Customer Reviews

The Beastmaster

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Beastmaster is a cult favorite that was a modest success in its initial release, but found an audience through home video and repeat (and I mean repeat) TV viewings. HBO doesn't stand for Home Box Office, it stands for "Hey, Beastmaster's On!" - Dennis Miller

Called a Conan the Barbarian ripoff, even though it was released shortly after that film which would've made it impossible to copy it, The Beastmaster stars Marc Singer (V: The Miniseries, Beastmaster II & III) as Dar, the last surving member of his tribe, who has the power to communicate telepathically with animals. His sidekicks include a black eagle (really a hawk), a black panther (actually a Bengal tiger painted black) named Ruh, and two cute ferrets named Kodo & Podo. They're on a quest to save the lovely slave girl, Kiri, played voluptuously by Tanya Roberts (Sheena, A View To A Kill, TVs That 70's Show) who also happens to be the cousin of the son of a king imprisoned by the evil Maax, played with an added beak nose by Rip Torn (Men In Black). The film blends a good amount of adventure, action, drama, romance, and heart to make any moviegoer satisfied. But my personal favorite scenes involve Dar playing with his animals (especially Kodo & Podo). Marc Singer is truly an animal lover who cares for them with honesty and sincerity, which gives the movie it's added zeal. Throw in John Amos as Seth for dramatic acting effect and you've got a perfect movie! Gotta love those creepy Birdmen as well as the evil Jun Horde!

The DVD Special Features are pretty good. You of course get the film in it's original widescreen aspect ratio (1.85:1), which is also enhanced for 16x9 TVs. There's an audio commentary by co-writer/director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm 1,2,3,&4) and co-writer/producer Paul Pepperman (Phantasm) which is informative but lacks in part due to both men not talking enough about Marc Singer or Tanya Roberts, and more about how disappointed they were in those bad effects shots (the Jun Horde army riding in the distance and the black eagle having to carry the little girl in mid air) and how they got the animals to do their work (FOOD!!). There's also an added bit of Behind the Scenes Home Movie footage with both Don & Paul providing commentary. Plus you get the Theatrical Trailer, original production art, poster still galleries, Talant bios and a really nice 16 page booklet with sketches and liner notes. And for those who don't know, there's a great "easter egg" hidden feature of the cut love scene between Dar & Kiri. Just click on "Extras" at the main menu, then once you're there go down to "Main Menu" and go right. When you hit enter you'll see the "Eye Ring" come to life and then the bonus scenes will begin!

The Beastmaster - A Cult Classic!

"I see through their eyes...they see through mine. They know my thoughts...I know theirs" - Marc Singer as Dar

There's something to be said for the "do-it-yourself" approach to making movies. Director Don Coscarelli followed up his smash horror film "Phantasm" with a fantasy adventure inspired by Andre Norton's fantasy novel The Beastmaster. Unfortunately, this project couldn't be entirely self funded so Coscarelli had to go to outside sources. That's where the trouble began. Although he finished the film and was overall quite satisfied, what followed was a battle of wills where the film was taken away from him, he was locked out of the editing room initially but finally the story does, indeed, have a happy ending of sorts.

Dar (Marc Singer) the son of a King stolen from his mother's womb and transported into an animal, seeks revenge against the evil Overlord Maax (Rip Torn) a fanatic who has stolen Dar's kingdom, murdered his parents and tried to sacrifice him when he was an infant. With the assistance of his father's former bodyguard Seth (John Amos) and a freed slave girl Kiri (Tanya Roberts), Dar moves against Maax in a winner-takes-all battle involving magic, swords and a fight to the death. Placed inside an animal by an evil witch intent on sacrificing him at the direction of the nasty overlord Maax (Rip Torn), Dar survives and is adopted by a local peasant. Whne Dar discovers his origin and learns of the murder of his parents by Maax's henchmen, Dar speaks to animals in their language and can make them do his bidding. Dar

