Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Sorbo, Tia Carrere, Thomas Ian Griffith, Litefoot, Roy Brocksmith
• Directors: John Nicolella
• Writers: Charles Edward Pogue, Robert E. Howard
• Producers: Arthur Lieberman, Beverlee Dean, Hester Hargett, Jeff Franklin, Raffaella De Laurentiis
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783223110
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,063 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you're into sword-and-sorcery tales, look no further than this critically underrated big-screen fantasy based on the fiction of Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard. It was a troubled production and the outcome is far different from the more serious and intelligent epic that screenwriter Charles Pogue had originally conceived. Still, this is a giddy, energetic throwback to the Ray Harryhausen movie fantasies of the 1950s and '60s, and it's a perfect vehicle for Kevin Sorbo, the hunky star of TV's Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Sorbo brings an appropriate combination of depth and physical agility to the role of Kull (son of Conan), but he and director John Nicolella know better than to take this stuff too seriously. The movie's humor is nicely integrated into the dialogue without resorting to lame punch lines, and Tia Carrere is enjoyably campy as the evil goddess who lures Kull from his favorite concubine (Karina Lombard) as she plots to overthrow the kingdom of Valusia. Playwright Harvey Fierstein also provides comic relief in a scene-stealing role, and with an abundance of black magic, stunning Slovakian locations, and grand battles of good versus evil, this heroic adventure is more entertaining than you might expect. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars MR. HOWARD IS NOT PLEASED!!!, February 2, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kull the Conqueror (DVD)

Poor Robert E. Howard...He never lived nearly long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labors that would have made him a very wealthy man. Conan movies, TV shows, comics, magazines, toys...He'd be startled to learn just how popular barbarian hero had become. He'd be equally horrified to see the results of Kull the Conqueror. Kull was actually created by Howard before Conan and in fact Howard re-wrote several of his Kull stories that Weird tales rejected, as Conan stories.

One immediately knew things were not going to be good with Kevin Sorbo playing the title role. He's too slender, and altogether too 'pristine' to have played Kull who was essetially a savage tribesman, much like Conan. In Howard's original works, Kull took the throne of Valusia by force by killing the petty despot King Borna and took the crown from his head and became King...no matter who liked it or not. There was nothing so trite as the dying king merely handing over his crown to the man who just killed him...a man who was a savage at that.

Borna's heirs are none too happy that they've been left out of power and enlist the aid of a resurrected witch named Akivasha to get rid of Kull. We then get some mish mash of a quest that Kull has to complete to defeat the witch...ho hum...It's obvious that Sorbo was cast to cash in on the popularity of the Hercules TV show but he's just too nice a guy to be playing the savage Kull.

Tia Carrere fairs no better than Sorbo. Again we have someone just a little too good looking to be playing their role. And again someone whose acting talent is meager to begin with. And where is Kull'f long time companion Brule the Spearslayer? And instead of creating the new character of the witch Akivasha, why not use Kull's actual arch-enemy Thulsa Doom?

This plays more like a maede for TV movie than a big screen film. A huge disappointment.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars AN UNDERCROWDED GENRE GETS A MEDICORE OFFERING..., June 10, 2001

By 

Robert Law (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kull the Conqueror (DVD)

Kull, wise-cracking barbarian of Atlantis, somehow finds himself in the midst of a distant kingdom's strife, and before he knows it, manages to earn the respect, and the crown, of the recently deceased king - who dies, mind you, at the end of Kull's sword. As Kull claims the throne, there is much plotting to have him removed, and secretly the nobles who long for his place ally themselves with an evil witch who has only recently been resurrected, and plots to bring back the ancient demons who once ruled the land before the coming of mankind. The key to thwarting her wicked designs rests in the Breath of Valka, which can only be found across the sea upon the Isle of Ice. Naturally, Kull must go there and seek it out, not only that he might maintain his throne, but also that he might save the realm from eternal darkness and demonic rule.

Originally written as a third installation in the much more respectable Conan series of films, Kull the Conquerer is utterly passionless and devoid of spirit. It is truly as mediocre as fantasy films get, and given the recent crop, that is certainly saying something. Still, I can appreciate almost any effort in this untapped genre, and therefore Kull does taste as good to me as even a relatively tasteless ort of food can to a starving man. It does have its moments, but they should have come far more often.

Kull does distance itself from a mere Conan the Barbarian clone quite nicely, however - Kevin Sorbo plays a far less grim warrior who seems to think before he strikes. The world itself is less like Conan's and more like what we have seen in Dragonheart. Given that Kull is from some of the people who gave us Dragonheart, this isn't particularly surprising. Still, a Kull film should be more gloom-and-doom, and Kevin Sorbo, quite simply, doesn't make for a good barbarian, even if he is likable enough as the lead. It's all a few rungs above The Legendary Journeys, at the least! And yet it feels more like a lavish episode of said show than a film adaptation of a character from the mind of madman Robert E. Howard.

Even the more obscure Conan-esque fantasy films of the '80s (The Beastmaster, The Sword and the Sorcerer) offered more, even given their lower budgets and dated techniques. Yet still Kull is a decent movie, and a fantasy movie in a medium that often abandons that genre, and that alone makes it recommendable to fantasy buffs. There's much room for complaint, but that doesn't necessarily an awful movie make.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not REH, but fun., January 26, 2000

By 

Garett Kutcher (Anpachi-cho, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kull the Conqueror [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Okay first and foremost, like the Conan movies this one had nothing to do with the Robert E. Howard story save the main character`s name. This is, of course, an incredible dissappointment. Mr. Howard invented Sword-and-Sorcery as we know it and none of the movies made from his characters (Conan, Red Sonja, and now Kull) have even come close to measuring up to his stories. However, if you enter the movie in the mindset that it is another barbarian movie and don't think about the writings, the movie is fun and can be enjoyable. It does not do Howard justice, but is good as barbarian movies go. Tia Carrie trying to copy Darth Vader though seemed a bit off.