The Sword and Sorcery genre was a huge part of 80s fantasy, with movies like Conan the Barbarian popularizing big muscular men in big muscular roles, fighting alongside big-busted women against big, nasty magicians, witches and monsters. Now Steven Kostanski has brought back Deathstalker, one such movie, but without the explicit misogyny of the original.
Deathstalker was originally released in 1983, starring Rick Hill in the title role, who is sent on a quest by a witch to find a chalice, amulet, and sword, two of which are in the possession of an evil wizard. It is not hard to see how the genre’s name came about. The film was a moderate hit, turning a laughable $457,000 budget into an $11.9 worldwide box office gross. The film, which was financed by low-budget legend Roger Corman, spawned three sequels between 1987 and 1991.
Surprisingly, in 2024, it was announced that a reboot of the franchise was in development over 40 years after the original movie’s debut. Partly funded by a crowdfunding campaign – the same way Terrifier 2 became possible – the film was shot in early 2025, and was released on October 10. Sharing his reasons for reviving the franchise, Kostanski told Bleeding Cool:
“I’ve been a fan of the Deathstalker movies for a long time, especially Deathstalker 2 (1987), specifically. I was presented with a list of Roger Corman properties that were up for being rebooted, and I saw Deathstalker on the list, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is a fun sandbox for me to play in.’ I thought, ‘I can make a Steve Kostanski Deathstalker movie and fill it with monsters, action, mayhem, and deliver on what the Boris Vallejo posters promised.’”
Kostanski Wanted to Deliver More Than Debauchery in ‘Deathstalker’
In the 1980s, bare flesh was as much a part of R-rated fantasy movies as the fantasy elements themselves. In reviving a franchise that promised plenty of voluptuous, scantily clad females – as per Boris Vallejo’s posters depicted – Kostanski wanted to focus more on the other side of the posters, and the “cool monsters” that didn’t always get their full use in a time when special effects were not always that special. He added:
“My goal from the beginning was to deliver on the other half of the Boris Vallejo poster. I feel like the 80s movies had no problem delivering on the titillating side of the poster, like Boris is well known for having busty, scantily clad ladies, but he also does cool monsters, which are never featured in the movie. I thought that it’s a little bit more my style is monsters, so why don’t I just lean into that instead? We’ve got four movies, full of nudity. How about one movie that delivers on the fantasy monster action for once? That was my intention going into it, and as a filmmaker, I don’t give a shit about nudity, really, like it’s not an interesting or exciting thing to me. So I wanted to lean into the monsters and the action, because that’s what excites me.”
Deathstalker is in cinemas now.
- Release Date
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October 10, 2025
- Runtime
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102 minutes
- Producers
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Michael Paszt, Pasha Patriki, Avi Federgreen
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Daniel Bernhardt
Deathstalker
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Christina Orjalo
Brisbayne