What you really need to know if you've purchased this before is whether or not there are any differences between this edition and the previous one. Boasting a wonderful new transfer using Anchor Bay's Divamax high definition transfer method and a 6.1 Dolby Digital EX/DTS soundtrack, The Beastmaster looks and sounds wonderful. This re-release boasts a rich, textured image that more than does justice to the wonderful cinematography of the late John Alcott (Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange). Digitally remastered for this special edition the warm colors and rich detail presented in this edition make it an essential upgrade for fans of the first film. While the 6.1 presentation of the soundtrack can't make optimal use of the format (this was originally made in the early 80's), the warm and detailed soundtrack still sounds tremendous here with an amazing amount of detail. I haven't seen the film in awhile so don't know if the dialogue track was slightly out of synch with the original film. That's the case on this DVD. I can't say it's a flaw of the DVD yet because I haven't had a chance to compare it to other editions yet.

A new documentary directed by Perry Martin was especially commissioned for this edition. Featuring new interviews with Writer/Director Coscarelli , Writer/Producer Pepperman, Production Designer Conrad Angone and actors Josh Milrad, Tanya Roberts and Marc Singer, we get an inside glimpse into the origins of the film and the conflicts that almost derailed its success. Coscarelli ran into constant interference from his overseas financer and co-producer almost immediately. Since Coscarelli had arranged the financing of his previous movies and all had been under a million dollars, he had never run into interference of this sort before. Also, on his previous productions he and Pepperman did almost everything behind the camera and in post production. Here, for the first time, both had to work with others and trust the professional crew they had hired. The real koo for the production was wrangling veteran Kubrick cinematographer John Alcott to shoot the movie and composer Lee Holdridge to write the wonderfully evocative score for the film. We also get the original theatrical trailer (which demonstrates how much work went into restoring this film for its Divamax presentation), production stills, behind-the-scenes photos and all the poster/advertising art that survived. The talent bio and DVD-ROM with the original screenplay are icing on this already moist cake. Coscarelli also contributes liner notes on the insert that has a reproduction of the original poster. A marvelous job from Anchor Bay.


An informative, funny and charming commentary track from the director and producer of the film. We get all the trivia you'd always want in a commentary track plus occasional bits of trivia about Coscarelli's film Phantasm and some other projects as well. Both Coscarelli and Pepperman do a great job here.

A fun sword and sorcerer adventure, The Beastmaster looks outstanding on this special Divamax Edition of the film. Packed with extras including a great documentary on the making of the film, production notes, a marvelous commentary and a top notch transfer, Anchor Bay has outdone itself here. The only thing missing from this film that might have improved it was commentary and/or interviews with Rip Torn.

If you're looking at this then you probably already like the movie. Repeated viewings on TBS have made this one of my favorite "comfort" movies. After a stressed out day you can sit down with The Beastmaster and trivial real world stuff just drifts away. It's like a great song. Am I right? It's also a great way to waste a few hours on a rainy day. From the cheesy opening titles to the back-to-back perfect timing sequences that save our heros from certain death - it's forgivable fun. When watching Lord Of The Rings recently I was reminded of Beastmaster (Xena, Hercules, Dragonslayer and all my favorite RPG computer games too). You can *just tell* when the actors are going through the motions and when they are having fun. Beastmaster (and Lord Of The Rings) is the latter. Swords and witches are what it's all about. If that's your bag then read on!

The DVD presentation is much better than I though it would be. The picture and sound will please most. Good color and sharp images. The extras are numerous and vary in quality. However, at this price, why complain? Some of the "behind the scenes" stuff reminds me of someone narrarating their own home movies; introducing family members and whatnot. But seeing the locations and the construction of the villiage and the pyramid used in the film was interesting. The rest is good for a quick look. I haven't watched it with commentary turned on yet but look forward to it.

The Beastermaster DVD is a good value for fans. I wish all B-movie DVDs (or ALL DVDs period) were at least this well presented. Perfect score!!

The Beastmaster is a fabulous fantasy film with plenty of imagination behind it. This was a big film for writer/director Don Coscarelli whose prior ventures had all been low budget: his love of film making and passion for his subject is clearly on the screen for this film.

