Yep your eyes are not deceiving you, this week my HBO classic recommendation is "Krull". Coming out during the 80's post-Conan sword-and-sandal boom this movie stands as one of the more memorable entries into a very overcrowded market. This movie retains a firm spot on the top rung of b-movie cheese right alongside the likes of "The Beastmaster", "Willow" and "Dragonslayer". But lets not get ahead of ourselves here cuz honestly this movie is known for one real reason, its the movie debut of none other then Liam Neeson....
Who's this handsome Irish Devil?
Also to a much lesser extent its also the movie debut of one Robbie Coltrane.....
Yep thats the same dude
Yep go figure one random movie gives us both Oscar Schindler and Hagrid but that's the 80's for ya, It was a magical time indeed. Another fun fact is that at the time of its release "Krull" was one of the biggest budget movies of its kind ever, with a price tag of somewhere between $40-$50 million dollars, and thats in 1980's money. Now that money isn't wasted as the movie does look great and the 10 huge sets that were built for it are put to great effect, not to mention effects that while look dated now could have been alot worse. Course the big problem they ran into is noone really went to see it as the box office totals for it are around $16 million dollars. The movie has gained quite the cult following which is why i'm bringing it to you today.
So what is this movie about? Well its a fantasy movie so its about saving a princess of course. The story centers around Colwyn (Ken Marshall) who on his wedding day to Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) has his bride stolen by a group of "Slayers" who invade his castle, kill most of his guard and family, and proceed to take Lyssa to their master "The Beast". A huge being who lives in a fortress which changes its location everyday and is never in the same place twice. As you can imagine that makes saving the princess even more complicated then usual.
I mean who wouldn't want a piece of this?
So after recovering from the attack, and after some motivation in prophecy form from The Old One Colwyn sets out to retrieve the mystical weapon "The Glaive" and use it to defeat "The Beast" and save his bride. Thereby giving us one of the most memorable special weapons in movie history.
I mean who wouldn't want to throw this thing around?
Course no matter how badass a weapon may be its hard to defeat an evil an evil army all by yourself. This leads Corwyn to recruit a motley crue of thieves, young wizards and a cyclops that can see the future but only for his own death. Sure not the best looking lineup but beggars cant be choosers
Besides this duo what else do you need?
So off we go on an adventure to save the princess. Now obviously finding a castle that changes and never repeats locations daily can prove quite the challenge so along the way have to make a quick stop at a seer, who of course has a history with one of the fellowship members, and is guarded by an crystal spider. In another wonderful use of stop-motion we get some tense spider dodging as one of the members rushes to deliver the location news before his life literally falls through his finger, oh the symbolism indeed.
Shelob? We dont need no stinking Shelob
So now with the location figured out its time to "Storm the castle" as it were and our motley crew of adventurers arrives just in time before the castle disappears and moves again and they won't be able to find it again. Course attacking an ancient beings castle head on isn't exactly the smartest battle plan and a whole bunch of our guys die in the assault, including unfortunately both of our now uber-famous stars....
He won in the end so its all good
So anyway after defeating the Beast and retrieving his lovely bride, and the Metroid style beat the clock exit we get our happy ending and even more then that we actually get more survivors then just the two leads, a HUGE rarity in fantasy movies of the time as usually you're a goner if you're not a lead. Altogether it may seem like a cookie cutter story and movie, in some ways it is there's no denying that, the movie as a whole is a glorious example of aiming for the stars. A kind of originality that is sadly lacking today when movies are afraid to try all new things. This movie went for it in terms of not only world building but also by embracing the cheesy elements in it and making them seem natural in this world. A Cyclops, glass spiders, horses with flaming hooves and storm trooper-esqe soldiers trying to kill our heroes the entire way all fit together naturally and add a sense of danger/wonder you'd be hard pressed to find today in an entirely original movie. Give it a shot, turn your brain off and enjoy "Krull" in all its glorious fantasy 80'sness. Included below is a link to free streaming copy so go ahead and jump on in
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