In 1979, filmmaker Don Coscarelli achieved critical and commercial success with the release of his indie horror film Phantasm. Following its success, Coscarelli decided to do something outside of the horror genre that would be even bigger. Growing up, he loved the sword and sorcery films from the 50s, particularly the Hercules films starring Steve Reeves. Coscarelli and his Phantasm co-producer Paul Pepperman worked on a story loosely based on the 1959 novel The Beast Master. Rather than adapting the book, they took the basic concept and set it in a Bronze Age fantasy world. Producer Sylvio Tabet signed on to finance the project after a Conan the Barbarian film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was announced. With a $9 million budget, this was Coscarelli’s biggest project at the time, but also one of his most frustrating. After a grueling production, Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster was released to theaters in August 1982.
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Rating
Synopsis
High Priest Maax (Rip Torn) learns that the unborn son of King Zed (Rod Loomis) is destined to kill him. He sends one of his witches to kidnap and kill the child but is stopped by a villager (Ben Hammer). After killing the witch, he raises the child as his own, names him Dar, and teaches him how to fight. Years later, Dar (Marc Singer) is the lone survivor after his village gets raided by Maax and his barbarians. Swearing vengeance, Dar acquires animal companions Sharak the eagle, Koto and Poto the ferrets, and Ruh the tiger. Along the way, he also meets Kiri (Tanya Roberts), a slave girl who’s to be sacrificed by Maax. Dar teams up with the king’s younger son Tal (Josh Milrad) and his bodyguard Seth (John Amos) to rescue her. Will Dar defeat Maax, or will Dar and his friends fall victim to Maax’s minions?
Review
The Beastmaster gets unfairly criticized as a Conan the Barbarian rip-off, which couldn’t be further from the truth. While both are sword and sorcery epics about a revenge quest, Conan was more adult-oriented while Beastmaster is more lighthearted. That’s not to say this film doesn’t have its darker moments, but it’s more of a fun, lighthearted adventure. Given what Coscarelli took as inspiration, this comes off more like a 50s adventure film with 80s sensibilities. There’s some fairly dark imagery including child sacrifice, corpses on stakes, and even people being dissolved or turned into monsters. Along with some mild nudity thrown in, it’s fascinating to see how different PG films were compared to now. Though it’s commendable that Coscarelli would push the boundaries, the somewhat disjointed tone might be why it didn’t succeed theatrically. Even still, there’s plenty of great things that help elevate the film to cult status.
The story is fairly simple and moves at a solid pace, though it drags in a few places. The action sequences are pretty fun, with plenty of sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and some epic battles during the climax. Marc Singer makes for a good hero, having a great physique and tons of wit while also being dramatic. Tanya Roberts, on top of looking great, has good chemistry with Singer and has some pretty cool moments. Rip Torn makes for a fun, over-the-top villain, especially with his line delivery, and John Amos is also memorable. The animal companions are remarkably well-trained and a major highlight, especially the two ferrets, who are cute and mischievous. At the end of the day, the filmmakers wanted to make a simple and fun adventure film, and they succeeded. Overall, The Beastmaster is a relic of a bygone era of filmmaking that’s worth rediscovering.
Buy The Beastmaster from Vinegar Syndrome: https://bit.ly/399dG5q
Tanya Roberts, 1955 - 2021
This review is dedicated to the memory of actress Tanya Roberts, who passed away on January 4, 2021, at the age of 65.
