Cult martial arts action star Daniel Bernhardt – who is perhaps best known for 1996’s Bloodsport 2, 1997’s Bloodsport 3 and 1999’s Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite – is starring in a reimagining of Roger Corman’s sword and sorcery series, Deathstalker.
The upcoming Deathstalker, which is currently being marketed by Raven Banner at this year’s Cannes, is written and directed by Steven Kostanski (The Void, Psycho Goreman).
Since his straight-to-video heyday, Bernhardt has been working consistently both in the indie and mainstream movie scene with movies like 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded, 2014’s John Wick, 2017’s Logan, 2017’s Atomic Blonde, 2017’s Kill ’em All, 2021’s Hell Hath No Fury, 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, and 2023’s Extraction 2.
The film co-stars Patton Oswalt (Absolute Dominion), Nina Bergman (Hell Hath No Fury), Christina Orjalo (Astrid and Lilly Save the World), Paul Lazenby (Allegiance), Conor Sweeney (Father’s Day) and John Clifford Talbot (Girl).
According to Screen Daily: Where the original films capitalised on the popularity of John Milius’ Conan The Barbarian, Kostanski’s new vision promises a greater emphasis on exploring the fantasy setting and populating it with monsters that will be largely rendered through creature suits, prosthetic make-up, and stop-motion animation. To coincide with the film, Vault Comics will produce a series of Deathstalker comic books.
The source adds that Deathstalker is produced by Hangar 18 Media with Pasha Patriki, Avi Federgreen, and Michael Pazst serving as producers. Executive Producers are Andrew Thomas Hunt, James Fler, Josh Viola, and Peter Kuplowsky, alongside Slash from Guns N’ Roses and Rodrigo Guidño of Berserkergang Films.
1983’s original Deathstalker proved profitable, especially in the straight-to-video market, resulting in a string of semi-related sequels that include 1987’s Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans, 1988’s Deathstalker III: The Warriors from Hell and 1993’s Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans.
Deathstalker is currently in post-production phase, so we expected a Trailer soon. Until then, we leave you with some official stills from the movie, as well as the Trailers for Bernhardt’s Bloodsport 2, as well as the Trailer to the original Deathstalker:
I hope Bernhardt himself is The Deathstalker!
The original movies are mostly awful, but it’s easy to laugh at them. Rick Hill may have had the look of an action star, but he was very unheroic as Deathstalker with his terrible dialogue and lack of charisma. John Terlesky was a lot more enjoyable as he performed Deathstalker like he was Bruce Campbell, and was clearly having fun.
I do hope that the costumes and make-up are much better this time.
I don’t remember 2 and 3 except that they were awful, but the first one would’ve been hilarious if it weren’t so mean spirited. Besides that I remember the pig head warrior I remember being a decent costume, but don’t quote me on such. In terms of unintentional comedy, the Lou Ferrigno blunder is far funnier complete with chintzy and stupid special effects. That one is everything you want in an awful film. 80s Sword and Sorcerer movies tend to be really bad. Conan was great, Sword and The Sorcerer was great, BeastMaster was good, Krull was fun,Conan 2 was watchable and Dragon Slayer was watchable, but if we’re honest Masters Of The Universe is one of the better ones (provided you count it) and that one is pretty bad.
There are some real turkeys in there, such as Barbarian Queen, already mentioned Deathstalker series, Wizard Of The Lost Kingdom, Ator The Fighting Eagle, Warrior and The Sorceress, Sindbad And The Seven Seas, 7 Magnificent Gladiators,Gor and Outlaw Of Gor. These are all literally unwatchable.
Wait a minute, so you’re saying people watched Deathstalker for something other than Barbi Benton?! Or Monique Gabrielle? Really? Speaking of Barbi Benton, probably 10 years ago or so I happened to spot her in the gym I workout in. She was about 60 at the time but still looked very good; funny thing was seeing her face (with silver high lighted hair) I wasn’t quite sure it was her then I heard her voice & knew it was her.You know you’ve seen Deathstalker too many times when decades later you instantly recognize Barbi Benton’s speaking voice!
There’s probably a lot of folks looking for a fun B-movie in Deathstalker nowadays, what with Red Letter Media covering the series. I’m a 90’w kid who grew up on this shit, and I don’t know that I’d heard of Deathstalker until I saw it on Best of the Worst.
The Void and Psycho Goreman are good fun, this looks promising.