Review for Hawk the Slayer

‘Hawk the Slayer’ will never win any awards for its acting, its screenplay or indeed any aspect of its production. It’s not a good film if measured by any sensible, objective yardstick. But in common with other children’s fantasy cult films (think ‘The Princess Bride’ ‘Labyrinth’ or ‘The Never Ending Story’ franchise),  it’s a lot of fun and I imagine even more so for those who saw it first time around at an impressionable age.

I’ve never seen it before but I still enjoyed it enormously despite its obvious flaws (a miss-cast lead being among the most obvious of these). As a very early eighties film (1980 to be precise), it has much kitsch charm including some very pedestrian effects (no CGI here or anything close) as well as what can only be described as an orchestral disco soundtrack. It certainly delivers a healthy dose of nostalgia.

‘Hawk the Slayer’ is a classic example of a so-called ‘sword and sorcery’ film; not quite ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ but not far off. There are no dragons but there is plenty of magical swordplay as well as a really straight-forward, no nonsense, good versus evil narrative. The baddies are really bad and the goodies really good.

So let’s look at the teams. Two brothers actually (though how the sixty four old Jack Palance would be the brother of the early twenties John Terry is anyone’s guess) who have become foes in a battle for their Father’s power.

So when the Father is killed by the evil brother (the evil wizard Voltan played to pantomime extremes by a gnarled looking Jack Palance who looks like he’s having a lot of fun), Hawk (a first time film role for the incredibly wooden American actor John Terry) is bequeathed a magical sword which responds to his thoughts. Swearing vengeance on his brother, he gathers together a trusty band of giants, dwarves, elves and witches – together these warriors will end Voltan's reign of terror forever, or die trying.

What’s a lovely surprise is to see Bernard Bresslaw among Hawk’s faithful gang, playing the part of a righteous ‘giant’. Whilst a surprise piece of casting he does an incredibly good job.

It’s a surprisingly violent film at times, which is why it carries a PG rating still, with plenty of torturing, stabbing and general killing afoot – albeit without much blood.

We soon learn that Hawk has another reason for wanting to avenge his Father’s death by destroying Voltan. In a flash-back sequence we see Voltan kidnapping Hawk’s young bride who he wants as his own.

Just to really hammer home Voltan’s ‘stop at nothing mean streak’, he kidnaps a nun and holds her ransom in order to get Hawk to surrender the sword to him.


The film probably looks as good as you’ve ever seen it in a new High Definition transfer from the original 35mm cut negative, in its original theatrical aspect ratio. The image is sharp and detailed throughout. That said, the high definition might accentuate some of the weaknesses of creaking sets (look at the tin-foil in the opening scenes) and the primitive effects like the fog jumping as one magic scene cuts to the next with a locked off camera, played out as movie magic.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS VIDEO DOES NOT REFLECT THE EXCELLENT QUALITY OF THE NETWORK BLU-RAY RELEASE AND IS INCLUDED MERELY AS A TASTER.

The extra features are a real added treat. There are contemporary interviews with some of the cast including John Terry and Jack Palance.
There’s also a wonderful ‘Clapperboard’ episode showing some behind the scenes footage including a scene where Roy Kinnear plays a publican who is being bullied by the evil Voltan. It’s classic Kinnear, full of trembling lip and rolling eyes.

Also included are the original trailer, an image gallery and the full script as a PDF.

If you’re one of those people who loved this film as a kid then you really need to get yourself a copy.