It’s just what you wished for Christmas, well, at least some of you (I know you’re out there Hawk- fans).
To rewind for a bit (for those just joining in)- legendary comicbook writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, Punisher, The Boys) unexpectedly brought Hawk The Slayer back in a form of comic in 2022 (with the help of the artist Henry Flint) but since then we heard very little about it. (Although you can buy a nice collected edition right here).
Well, it turns out that Hawk fans showed up in numbers and the comic was successful enough that it warranted a sequel. New 10 part series (!!!) called Hawk The Slayer: The Last of Her Kind, done by the team of writer Alec Worley and artist Simon Coleby with colorist Gary Caldwell will be published starting with the Christmas 2000 AD issue (Prog 2413)- that comes out December 18th. So, you won’t have to wait that long at all.
Art by Simon Coleby & Gary Caldwell
Alec Worley is a serious Fantasy Movie buff (he even wrote a book called Empires of the Imagination: A Critical Survey of Fantasy Cinema in 2015) and he posted a defense of the merits of Hawk The Slayer on his substack this October (which should have been a sign). It’s called What Hawk The Slayer Got Right (Defending the Sword and Sorcery kinda- classic) and it can be read right here:
And as for the Prog- you can place a pre- orderhere if you’re so inclined.
Now, as as far as I know Rebellion (2000 AD parent company) owns the movie (and video game) rights too, so maybe this will be a case similar to the new Deathstalker and after the comics– the fabled sequel (Hawk The Hunter) gets going again! With current unending slew of 80s sequels (more to come in our next WM News article) being filmed–you just never know.
Surprising even us hardcore horror fans, sequel to the cult movie Slaughterhouse (1987) just had and an early premiere of it’s long gestated sequel Slaughterhouse 2: Death Metal. Premiere was held in The Motor Transport Museum in Caampo , same location that was used for much of the filming last year.
The truck museum was a setting for the murderous father and son duo- who make beef jerky out of hikers they catch on the Pacific Crest trail. I mean, what else could you do with them.
Against all odds producer Jorry Encoe and director Rick Roessler decided to restart the franchise after close to 40 years after witnessing sold out showing in Alamo Drafthouse organized by Quentin Tarantino. I guess they realized people are finally ready for a bit more slaughter.
Wide release is planned for 2025, and we’ll update you as soon as we have more information.
As you all know, every year around this time we try to commemorate one of the most awesome movie genres ever to hit the silver screen- the Sword and Sorcery aka the Barbarian movies. In the 80’s those films were all the rage! And year by year we went from Barbarian Queen to Ator to Time Barbarian but one movie was always just out of our reach.
’till recently only available on rare VHS copies and home-made DVDs on eBay, Gunan The Barbarian has finally found it’s way to public consumption and we couldn’t be more grateful for it. It’s one of first Italiananswers to Conan The Barbarian (1982) and man, it’s almost worth the wait!
Movie starts as always with the narration coupled with psychedelic images of space and the origin story of the world (insert some stock footage from 1 million years BC there.)
It finally gets to the 4th Millennium of the 3rd Illumination when we finally get to human being. 5th Millennium and 5th Illumination Elders predicted the coming of the Chose One!
“I don’t get it!”
But peace and harmony they predicted never happened, instead war and destruction reigned.
Woman called Mina is giving birth. Her husband instead of being of any real help is reciting the prophecy and how their son will be the chosen one Zukhan (American name for Gunan for some reason) . In the meantime armies of Hungat are coming their way destroying everything in their path.
To further complicate things Mina gives birth to two boys– so which one is the chosen one? Well, she’ll never know because evil Hungat slays her. They try to find the kids too but the servant run away with them already.
Old lady kept walking with the newborns for days it seems until she got to the ocean when she’s finally dropped dead. But the children were quickly found by a tribe of Amazons- Kuniats (who conveniently also knew the prophesy).
Kuniat tribe raised them both but the world became even more apocalyptic. Elders did their sacrifice yet nothing helped at least not until the 4th generation of the 3rd moon (yeah, I don’t get the Barbarian calendar too).
Now that they’re both grown man (in their 30s at least if not their 40s) Amazons arrange the challenge to decide who’s the chosen one and their fighting is so ridiculous I would say- neither.
