Deathstalker is back! Yes, the warrior who fought wizards, ogres and various other monsters in the Roger Corman-produced 1983 sword and sorcery cult classic is back on the big screen. The new Deathstalker, getting its world premiere in an out-of-competition spot at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, comes courtesy of writer and director Steven Kostanski (Frankie Freako, PG: Psycho Goreman) and executive producer Slash.

Yes, Slash from Guns N’ Roses, who teamed with Vault Comics, Shout! Studios, the owner of the rights to the Corman library, Raven Banner Entertainment, Kostanski, comics writer Tim Seeley and comics artist Jim Terry on Deathstalker comics.

The new Deathstalker movie stars Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick, The Matrix Reloaded) as the titular warrior hero, as well as Christina Orjalo, Paul Lazenby and Nicholas Rice. Patton Oswalt voices Doodad, a benevolent wizard joining Deathstalker on his journey.

“The Kingdom of Abraxeon is under siege by Dreadites, heralds of the dead sorcerer Nekromemnon,” reads a plot description. “When Deathstalker finds a cursed amulet, he’s marked by dark magick and hunted by monstrous assassins. To survive, he must break the curse or die trying.”

The action fantasy adventure film was produced by Pasha Patriki of Hangar 18 Media and Raven Banner’s Michael Paszt, Andrew Thomas Hunt and James Fler. 

Ahead of the Locarno world premiere, Slash talked to THR about the return of Deathstalker, becoming a fan of the original while working at Tower Video in L.A. and why the world needs escapist popcorn movies.

Did you and the rest of the creative team have any particular target audience in mind when you decided to make Deathstalker? And did you know the original?

I knew that there was a massive fantasy genre crowd out there. They love this stuff, they’re very passionate about it, and it’s almost sort of culty in that way.

And yeah, I was familiar with the original movies back when I used to work at Tower Video in Los Angeles in the ‘80s, so that’s sort of how I came to be interested in doing this.

I noticed the film is not described as a remake…

It’s not a remake, it’s just another story in the Deathstalker saga. I remember at Tower, there was a huge section with comic book fantasy and medieval knights. I guess we’re sort of part and parcel of that audience as well. And so we just knew where it was going.

The film is a mix of action, adventure, gore, fun, and some cheesiness. Did you ever discuss the tone you were aiming for?

What happened was we had the IP, and it was really about the script. The direction the first draft was going was exactly what turned us on. It had a sense of humor to it. It didn’t take itself too seriously. The action was all there. The dialogue was not stupid, but good. And it just seemed like a really fun, gory, fast-paced movie with a good story and good characters. And that was really all we wanted. I don’t think we had a big vision for what it had to be. It just had to be entertaining to us. And having Steve Kostanski direct it was really the clincher.

Did you know him before?

No, I didn’t really know Steve other than he did The Void, which was a movie that I really loved, and the guy who wrote the void turned me on to Steve Kostanski.

Could we see more Deathstalker movies?

We’ll see what happens with this one. If there’s enough interest, obviously we would love to do another one. I’m sure we’d be interested in doing a sequel to it, if the interest is there.

Deathstalker is still genre but a bit different from your other film work, right?

We mostly are doing horror movies. The big thing for me on this particular character and IP was really that it had a nostalgic thing for me, because I loved the original Deathstalkers. And, like I said, I saw them in the ‘80s when I was working in the video store. We had them up on the monitors during my shift, and they just had a certain kind of character to them. I don’t necessarily go for swords and sorcerers and all that kind of stuff generally. That’s not really my thing. But it all depends on the quality of the story. It depends on the characters, it depends on a lot of things.

The original Deathstalker just had a certain kind of looseness to it and a certain kind of fun, and also a certain kind of B movie quality that made it really appealing to me. So, when this came across our desk, I was like: “Yeah, that would be a fun thing to do.”

What did you focus on as executive producer? And did you ever think about playing a small role in the movie?

The big thing for me was the script, and the script came out great, and so from there, it was Steve. That was a really big one, because it had to be directed by somebody that could capture all the different nuances, which was action, gore, but at the same time the humor and the dialogue. Also, we wanted to shoot it totally with practical effects. So it had to be somebody who was creative with doing practical, as opposed to CGI, and Steve was the perfect guy for it.

Then it was about who was going to actually play Deathstalker? Daniel Bernardt was a great call. And then the rest of it was just executing it. As soon as I first went down to the set, and when I started watching the dailies, I really saw that Steve was going way beyond the budget as far as the appearance of the movie. It looks more expensive than it really was.

I’m not into the acting part of it. That’s really not in my wheelhouse. I like producing, because I like gathering all the components together to make something great. That whole process really speaks to me. I don’t even like doing cameos. I hate that. It just seems awkward and silly when you do it. I don’t have any designs on acting, and I don’t foresee myself evolving into a director either. I think that’s something that you have to be passionate about from the beginning, and it’s a lifelong thing. I don’t think you just walk in and start directing.

Did you know Daniel Bernhardt before?

We never met before. But we had a great time hanging out. He’s an awesome guy. He’s quite a character as a human being. He is great.

Do you watch a lot of films beyond horror?

I watch a lot of stuff. When you say horror, sometimes that’s a little bit limited, a narrow kind of description of the stuff that I like. I like thrillers, I like scary science fiction. I like horror. Horror has actually been dumbed down so that it doesn’t have the same effect it did when I was a kid. When you say horror, you have to broaden it. I like psychological thrillers.

I’m actually not a big gore movie fan. I like story-driven and character-driven dramas that have a horror element to it that make them scary. But I do love monster movies if it’s a well done movie.
I also like a lot of crime stuff.

I’m not a big superhero guy, but I see them, I just know the good ones. There are a few good ones, and then there’s a lot of filler that’s out there. It just seems to keep coming. But there’s a very passionate audience for that very tied to the material, so I understand what that’s all about.

I grew up watching movies in the ‘70s, and there are some great movies of all different genres over the years. But I still feel like we haven’t had that kind of magical moment that we had in the ‘70s for filmmaking. I grew up on a lot of ‘70s comedy as well, where I can’t say that I’m a huge comedy guy now, but in this day and age where there’s so much cultural restriction happening, it’s hard to see how really good comedies can even get made.

What comedies from the ‘70s did you like?

I loved Woody Allen movies. His early movies were great. I loved Harold and Maude, which was great. Any of the National Lampoon stuff was great. I grew up with the Bad News Bears. There was a ton of stuff. The In-Laws. There were great comedies coming out in the ‘70s.

Before I let you go, I wanted to mention that Deathstalker seems like popcorn entertainment. Any thoughts?

A movie like Deathstalker is very similar to what rock and roll to me is all about. You do something that does sort of takes you out of the present-day issues. I’m okay with movies that do touch on subjects that are sort of social commentary on what’s going on in the world, or the state of the human race. But I also like movies that just completely take you away from that and take your consciousness and put it in a completely different place. This really is just all about entertainment and escape. This is one of those kind of movies.