Review of Hawk The Slayer: Special Edition

Introduction

Your feelings towards `Hawk The Slayer` will hinge on your reaction to the plot summary (see above). You will either think that the film sounds dreadful and you never want to set eyes on it, or you think it sounds dreadful and you can`t wait to see it! It was made as a film for children but now has a cult adult following and is apparently very popular amongst students! An appreciation of `bad` films is necessary if you are to enjoy the adventures of Hawk. Personally, I really enjoy `bad` films and have a lot of time for the output of some of cinema`s most inept practitioners, such as Ed Wood, Al Adamson and Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Video

A fairly poor fullscreen transfer with enough grain and dirt to make me wonder why I wasn`t looking at something that had been cleaned up for an SE release.

Clearly made with a low budget, there isn`t a drop of blood to be seen and the CGI is terrible!

Audio

A decent stereo mix of what is admittedly a cheap soundtrack: the score is firmly in the `one man and his Casio keyboard` camp. Composer (and producer) Harry Robertson seems to be a Sergio Leone fan as Hawk has his own theme, similar to Clint Eastwood`s in the `Dollars` trilogy.

Features

First on the list is `Clapperboard - Revenge by the sword` - an entire episode of the long-running children`s film review show featuring interviews with the director, producer and members of the cast. Running at nearly 26 minutes, this is an interesting featurette hosted by Chris Kelly.

Entirely comprised of rushes and therefore pretty awful quality are `By the Sword Divided - The making of Hawk The Slayer` and `Sharpening the Blade - The filming of Hawk The Slayer`. Together they run at nearly 45 minutes but don`t cast as much light as they should due to the quality of the film stock and disjointed editing.

Also included is the unintentionally hilarious trailer and an image gallery which runs automatically.

Conclusion

There is a category of film best described as an acquired taste, generally known as `so bad it`s good`. `Hawk The Slayer` undoubtedly falls into this category, as not even the director would claim it to be a work of vision and greatness.

John Terry, in his film debut, plays a man who has seen his fiancée and father killed by his evil brother Voltan, yet displays all the emotions of an Easter Island statue. This, combined with his stilted delivery and wooden presence perfectly set the tone for the film. Jack Palance plays Voltan and chews the scenery as if he hadn`t eaten in a month! The supporting cast includes Bernard Bresslaw from the `Carry On` films, the Hammer Studio staple Catriona MacColl, Patrick Magee, Annette Crosbie, Warren Clarke and Mr. Henry Salt himself, Roy Kinnear!

Given a couple of robots, I would have felt exactly like Joel from `Mystery Science Theater 3000` as the film caused me to heckle `Hawk The Slayer` as if I were in an episode of MST3K! The film is rubbish: it`s badly written, badly directed, badly acted, the CGI is woeful, the score is terrible and the Nunnery seems to have been modelled on `Castle Anthrax` from `Monty Python and the Holy Grail`! The film was made for a young audience, which explains the complete absence of blood and the cartoon bad guy.

Despite its multiple flaws, or indeed because of them, I had a great time watching `Hawk The Slayer` and it`s practically impossible to give a film of this nature a number score; quality-wise, it`s a `1`, but enjoyment-wise it probably deserves an `8`.

As I`ve said, if you like `bad` movies and enjoy their flaws, then this is a film for you.