The evil brother than demands a name from the Kuniat sorceress Marga who proceeds to change into a lioness as a warning. They proceed with the challenge, running and then riding to their respective weapons. Of course the good brother defeats the black haired and evil one (but doesn’t kill him) and he is crowned with the name Zukhan the Invincible– and a magic sword to boot! Remember that part- it will be important later.
Zukhan finally leaves the Kuniat tribe to avenge his parents (it took him long enough). At least Marga used her magic to show him how his enemy looks like- the dreaded Nuriak! (Yes, the names are great like that in the whole movie.) Only in a plot twist that no one predicted (who watches Star Wars anyway), Nuriak is actually- his FATHER!
Evil brother, The Nameless One decides to join the Ungat tribe. He goes to find his father and challenge for the leader position of the Spirit Warrior of the 9th Moon (I don’t know where they get these numbers from). Unfortunately for him, Nuriak‘s men easily defeat him and then he takes his head. This didn’t end well.
Zukhan finds his brother’s body and vows to- I don’t know– even greaterREVENGE! (This actually wasn’t really needed in the script but hey- you can never get enough motivation for the main character.) Zukhan starts destroying everyone and freeing the slaves. Hungat warriors can barely touch him. I guess that’s the power of an (oversized) magic sword!
Nuriak orders his man to kill Zukhan before the 6th illumination or prophecy will come true. When they explain that he fights like a hurricane and no one can stop him– he decides to do it himself. But when they actually get face to face, Nuriak sneakily has an archer shoot him from behind instead of actually going head to head with him- and it seemed that his plan worked but Zukhan somehow escapes and finds his way back to the Amazons.
“…this can not happen, stop this traitor!”
Just in time for Amazon‘s rounding up enslaved women for breeding? Man, they’re not as benevolent as it seems. Among those is the ultra- blond Sabrina Siani (I think there’s a contract somewhere that you can not make a Barbarian movie in Italywithout Siani).
Women are overjoyed when they see Zukhan back and almost fight who’s going to take care of him. Marga of course helps him with her magic but he’s haunted by visions of evil Nuriak in his dreams.
We jump to completely nude (except for the chain around her waist) Lenni (Sabrina Siani).Zukhan is very pleased with the scene and gets it on with Siani in a matter of seconds. But Marga watches it all burning with jealousy.
Couple takes a stroll, holding hands (I guess some time has past) but they get ambushed by wildlings. They start fighting over who gets to rape Sabrina first which gives Zukhan enough time to regain consciousness and gets back into fight.
Supreme counsel of Kuniat then decide to banish him (but keep Sianni). So naturally things get settled with a duel.That he manages to loose due to the Amazon using a shield with a magic reflection abilities.
Marga then desperately tries to get him to bed but he answers with zingers like “To touch you would be sacrilege!” and “The only thing I could possible give you- is my gratitude.”
That completely destroys her and she captures Leni (Sianni) and takes her to the Hungat tribe betrayingeverything she ever stood for. Nuriak now has all he need to set a trap for Zukhan. Of course Zukhan rushes in to save her and ends up captured and tortured himself. Even thou she still gets the worst of it.
She does manage to get out and free Zukhan and even Amazons even join in the fight. Unfortunately when we get to the epic duel with Nuriak it turns out that he too old and feeble and Zukhan decapitates him with almost no effort.
And then in what I call “The Italian Twist” narration seques into talking about the magic sword of Zukhan and how in the 15th illumination it becomes known as Excalibur (!!!)- and finally gets lost in the 17th illumination. Turns out the sword and I guess we all are waiting for the descendant of Zukhan to show up in the 40th illumination. Good luck with that.
We talked about the return of the famous Martial Art duoCynthia Rothrock & Richard Norton (after 30 years) some months back- and now we finally have the first full trailer. And it has as much ass- kicking as you can imagine. Which is pretty damn impressive considering most of the actors started their careers in Action Movies in the 80s!
The rest of the cast is equally impressive for any 80s and 90s Martial Art movie fan- featuring the third member of their China O’ Brian (1988) team- Keith Cooke (also know as Sub Zero in Mortal Kombat films) along with the the Kickboxing legends like Benny “Jet” Urquidez (Meels of Wheels) and Don “The Dragon” Wilson (Bloodfist) with Keith Vitali of Revenge of the Ninja fame. And speaking of Ninjas, first American Ninjamaster (student of Maasaki Hatsumi of the Bujinkan organization) Steven K Hayes is also in this movie!
