The Beastmaster | | Cast : | Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts | | Director : | Don Coscarelli | | Studio : | Anchor Bay Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | August 20, 1982 | | DVD Released Date : | October 23, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | A Great Fantasy Film | Content
 | The Beastmaster is a fabulous fantasy film with plenty of imagination behind it. This was a big film for writer/director Don Coscarelli whose prior ventures had all been low budget: his love of film making and passion for his subject is clearly on the screen for this film.
The hero of the film is Dar, who is the son of the king but was stolen (actually transferred from the womb to a cow), by Maax (played by Rip Torn) because there is a prophecy that the child will kill him. Dar is about to be killed by a witch but is saved and becomes the member of a small tribe. Dar has remarkable powers of communication with animals that he demonstrates early on when he saves someone from a bear. The village is destroyed by a band of barbarians and Dar is rescued by his faithful dog becoming the only survivor: he sets out to avenge the massacre.
From this point, Dar uses his powers with animals and gathers some important friends. He first meets a golden eagle whom he names Sharak, two ferrets (who are playfully stealing Dar's bag) that he names Kodo and Podo and a black tiger named Ruh. The film is truly set apart by the presence of the animals in the film and how they aid Dar in his quest. Along the way, Dar meets Kiri (played by Tanya Roberts), a slave girl but in reality a cousin, Tal (a son of the king who is, of course, a half-brother to Dar) and Seth (magnificently played by John Amos) who is helping Tal to free his imprisoned father.
The film is pure adventure with Dar getting in trouble and defeating evil with the help of his animal companions. Dar is nicely played by Marc Singer who looks the part and displays a nice range of emotions. Rip Torn is a great villain, a role he played "like a turkey vulture." The principle cast members Tanya Roberts, John Amos, Josh Milrad, Rod Loomis and Ben Hammer (Dar's adopted father) are all terrific in their roles. The credit for this goes to Don Coscarelli who inspired his actors and worked well with everyone to see the project through.
The story is by turns humorous, sad, scary and filled with adventure. Beastmaster has been unfailrly called a rip-off of Conan but the only similarity is that both main characters have their homes destroyed. The film has been beautifully transferred to DVD and the addition of the documentary about the making of Beastmaster makes this the preferred DVD to own.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 06, 2005 | | Summary | Beastmaster is a favorite of mine Go Dar! | Content
| I love Beastmaster. Lots of action, Chiseled Marc Singer in a Loincloth kicking butt, Tanya Roberts looking extra hot, and a tiger painted black to look like a panther. Throw in John Amos and Rip Torn and you've got the makings of a great drama. Put these elements together and you've got the elements of an amazing fantasy.
This is the low-budget movie that started the franchise of movies and the TV show and it's whole load of fun. Singer makes the character of Dar come alive as we suspend our disbelief for this sword and sorcery movie. Rip Torn is great as the villain. The animals are great in their scenes. The movie is kind of campy so don't expect Lord of the Rings depth. Just sit back with a
bowl of popcorn and enjoy the show. Get this DVD today!
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| Rating | | | Date | March 03, 2005 | | Summary | Great Fun. But Parents - Beware the PG Rating | Content
| The Beastmaster is one of my all time favorite fantasy movies. It has a simple plot that stays on the surface and it doesn't make the viewer think too much. It has swords and magic and muscles and damsels in distress, all the ingredients a good fantasy movie must have.
My only concern is the PG rating for this movie. Since it was made in the early 80's the rating is a bit out of date by today's standards. The movie is actually quite violent and it does contain several minutes of topless female nudity. I think that if it were released today it probably would have gotten at least a 'PG-13' rating, but more than likely it would have been given an 'R'. I just caution parents of young children to be careful with this one. While the nudity is brief, the violence is not. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 23, 2005 | | Summary | Great cheesy sword and sorcerer fun in "Beastmaster" | Content
| There's something to be said for the "do-it-yourself" approach to making movies. Director Don Coscarelli followed up his smash horror film "Phantasm" with a fantasy adventure inspired by Andre Norton's fantasy novel The Beastmaster. Unfortunately, this project couldn't be entirely self funded so Coscarelli had to go to outside sources. That's where the trouble began. Although he finished the film and was overall quite satisfied, what followed was a battle of wills where the film was taken away from him, he was locked out of the editing room initially but finally the story does, indeed, have a happy ending of sorts.
