When I heard the Deathstalker franchise was being revived for a 2025 release, I was in.
This film should have landed squarely with me, its target audience. It did not, sadly. I don’t consider it a bust, just off the mark, it pains me to say. Mildly entertaining when I was hoping for another Deathstalker 2 or perhaps another Army of Darkness. The Dreadites-- blood-red, spiky, skeletal warriors serving the evil sorcerer Nekromemnon—echo the Deadites of the latter film, but Deathstalker isn’t close to Army of Darkness or Evil Dead 2 for comedic value.
In the end I think Deathstalker fails because it lacks a comedic lead to pull it off. Daniel Bernhardt is very serviceable, certainly better than a lot of the thuddingly poor S&S leads of the 80s, but he’s not believable in the role of humorous hero, and not a John Terlesky or a Bruce Campbell.
So Deathstalker 2025 is in the end a semi-serious, semi-slapstick blend. If it doesn’t fail at both it doesn’t succeed at either, creating an uneven viewing experience—never rousing, never laugh out loud funny.
It’s far from the worst film I’ve seen. Entertaining in places, certainly better than a lot of the 80s S&S schlock I’ve watched over the years. It’s heart was in the right place… but I should have enjoyed this more than I did. It was not as good as I hoped. But of course YMMV.
What I did like:
- The genre self-awareness. A dude unironically named Deathstalker doesn’t belong in a serious film. Deathstalker 2025 is entirely tongue-in-cheek which is refreshing. I mean, it has a four-bladed sword, because it just had to beat The Sword and the Sorcerer’s three-bladed sword.
- The real props. No AI slop or clunky CGI, mostly what appears to be physical props and rubber suits and masks. Loved this aspect of the film.
- Old school practical special effects including stop motion skeletons like something out of the old Sinbad movies. Clunky but charming and it adds to the overall 80s vibe.
- The ridiculous bloodshed. Buckets of blood, heads split in half, limbs lopped off. Fun.
- Callbacks to the original. The use of the original theme song, the melodrama, the cheesy entrances, are all there.
- The soundtrack. As I note repeatedly heavy metal and S&S are bedfellows and there is some solid metal backing here including guitar solos from GNR’s Slash.
What I didn’t like
- Jokes that largely fell flat. As noted it felt like it wanted to be Deathstalker 2 but it didn’t come close. Clunky and cheesy humor, nothing memorable.
- An irritating sidekick. Doodad (that is its name) is a friendly impish spellcasting demon-thing that looks like an extra out of Tom Cruise’s Legend. He largely stands around shouting from the sidelines or gets carried around on Deathstalker’s back from place to place, and his incompetence evokes echoes of Malek, though mercifully not as annoying.
- No nudity. Strangely and incongruously conservative in this regard. S&S is a subgenre that isn’t afraid to show a little skin but you won’t find any in Deathstalker 2025.
- Too epic in feel. It has grit and the action never stops, but the ubiquitous magic swords and demons and amulets and healing rocks, main characters dying and brought back to life, destinies fulfilled and never-ending reigns of darkness averted, etc. don’t feel very S&S to me. The plot itself is clunky and rather needlessly convoluted.
- The acting is not particularly great. I did not expect a whole here and it was fine, workmanlike, but many of the lines were rushed or delivered flat.
TL;DR
Deathstalker 2025 has its charms and is probably something hardcore S&S fans and genre completionists will seek out regardless. Many seem to like it. There are certainly worse ways to pass a Saturday afternoon. For me it was a disappointing “meh” and a missed opportunity.
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