Back when this was released, when I was 9 years old and into Star Wars and Clash of the Titans and Beastmaster, a movie like this would have been right up my alley. I just saw it a couple days ago, as I am now proud owner of it on video, and let me say even now I was pretty impressed. Hawk was a very cool hero and his cohorts were all equally as unique, especially Crow the bowsman. Jack Palance puts in an over-the-top performance as Voltan (great name) the villain. I was also proud that I recognized Patricia Quinn (Magenta from Rocky Horror!) as the witch and Patrick Magee (from Clockwork Orange) as a fanatical priest who has a great little scene in the middle. The highlights: the cool rapid fire bow effects, the uzi crossbow (needs to be seen to believed),everything with Crow, the glowing elfstone sword, the hilarious disco music that swelled up whenever Hawk rides through the forest (its like Vangelis meets KC and the Sunshine Band, not kidding) and the interaction of Hawk and his friends. The lowlights: the bad acting, the crappy editing, the obvious painted matte of the abbott's castle, the slow sword fights, and the whiny nun who is way too trusting of Voltan and not of Hawk. Duh! He's saving you! Idiot.

I should say i would have overlooked all the bad points if I were a kid, anyone 7-12 would dig this flick. Overall, if you have a chance to see this, and its hard to find I understand, enjoy it for what it is and nothing more. You'll definitely get some laughs out of it at least. 8 out of 10.

I'm all for watching a fantasy/action film and there are some good actors here. Hawk the Slayer is pretty bad with so much wrong with it, but it is not without its moments. The costumes are decent, the interaction between Gort and Baldin is enjoyable, there are some entertaining moments(though perhaps not intentionally) like Voltan grovelling amidst a red background and a hilarious near-sacrifice and Bernard Bresslaw is enormous fun as Gort.

But Hawk the Slayer is one of those films, despite having some entertainment and having its heart in the place, where the cons far outweigh the pros. Visually the costumes are the only half-decent things. The sets while not too bad-looking are too limited with too many scenes shot in the same location- and lit in a drab way. The special effects are appallingly cheap, not just for an 80s fantasy film but they do have to be the worst special effects for any fantasy. The synthesised disco-like soundtrack would be reasonable on its own, but just felt ridiculously out of place here and constantly at odds with what was going on. The script takes silliness to a whole new level and goes overboard in its use of it, and doesn't even try to make sense, Jack Palance's line delivery sometimes has to be heard to be believed.

Story-wise, while extremely derivative, there were some decent ideas but handled very unimaginatively and in an underdeveloped way. Structurally, it's also very episodic and sometimes badly drags with the action slowing things down rather than moving the story forward, some moments entertain but eventually the unintentional hilarity does get tiresome. The action sequences are nothing to write home about, the action itself is choreographed very clumsily and almost all of it is edited far too rapidly and shot in an unnecessarily gimmicky way(which is true for a lot of the film). Think the final battle, which was too brief but shot in slow-motion to try and hide that. Terry Marcel's direction is very gimmicky and confused, almost like he wasn't sure how to direct or tell the story. And the acting is terrible, with Bresslaw giving the best and only good performance. I like Jack Palance, and he often does excel in villain roles, and while he does try hard a lot of time it's like he's trying too hard to the extent it feels hammy and over-compensated. Then there's John Terry, who spends the whole time looking stiff and uninterested and everybody else look and sound robotic. There are numerous cameos/short appearances from talented actors but they have very little to do so they don't really register.

All in all, not without its moments but pretty bad. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Virtuous Hawk (a sincere and likeable performance by John Terry) vows to get revenge on his evil brother Voltan (a gloriously hammy portrayal by Jack Palance) for murdering both his father and fiancée. Hawk recruits a motley group of warriors to assist him on his dangerous mission.

Boy, does this delectably dreadful doozy offer a wondrous wealth of embarrassing riches for the bad film fanatic: We've got ham-fisted (mis)direction by Terry Marcel (who also co-wrote the ludicrous script),a hysterically inappropriate funky-groovy throbbing disco score, chintzy rinky-dink (far from) special effects, uproariously obvious matte paintings, clumsy use of strenuous and protracted slow motion, ineptly staged action scenes, asinine attempts at humor, and even an "it ain't over yet!" sequel set-up ending.

The cast treat the ridiculous material with admirable seriousness: Bernard Bresslaw as rough'n'tumble giant Gort, Ray Charleston as elf master bowman Crow, Peter O'Farrell as scraggly dwarf Baldin, William Morgan Sheppard as the vengeful Ranulf, Shane Briant as Voltan's no-count rotter son Drogo, and Patricia Quinn as a helpful blind sorceress. Popping up in nifty small roles are Catriona MacColl, Patrick Magee (as a mad priest),Harry Andrews, Ferdy Mayne, and Roy Kinnear. A total cruddy hoot and a half.