Pretty incredible cast for a relatively low budget movie. And yes, I know Wild West wasn’t full of people doing Karate but it’s not like American movies are known for their historical accuracy.
The plot centers around a sheriff’s sister who seeks revenge against the terrifying leader of a group of outlaws after discovering he brutally murdered her brother, his wife, and other family members in a gritty southwestern town.
Now, enjoy all the Karate Cowboys and if you want to pre- order the movie, Black Creek Indiegogo campaign is still open right here.
If you follow our blog or other B-movie aficionados you are probably well aware of Yor, Hunter of Future (1983)- not to be confused with Gor (1987) or Outlaws of Gor (1989).
Yor was one of the string of Italian productions and co- productions following the release of John Milius‘s Conan the Barbarian staring Arnold Schwarzenegger that created a whole boom in Barbarian movies especially here in Europe. In a relatively short time period Italians churned out hits likeAtor, The Conquest, Gunan King of the Barbarians, Thor The Conqueror and The Trone of Fire.
Sabrina Siani in The Throne of Fire (1983)
Directed by the Italian exploitation director Antonio Margheriti (Canibal Apocalypse, Castle of Blood) it’s somewhat unique in a bunch because it’s a Prehistoric/ Barbarian mix that also goes heavy into SF as it goes on. Margheriti read the comic in the Italian magazine Lanciostory (1975) and found it fascinating.
Not that Margheriti!
It starred an international cast of (former TV Captain America) Reb Brown🇺🇸 , actress Corrine Clery🇫🇷, Luciano Pigozzi 🇮🇹 and John Steiner🇬🇧 and was filmed mostly in Cappadocia, Turkey. Initially it was savaged by the critics including those of Variety and TheNew York Times (and it was nominated for 3 Golden Raspberries) but now years later it has a cult status and is a must see for all Barbarian movie aficionados like us. Still it is considered a biggest hit of Magheriti‘s career as Columbia Pictures distributed the movie to a more than 1000 screens in the USA, a personal record for him. And back in Italy it was presented in an extended version as a 4- part TV mini-series on RAI 1.
Now back to the still not widely known fact that Yor was originally an Argentinian Comicbook called Henga el cazador aka Yor the Hunter. Created in ’74 by Ray Collins (aka Eugenio Juan Zapietro) and artist Juan Zanotto ( Falka, Downtime). Until now it was only published in Spanish and Italian, soI was pretty surprised when I found out that Antartic Press (Warrior Nun, Ninja Highschool) is publishing the first English edition as a 4 issue limited series.
It might be a bit late but it’s never too late to enjoy beautiful Argentinian style black and white artwork.
First issue is out now. You can read it digitally here or order it from your local comicbook shop.
Almost exactly 40 years since the firstmovie Mutilator 2 is finally coming our way. More than a year after the movie finished production we wondered what is going on– we’ll now we got the answer!
Movie will have it’s premiere on next month’s Fright Fest, August 23rd.
Starring the returning Ruth Martinez and Bill Hitchcock and new stars Terry Kiser (Friday The 13th, Part VII), Damian Maffei (The Strangers: Prey at Night) and Eva Hamilton (Death Kiss).
Every good holidays deserves a good slasher movie inspired by it but 4th of July low key has one of the most entertaining ones of all. If you never watched Uncle Sam, well- strap in!
UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU- TO DIE!
Movie starts with fantastic death of a Sergent in a downed helicopter who despite being burned to crisps still manages to kill two soldiers and mutters “don’t be afraid, it’s only friendly fire” before finally dropping dead.
Turns out the Sergeant is young Billy’s uncle Sam Harper. And they are sending his body to the family just in time for Independence Day. You can tell this is not going to end well right away.
On his wake a retired officer played by Isaac Hayes hows up- blaming himself for Sam’s death- ’cause he was the one who inspired him to have a military career in the first place.
As the clock strikes twelve Sam mysteriously comes alive looking like a zombie that he is (in fact I would say his make-up is quite similar to Lustig’s own Maniac Cop).
In the meantime a perverse, costumed Uncle Sam on stilts is perving on the local blond who just came from under shower. unfortunately for him she notices him and he tries to run away-almost causing a car crash. His troubles don’t stop there. Noticing someone is following him he rushes and hits his head on the three and falls. Sam (in a full military garb) catches up with him with giant hedge trimmer in hand. He also takes his mask and that’s when fun really begins.