The hero of the film is Dar, who is the son of the king but was stolen (actually transferred from the womb to a cow), by Maax (played by Rip Torn) because there is a prophecy that the child will kill him. Dar is about to be killed by a witch but is saved and becomes the member of a small tribe. Dar has remarkable powers of communication with animals that he demonstrates early on when he saves someone from a bear. The village is destroyed by a band of barbarians and Dar is rescued by his faithful dog becoming the only survivor: he sets out to avenge the massacre.

From this point, Dar uses his powers with animals and gathers some important friends. He first meets a golden eagle whom he names Sharak, two ferrets (who are playfully stealing Dar's bag) that he names Kodo and Podo and a black tiger named Ruh. The film is truly set apart by the presence of the animals in the film and how they aid Dar in his quest. Along the way, Dar meets Kiri (played by Tanya Roberts), a slave girl but in reality a cousin, Tal (a son of the king who is, of course, a half-brother to Dar) and Seth (magnificently played by John Amos) who is helping Tal to free his imprisoned father.

The film is pure adventure with Dar getting in trouble and defeating evil with the help of his animal companions. Dar is nicely played by Marc Singer who looks the part and displays a nice range of emotions. Rip Torn is a great villain, a role he played "like a turkey vulture." The principle cast members Tanya Roberts, John Amos, Josh Milrad, Rod Loomis and Ben Hammer (Dar's adopted father) are all terrific in their roles. The credit for this goes to Don Coscarelli who inspired his actors and worked well with everyone to see the project through.

The story is by turns humorous, sad, scary and filled with adventure. Beastmaster has been unfailrly called a rip-off of Conan but the only similarity is that both main characters have their homes destroyed. The film has been beautifully transferred to DVD and the addition of the documentary about the making of Beastmaster makes this the preferred DVD to own.

I have recently purchased the DVD of The Beastmaster and have watched the movie for what was probably the first time since 1983 when it was on HBO. I had forgotten about the bad acting and cheesy lines, but also about how impressive Marc Singer is for such a small man compared to other big screen heros of that day (Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Sylvester Stallone). I also forgot about how gorgeous Tanya Roberts is. Ah, the good old days when PG-13 flicks gave us a peek (we get a nice long google in this one). Despite the low-budget production, The Beastmaster is a rock-solid feast for the imagination. It has all the right elements of a fantastic fairy tale: a vile dictator who epitomizes evil, witches, mysterious flesh-eating humanoid flying beasts, a cool black tiger, bodies impaled on poles, and so on. The imagination that went into this film is really much larger than the budget that produced it, so if you can get past the goofy acting you could really enjoy this story.

As for the DVD, Anchor Bay just wanted to get something released for a quick buck. Half of the scenes are crystal clear and the other half are grainy with poor color. The enhanced soundtrack does little to improve the story. The disc also had a habit of seizing up toward the end of the movie. I thought it was my player so I tested it with another disc then replayed the segments from the Beastmaster disc to confirm my suspicion. It seized up again. But when I tracked backward for a few frames it cleared up. The extras are extremely poor in quality and hardly worth watching unless you just have to know the history of the film. The 16-page booklet is quite nice, though. I cannot rate this story any more than 3 stars because it is just another fantasy film regardless of the potential it could have had. The DVD will have to rate 1 star. I can live with the quality, but Anchor Bay has made outstanding discs with older films like Halloween. Too bad only the wildly popular classics get first class attention.

I have to admit that I leapt for joy when I discovered this gem had finally been released on DVD. I don't think it was ever sold in VHS come to think of it. A CRIME I tell ye! Pure snobbery. You won't find a more entertaining example of Sword and Sorcery. You have Rip Torn, That fellow from "V" (purists are now howling for my blood...Mark Singer, now back you savages), Monster Men in Spiked S+M gear, Monsters that squish you into a nast green pudding, and did I mention Rip Torn. Heck there's even a topless Tanya Roberts (My whole life I thought I was seeing more...but the high quality DVD has illuminated me to the fact that she's wearing medieval panties...Yet another dear childhood memory tarnished) Anyway, this movie is well worth the price and if you haven't seen it...please for your own sake...but it at once.

