy it just happens to be, but gladly this item is not overly put off by it. There's a real kid-like mentality to it, but it breathes an sincereness that sweeps you along for the journey. Coming out the same time as "Conan the Barbarian" , it was hard no to compare the two. While Conan is obviously the better made grandeur production, it kind of had a pretentious feel to it and pacing was incredibly sluggish. Beastmaster might be systematic in the story, but to me it was far more entertaining. I might not win any votes for what I have just typed, but I'll stick to it.
Coscarelli who co-wrote the story with Paul Pepperman takes the central idea of our hero communicating with animals from Andre Norton's novel of the same name. The campy plot is routine (there's no real twists or surprises) with a constant mixture of sub-plots and ideas involving different adventures (which were mostly about rescuing someone/ or thing), which all lead onto the main story of Dar getting revenge. Some might be worthless and too straightforward with relax pacing, but I never found a boring moment within them. The direction by Coscarelli has a muscular touch to it and imagination to spare in some creative stabs and visuals. He knows how to create a rich atmosphere and his at his top when his going for that dark edge. The way he staged some of the one-on-one combat scenes though, came across as too clean and choreographed (especially the final climax). The larger battle scenes were gritty, kinetic and relentlessly staged though. Also don't expect much in the way of blood from this mainstream aimed piece.
Since the budget was reasonably modest, it did give the film a slick technical advantage, but it definitely tried to outdo itself with the budget it had. The camera-work by John Alcott is beautifully sprawling and nippy. Same treatment for Lee Holdridge's grandly bravura sounding musical score that only heightens the atmosphere, locations and actions. Sound effects were effectively cutting and location sets were cleverly shaped. Only draw-card in this would be that editing at times came across as very ragged. Reading that the film was far shorter in the first cut, the producers then got the editors to extend certain scenes and Coscarelli and Pepperman had no say in it. That's disappointing, because it would have been better off with the first cut and maybe gained more respect. The acting is nothing sensational, but acceptably good. Marc Singer wasn't too bad and felt right at home in the part of Dar. Tanya Roberts looks drop dead gorgeous, but isn't called on to do too much. Chewing it up as the villain is Rip Torn as he fabulously turns it up with plenty of flavour and John Amos is acceptably solid as Seth. Then you got the well-trained animals that impress and charm when on screen.
"The Beastmaster" is extremely goofy, but at the same time this humorous corker makes for great comic-style entertainment. There's nothing spectacular to it, but this cult fantasy flick (which gained popularity on cable TV) is one of the better genre efforts.