That night local teens decide that burning an American flag over Sam’s grave in the eve of July 4th is a good idea. I mean as much as Sam was bloodthirsty maniac while he was still alive- but man, they are asking for it.
He buries one of them alive (in a marked grave), other one- he hangs like a flag. Third one goes for the axe but gets axed himself.
Then when the celebration reaches it’s apex he uses fireworks to blow up the Congressman and then when deputy tries to stop him, he impales him with an American flag. Man, he may be a murdering maniac but he knows how to make a show!
Blind boy tells Jody that he’s uncle came back from the dead and is the one responsible. Surprisingly he accepts that and the go to Sam’s old mentor Jed (Hayes) for help. They set a trap for him bun firearms doesn’t seem to phase him. So, Jody takes him by a hand- and into a freaking explosion!
Sam then finally received his honorary volley- from the Jed’s cannon and both Sam and the house go up in flames.
Next day Sally is happy to see Jody no longer plays war with his toys, so I guess he learned his lesson?
Month after the beginning ofproduction Raven Banner is launching sales at Cannes and we now have an official photo of Daniel Bernhardt as the titular Deathstalker– and he’s just as badass as I expected.
The Kingdom of Abraxeon is under siege from The Dreadites, a mysterious horde of warriors, whose sudden appearance are rumored to foretell the return of Nekromemnon, an ancient sorcerer long thought dead. Such times of chaos are times of fortune for men like Deathstalker who, having broken ties with all guilds and banners, now ekes an existence from the spoils recovered in the wake of Dreadite attacks.
Our story begins when Deathstalker (Bernhardt) unknowingly recovers an enchanted amulet from a corpse-ridden battlefield, and finds himself cursed by an arcane magick. Now pursued by a monstrous clan of assassins at the behest of the Dreadite scourge, Deathstalker is forced into a perilous quest to reverse the curse and rid the realm of evil.
It will no doubt be great to see Bernhardt back as a lead actor again after almost exclusively playing villains since Matrix Reloaded (2003).
And while you’re waiting forthe Deathstalker movie, first issue of Slash presents Deathstalker comicbook (by Vault Comics) is now out, and yeah- even Bernhardt himself is reading it!
It’s been a long time coming but we finally have a trailer for the first Chuck Norris role in a action movie in more than a decade (since Expendables 2 to be precise.). And for an 84 (!!!) year old man, he is still in an incredible shape and ready to kick ass and take names!
Fight scenes are choreographed by his youngest son Dakota Norris and man, the kid doesn’t disappoint!
He is joined by a writer/ director Derek Ting and a genre mainstay Marc Singer ( V, Beastmaster, Arrow). Movie is a combination of military action (that’s been a staple of Norris’s filmography since the Cannon Films days) and the Alien/ SF elements- more in line with Singer‘s background. Definitely an interesting if unexpected combo.
It will be available both in Theaters & On Demand– June 21, 2024 so we won’t have to wait long to finally see it. And the crazy thing is- this isn’t the only Norris film we can expect this year!
Long- gestating Full Moon project directed by the late special effect wizard David Allen is finally out in cinemas this weekend. So, let’s take a step back and see how this unique project came to be and why it took so long.
The Primevals has origins in another project, Raiders of the Stone Ring that was developed in the 60s for British Hammer Films. Later it was re- developed as Primordium or The Glacial Empire in the 1970s but it still struggled to find financing until Charles Band (Empire Pictures, Full Moon) took an interest. Unfortunately the project again stalled but Bandpushed through and finally managed to secure the financing in the early 90s and movie was finally filmed in Romania and Italian Dolemites in 1994. Allen planned to work on stop- motion effects for two or three years, inspired by the old Ray Harryhausen classics (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans) . Unfortunately 14 months later he fell ill and tragically passed in 1999 without completing his magnum opus.
Full Moon also suffered financial difficulties after separation from Paramount Home Video which further delayed the project. But Allen did leave all storyboards and stop-motion puppets to his colleague Chris Endicott who on and off worked on finishing the movie. And after many years and 2018 Indiegogo campaign movie was finally finished (although in a slightly truncated form) in 2020 and after a festival run The Primevals is now out in limited release- Alamo Drafthouse theaters (you can check listings right hereto see if there’s a showing near you).
Worsemovies 