zooeyhall It briefly made the rounds of late night television in the mid-80's here in the U.S., and then I didn't see it until I recently bought the DVD.I admit I'm a "sword and sorcery" fan, and am usually rather forgiving when I watch one of these movies.But "Hawk--the Slayer" is in a class of bad all its own.First--the dumbest dialogue ever. It's as if someone filled a Rolodex with "standard lines from fantasy epics", and then used it to write the script. Thus we get such gems as "the prophecy is fulfilled!", "wolves now hunt where none were seen before", and "the wizards gather in the South".Jack Palance is supposed to be Hawk's brother. But he looks old enough to be his dad; and other than some similarities in their right ear-lobes, there is no resemblance whatsoever.The outside scenes all seem to have been filmed in the same tiny patch of forest. And what's with all those skulls and lizards that seem to be randomly scattered about? F/X largely is confined to stopping and reversing the camera, along with generous use of the smoke machine. In a supposedly haunted forest, our heroes are menaced by what appears to be a finger puppet.The music is a curious sub-sub genre that can be best termed "medieval disco".What WERE they thinking when making this film, anyway?

Joxerlives Watched this in 1980 aged 7 as the supporting feature for Saturn 5 and enjoyed it a great deal more. Minscule budget, laughable special effects, terrible acting and astoundingly bad dialogue but it still works and indeed it's brilliant, a great way to pass 90 minutes. Especially love British comedy legend Bernard Breslaw as the giant (a reasonably small giant but when you're accustomed to seeing him as Sid James foil it really is such a different role for him). One scene that really stands out though is the part where Crow, the last Elfin archer speaks to Hawk of his weariness of battle; Crow; "We have waited together like this many times, you and I. Sometimes I grow tired of the fighting and killing. At night I hear my people calling for me from beyond the mountains. One day I will join them and my race will be forgotten" Hawk; "You will never be forgotten" Feels like it comes from a much better film.

FlashCallahan Hawk,, after seeing both his father and bride die at the hands of his malevolent brother, Voltan, sets out for revenge and the chance to live up to his title. Tooling himself up with the "mind-sword" and recruiting a motley band of warriors: a giant, a dwarf, a one-armed man with a machine-crossbow and an elf with the fastest bow in the land; Hawk leads the battle against Voltan to free the land from the forces of evil and avenge his loved ones......This is one of those movies that you have heard about and know that it has a cult following, but have never had the opportunity to get to see. On the rare occasion when it popped up on TV (the horror channel of all places) I had no choice but to put it on my planner and watch it.It's a daft movie for sure, but it has some really funny moments, and some of the casting is pretty genius, such as Bernard Bresslaw as the Giant. If the movie were made today, it would be compared to LOTR as the main characters are so alike, but back then it had similarities to A New Hope, so it was called a rip off to that movie.Palance steals the show right from under everyone's feet, his spouting of lines is beyond camp, and these sort of performances were rife in the early eighties.The rest of the cast are forgettable, just full of people that you would have seen in British sitcoms throughout the nineties, and people wearing silly ears and firing hilariously edited arrows.Not for everyone that's for sure, but if you like movies like Krull, Deathstalker, or just general films of people walking through woods, this is for you.

benjyuk A charismatic hero that makes Tommy Wiseau look like a one-dimensional corpse, non-stop action, an enthralling plot, SFX which render Transformers 3 a SyFy production in comparison...at this point I woke from my slumber on the sofa and stared in disbelief that this movie was still running. It had all been a delightful dream, my body saving me from the torture of facing this ordeal without a break. The most entertaining 20 minutes of the film was when I had slipped into a coma of boredom from being subjected to John Terry's emotionless presence and the ridiculous sound effects that sounded like they were made using the sound effects on a pre-school Casio keyboard.The editing on this movie was a joy to behold. The brilliant use of re-showing the same scene but being sped up just to give the impression that the crossbow was being shot in some rapid fire mode is just underused in today's movies.The interesting debate this movie brought about was - what makes a bad movie funny? Me and my friend watch many bad movies as they are unintentionally the best comedies. Classics such as The Room, Troll 2 and Hercules in New York and so this had the potential to be comedy gold, but instead fell into the deep pit of silly string and pre-school keyboard sound effects and joined the only other movie that has sent me to sleep on that same sofa, McBain.After the film had ended, I was left in a state of confusion and anger. Only one thing could restore my faith in awful movies, the dulcet tones and infectious chuckle of the Croation cyborg himself, step forward Mr Tommy Wiseau. After 30 seconds of The Room, my faith had been restored and i was more entertained than I had been during the entire ordeal of Hawk. If Tommy Wiseau was the lead of every movie, the world would be a better place.