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It was a busy weekend for me as I had three interviews to prep so I’m playing catch up from the past few days per usual. On of the biggest snippets of news to drop over the weekend is that genre fans were treated to a rather rad first look image of action star Daniel Bernhardt in the forthcoming reboot of the Deathstalker fantasy-adventure films. Check out Bernhardt in full on Deathstalker mode below!
Variety dropped the teaser image of Bernhardt looking battle ready and pissed off and has announced that Raven Banner Entertainment has launched distribution sales at this year’s Cannes Film Market. The reboot was written and is being helmed by filmmaker Steven Kostanski who is best known for making the surprise hit Psycho Gorman which was a blood-soaked ode to over-the-top sci-fi horror flicks. The plot for the reboot involves Bernhardt as “the titular barbarian who becomes cursed by a magical talisman that draws him into conflict with a malevolent wizard and a clan of monstrous assassins.”
The original Deathstalker was released in 1983 and starred veteran 80’s action go to guy Rick Hill and was produced by the late, great genre guru Roger Corman. The first film was a little more serious while the sequel, 1987’s Deathstalker II: Dual of the Titans, was way more tongue in cheek and contained a lot more humor which was intentional. John Terlesky took over the role from Hill in that one and both movies are prime examples of what made the video store decade of the 80’s so fantastic. There were two more sequels in the franchise with John Allen Nelson starring as the titular Barbarian in 1988’s Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell while Hill returned to the role in 1991’s Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans. All four films radiated cheese and bolstered action set pieces, beautiful women and monsters galore.
“I am thrilled to be working with Steven. I love this genre, and what Steven created in his creature shop is mind-blowing. I am so excited to do battle as a Deathstalker who is more of a grizzled war veteran in this story,” Bernhardt stated in the article.
Vault Comics, in preparation of the new film, has launched a brand new Deathstalker comic book series, which flew off comic bookstore shelves and sold out in less than a week. The comic was penned by Tim Seeley with illustrations courtesy of Jim Terry under the eye of Kostanski and legendary Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Fans will want to check this series out as it connects the original movies with the new film.
I’m very excited as Bernhardt, after playing villains recently in films like John Wick and Atomic Blonde, finally embraces his 90’s action hero status once again. it will be nothing short of awesome to see Bernhardt carve a a path through a gauntlet of baddies in what is sure to be hyper-kinetic action design for the set pieces.
You know what that means! I’m going to have to break out all four flicks and check ’em out as I have not seen them for years. Hell, it was probably the early 90’s since I last watched those so a rewatch is definitely in the cards to properly get amped up for Bernhardt’s movie.
Lock N Load and stay tuned for more Intel to hit on Daniel Bernhardt’s Deathstalker reboot as we are the ultimate destination for your Action Fix!!!