Dar (Marc Singer) the son of a King stolen from his mother's womb and transported into an animal, seeks revenge against the evil Overlord Maax (Rip Torn) a fanatic who has stolen Dar's kingdom, murdered his parents and tried to sacrifice him when he was an infant. With the assistance of his father's former bodyguard Seth (John Amos) and a freed slave girl Kiri (Tanya Roberts), Dar moves against Maax in a winner-takes-all battle involving magic, swords and a fight to the death. Placed inside an animal by an evil witch intent on sacrificing him at the direction of the nasty overlord Maax (Rip Torn), Dar survives and is adopted by a local peasant. Whne Dar discovers his origin and learns of the murder of his parents by Maax's henchmen, Dar speaks to animals in their language and can make them do his bidding. Dar
What you really need to know if you've purchased this before is whether or not there are any differences between this edition and the previous one. Boasting a wonderful new transfer using Anchor Bay's Divamax high definition transfer method and a 6.1 Dolby Digital EX/DTS soundtrack, The Beastmaster looks and sounds wonderful. This re-release boasts a rich, textured image that more than does justice to the wonderful cinematography of the late John Alcott (Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange). Digitally remastered for this special edition the warm colors and rich detail presented in this edition make it an essential upgrade for fans of the first film. While the 6.1 presentation of the soundtrack can't make optimal use of the format (this was originally made in the early 80's), the warm and detailed soundtrack still sounds tremendous here with an amazing amount of detail. I haven't seen the film in awhile so don't know if the dialogue track was slightly out of synch with the original film. That's the case on this DVD. I can't say it's a flaw of the DVD yet because I haven't had a chance to compare it to other editions yet.
A new documentary directed by Perry Martin was especially commissioned for this edition. Featuring new interviews with Writer/Director Coscarelli , Writer/Producer Pepperman, Production Designer Conrad Angone and actors Josh Milrad, Tanya Roberts and Marc Singer, we get an inside glimpse into the origins of the film and the conflicts that almost derailed its success. Coscarelli ran into constant interference from his overseas financer and co-producer almost immediately. Since Coscarelli had arranged the financing of his previous movies and all had been under a million dollars, he had never run into interference of this sort before. Also, on his previous productions he and Pepperman did almost everything behind the camera and in post production. Here, for the first time, both had to work with others and trust the professional crew they had hired. The real koo for the production was wrangling veteran Kubrick cinematographer John Alcott to shoot the movie and composer Lee Holdridge to write the wonderfully evocative score for the film. We also get the original theatrical trailer (which demonstrates how much work went into restoring this film for its Divamax presentation), production stills, behind-the-scenes photos and all the poster/advertising art that survived. The talent bio and DVD-ROM with the original screenplay are icing on this already moist cake. Coscarelli also contributes liner notes on the insert that has a reproduction of the original poster. A marvelous job from Anchor Bay.
An informative, funny and charming commentary track from the director and producer of the film. We get all the trivia you'd always want in a commentary track plus occasional bits of trivia about Coscarelli's film Phantasm and some other projects as well. Both Coscarelli and Pepperman do a great job here.
A fun sword and sorcerer adventure, The Beastmaster looks outstanding on this special Divamax Edition of the film. Packed with extras including a great documentary on the making of the film, production notes, a marvelous commentary and a top notch transfer, Anchor Bay has outdone itself here. The only thing missing from this film that might have improved it was commentary and/or interviews with Rip Torn.
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| Rating | | | Date | January 18, 2005 | | Summary | Beastly fun! | Content
| Bronze Age hero (and bronzed hunk) Dar (Marc Singer) sets out on a quest to avenge the massacre of his people and acquires a quartet of feathered, fanged, and furry companions: Sharak, a mysterious golden eagle that guides him toward his destiny; Ruh, a loyal, ferocious black tiger who never runs from a fight; and Kodo and Podo, a pair of fun-loving ferrets with bandit-masks and a penchant for petty theft. Each animal is instrumental to Dar's victory (the eagle is his eyes, the tiger is his strength, and the ferrets are his cunning) as he faces the evil sorcerer Maax (Rip Torn).
Terrific fun for animal lovers and folks who enjoy a not-too-serious fantasy flick, this one is a classic.
Staci Layne Wilson
Author of Staci's Guide to Animal Movies
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