The Film:
British cinema has always gone through certain phases. It was renowned for many of the war films and comedy it produced in the pre-colour days thanks to a couple of exceptional studios including Elstree and The Rank Organisation. Lately the British film industry is putting out some fun romantic comedy films with the likes of Love Actually, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Dary to name but three. Again, the output has mainly been through one company (Working Title). It's a shame then, that the eighties seemed to be a lull in the British film industry with fewer hits than other decades. The eighties did see one genre making a splash in the UK though, and that genre was fantasy, with the most popular form seemingly being sword and sorcery. Hawk The Slayer is one such film.
Directed by Terry Marcel (Jane and the Lost City), Hawk The Slayer is mainly a story of sibling revenge and the battle between good and evil. Jack Palance (City Slickers) plays Voltan, an evil man who killed his own Father and his good-natured brothers' (John Terry - A Killing in a Small Town) fiance. With this, Hawk brings it upon himself to avenge his loved ones deaths and to put an end to Voltan's reign of evil. To do this he brings together a range of charcters including a giant, a dwarf, a master bowman, a one armed crossbowman and a witch, all of whom want to help Hawk free the land from the grip of evil.
Hawk The Slayer certainly isn't a great film, hell, it's isn't even a good one. It's so bad though, that it is fantastic and rightly claims it's place as a cult classic loved by students and film related t-shirt adorners everywhere. The actual cast and acting is really better than most would have you believe, with even Palance putting in a rarely decent performance as Voltan. The music track is wonderfully modern for 1980 with sword fights set hundreds of years ago being shown with a disco keyboard feel, thanks to the score by Harry Robertson who also produced the film. The plot is really loose and is only really there to string together the set pieces, but yet, the film is still great. This film comes recommended to fans of similar stuff such as Krull, but those expecting a tight story in the same vain as Lord Of The Rings should look away. The best way to watch this enjoyable feast of a film is to get your mates round, get the beers in, and order some pizzas. Have fun!
The DVD:
Video:
Although the film was shown in cinemas at a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, this was actually cropped from the original 4:3 aspect ratio. Thankfully Network have given us the fullscreen treatment, uncropped and open matte. There are signs of grain and dirt throughout the print, particularly in darker scenes which can lack clarity at times, but all in all the picture is pretty average. Most scenes are very clear and shown with a good contrast and with no telecine wobble. There is a little edge enhancement, but not enough to make it noticeable for the majority of viewers. Average transfer.
Audio:
Network state on their webpage that the track provided is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono track, yet I must beg to differ as I noticed a small amount of channel seperation and would say it is actually a stereo track. Dialogue is clear throughout and volume levels consistent. however there was acrackle lasting all of two seconds a around the 64 minute mark. There was little background hiss and with no other problems this track is certainly adequate. Obviously, a upmixed surround track would have been a nice addition as would subtitles, which as usual for Network releases have not been included. Not the best sound in the world, but certainly adequate.
Extras:
We start off the extras with a featurette entitled Clapperboard: Revenge By The Sword. Running 25 minutes and 50 seconds, the featurette mixes some behind the scenes footage with clips from the film and interviews with people you wouldn't normally expect to hear from like the stunt co-ordinator Eddie Stacey to the swordplay expert and fight choreographer John Waller. Of course we also get to hear from director Terry Marcel, producer Harry Robertson and actors Jack Palance, John Terry, Patricia Quinn, William Morgan Sheppard, Ray Charleson, Peter O'Farrell and Bernard Bresslaw. Worth a look.
We then get another couple of featurettes:
- By The Sword Divided: The Making Of Hawk The Slayer (29:33)
- Sharpening The Sword: The Filming Of Hawk The Slayer (15:14)
Both are made up of uncut rushes taken from The Electric Theatre Show with By The Sword Divided focusing on interview footage (different from the Clapperboard featurette) and Sharpening The Sword being made up of behind the scenes footage. Both are certainly worth a watch, though a narrative would've been nice.
We finish up with an image gallery (2:24) and a theatrical trailer (2:22).
