Hawk the Slayer

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

Beyond the edge of darkness there is a world of sword and sorcery.

Hawk the Slayer, 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.

Date of release
1980-08-27
TMDB
4.8 / 10 (70)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Director
Terry Marcel

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: £600K
  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

Hawk the Slayer is a 1980 sword and sorcery adventure film directed by Terry Marcel and starring John Terry and Jack Palance. It follows Hawk and Voltan, two warring brothers. Hawk, wielding a magical sword, assembles a small force of fighters to rid the land of Voltan. The film was received negatively upon its initial release, but has since developed a cult following. Sequels were planned, but never produced.

Production

Hawk the Slayer was the brainchild of Terry Marcel and Harry Robertson. Working together, they discovered that they were both fans of sword and sorcery. They wanted to make a low-budget film to capitalize on the growing interest in the genre. Large-scale adaptations such as Thongor and Conan the Barbarian were either struggling to find backing, or undergoing budget negotiations.

Marcel has stated that the film was originally intended to be historical, and not include sorcery. However, in the course of writing the script, he added the magical mind stone to the story.

The feature was shot over the course of six weeks in Buckinghamshire (particularly within Burnham Beeches), United Kingdom.

The score is by the film’s co-writer and co-producer Harry Robertson who had previously scored several Hammer Films including Countess Dracula and Twins of Evil. It is reminiscent of Jeff Wayne's song "The Eve of the War" from the album The War of the Worlds, an extremely popular album at the time. It therefore contains a lot more electronic sounds than Robertson’s previous scores.

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