Be warned! This edition is not presented in Widescreen as advertised. The manufacturer only put a black band across the top and bottom of the full screen edition. I know, I've seen the VHS edition from the 80s and saw the movie in the theaters. The DVD was made by Anchor Bay. In a side note, a friend purchased a copy of Space Camp which was also made by Anchor Bay. To her surprise it was blank. The Beastmaster case also claims to include a "16 page booklet of orginal preproduction sketches and liner notes" which is no where to be found. All in all this edition was very, very disappointing. I will not buy anything else from Anchor Bay Entertainment. They are misleading their customers. If they had choosen to not make a widescreen edition they should have just left it full screen instead of lying to the public. I'd give the movie a 4 except for the DVD presentation.

The Beastmaster was a great film its sort of like a Conan The Barbarian ripoff so if you liked that film then your going to love this, I just saw this film more recently and heard alot of great things about it The Beastmaster also has earned some cult status and is popular on cable. I was definitely not disappointed by this film it also happens to be a huge cult classic and was directed by one of my favorite directors Don Coscarelli who also made the Phantasm series its also one of those movies that can be watched many times without being bored cause there is never a dull moment. So the film might be very silly and cheesy at times but then again who cares since this is an epic fantasy/adventure film, in my opinion I thought that the dialogue was pretty good and it fits with the rest of the film which happens to be about witchcraft and sorcery and stuff like that it also has alot of bizarre and wonderful creatures like the bat people and some hideous witches and not to mention the special fx were pretty good especially for that time during the early 80's even though some scenes did look abit outdated. The story is about a muscle-bound warrior named Dar played by Marc Singer who has the power to communicate with the animals, when his village is attacked under the order of the evil priest Maax played by Ripp Torn (who was so over the top and cheesy as hell you gotta love it) everyone he cares for is killed so he heads out on a quest for revenge. Along his journey he gathers some animals to help him out and meets a slave girl Kiri (Tania Roberts who provides some nice eye candy ;-)) who was trying to escape from her capture at the hands of the evil priest, he also meets a couple of friends the sword fight were fantastic and it also includes a very cool battle scene where the fighters are surrounded by fire check it out, this scene was stylishly shot almost like an 80's music video. Anyway if you want to see some fun and excitement and if you like Conan The Barbarian then watch this now!.

Over and over again, but you never tire of it. Is it because it was part of your childhood? Is it because of the animals? It is because of the complete world setting? Tanya Roberts topless? The ferrets?
In the end I can't help but think about this film when ever I think of the early 80s. Now, some people will say it was just a copy of the first Conan film, but they would be wrong. Those two films were developed and released along side each other - nobody could have copied from either. Also, in some ways Marc Singer's character of Dar, has a better background story - and his power to talk to animals is a great addition to the story. The themes, about being a hero, fighting for what is right, kind of leaves Conan in the dust - who just wants to get back at the man who killed his family. Dar also wants to get the man who is responsible for the death of his family - but he also wants to free Kiri, help overthrow an evil ruler, and find out what the mark on his hand means. It is life, with swords, magic, eagle men, one big explosion, and animals.
The commentary was nice, as was the photo gallery. There is also a nice insert with the DVD, with a poster and liner notes.
If you liked this movie may I also suggest - Hawk the Slayer, Ator the Fighting Eagle, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Conan - The Complete Quest, and maybe Dragonslayer: When Dragons Were Real. Enjoy!

As a wee lad, this movie shaped by tender consciousness. I could relate so well to its hero, Dar, a sensitive outcast in communion with nature. I found my own story in his, having one's town burned by the Junts, seeking revenge on child-sacrificing priests, courting a slave girl, using no more than ten words a day, rubbing my body to a gleam with bear grease. At the time it made no difference to me that cinematography could be so jolting and inconsistent (my favorite is the unconscious Dar being pulled by his dog to safety; the dog lets go and the body keeps moving). The theme is one for the ages. Everything about the man I am today can be traced back to this sensational epic.