{"id":8489,"date":"2024-11-18T23:25:28","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T04:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8489"},"modified":"2024-11-18T23:25:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T04:25:28","slug":"the-dungeonmaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/18\/the-dungeonmaster\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dungeonmaster"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> (1985)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire\/Fantasy-Horror-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 78 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, some language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rosemarie Turko (\u201cIce Gallery\u201d), John [Carl] Buechler (\u201cDemons of the Dead\u201d), Charles Band (\u201cHeavy Metal\u201d), David Allen (\u201cStone Canyon Giant\u201d), Steve Ford (\u201cSlasher\u201d), Peter Manoogian (\u201cCave Beast\u201d) and Ted Nicolaou (\u201cDesert Pursuit\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Allen Actor, Rosemarie Turko (\u201cIce Gallery\u201d), John [Carl] Buechler (\u201cDemons of the Dead\u201d), Charles Band (\u201cHeavy Metal\u201d), David Allen (\u201cStone Canyon Giant\u201d), Steve Ford (\u201cSlasher\u201d), Peter Manoogian (\u201cCave Beast\u201d) and Ted Nicolaou (\u201cDesert Pursuit\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Richard Band and Shirley Walker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 1985 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jeffrey Byron, Richard Moll, Leslie Wing, Gina Calabrese, W.A.S.P. (Blackie Lawless, Chris Holmes, Randy Piper and Tony Richards), Phil Fondacaro, Sal Fondacaro, Eddie Zammit, Mack Ademia, Danny Dick, Diane Carter, Felix Silla.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Of all the Empire Pictures releases of the mid-80s, The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> has to be the weirdest. Yes, it\u2019s even weirder than the one with the half-man\/half-android- i.e. Eliminators. You\u2019ll no doubt notice that it\u2019s credited to seven directors and eight writers. That\u2019s because the hero finds himself in seven different scenarios in an attempt to rescue his girlfriend from eternal damnation at the hands of a demonic sorcerer. Perhaps I\u2019d better elaborate.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Highly skilled computer programmer Paul Bradford (Byron, Metalstorm) wants to marry his aerobics instructor girlfriend Gwen (Wing), but she\u2019s jealous of the super-computer \u201cX-CaliBR8\u201d he created to help manage his life. It may as well be \u201cthe other woman\u201d; it even has a female voice. He interacts with it via a neural interface connected to his eyeglasses. He uses it to change traffic lights while he\u2019s jogging and illegally access ATMs. With slightly altered psychological makeup, Paul could be a supervillain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One night, they\u2019re magically transported to a hellish realm presided over by Mestema (Moll, The Sword and the Sorcerer), a demon who\u2019s spent the past millennia searching the world for a worthy opponent with whom to do battle. It bears mentioning that \u201cMestema\u201d is another name for Satan (according to the movie). By any name, he\u2019s an evil mother f***er. He\u2019s intrigued by Paul and his skills with technology. Holding Gwen prisoner, he challenges Paul to do battle in seven different scenarios armed only with a portable version of X-CaliBR8- i.e. a wristband that shoots laser beams. If he wins, Gwen will be returned to him unharmed. If not, she\u2019s damned.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So it is that Paul takes on frozen monsters come to life (\u201cIce Gallery), zombies (\u201cDemons of the Dead\u201d), an evil heavy metal band (\u201cHeavy Metal\u201d), a giant stone statue come to life (\u201cStone Canyon Giant\u201d), a serial killer (\u201cSlasher\u201d), a cave beast (\u201cCave Beast\u201d) and a band of desert-dwelling Road Warrior-like baddies (\u201cDesert Pursuit\u201d). Each segment runs about a few minutes apiece so there\u2019s not a lot of room for development. At the end, Paul and Mestema duke it out with their fists. That\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t see The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> nor did I rent it right away when it came out on video. I didn\u2019t see it until \u201998 when I bought a used VHS copy from a video store going out of business. I remember liking it. HOWEVER, it\u2019s NOT the same version I recently watched as part of my weekly grindhouse package. For one thing, it\u2019s titled Ragewar in the opening credits. I did some checking and learned the studio changed the title to The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> in order to capitalize on the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons. Indeed, it has both things- Mestema resides in a dungeon and there\u2019s a fight between two animated dragons- but nothing at all to do with the game. For another thing, the opening credits are preceded by a dream sequence in which Paul chases a hot chick (Calabrese) through some corridors. They\u2019re about to have sex (GRATUITOUS NUDE SCENE!) when she\u2019s abducted by aliens. That\u2019s when he wakes up. This was NOT in the theatrical version, it has nothing to do with the plot and it\u2019s never brought up again. I can only surmise it was cut to get The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> a more teen-friendly PG-13 rating.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Dungeonmaster <\/strong>is cheesy as hell which is a large part of its charm. It\u2019s an old school special effects extravaganza with the Claymation, makeup, puppets and a whole lot of 80s F\/X wizardry. The sequence with the giant stone statue is reminiscent of Harryhausen. This is the main appeal of Empire Pictures and its output. Granted, the sequences have a disjointed feel like they were thrown together in some random order. I also get the impression that the movie was heavily edited. With a running time of 78 (or 73) minutes, it\u2019s clear somebody decided some of the material belonged on the cutting room floor. But I don\u2019t really care because The Dungeonmaster<\/strong> is a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There is some really dopey dialogue in The Dungeonmaster<\/strong>, the most famous line being when Paul announces to Mestema, \u201cI reject your reality and substitute my own.\u201d I just about lost it when Paul responds to Gwen\u2019s jealousy with \u201cIt can\u2019t link up the way WE can.\u201d Ah, true words of romance; sheer poetry, to be sure. Moll, who went on to play the bailiff Bull in the sitcom Night Court, makes a great villain under all that makeup. Byron is pretty good if unexceptional as Paul, the computer geek-turned-mighty warrior. He manages to play the role with a straight face; if that isn\u2019t acting, I don\u2019t know what is. Wing is okay as Gwen. She\u2019s easy on the eyes. The cast also includes Phil Fondacaro (Troll) as a mischievous little dude who leads Paul right to the giant stone creature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If I had to choose a favorite sequence in The Dungeonmaster<\/strong>, I\u2019d have to say it\u2019s the one with W.A.S.P. Their music is such a perfect fit to the devilish proceedings. But in all honesty, I like the movie as a whole. Sure, it\u2019s not high art. In fact, it\u2019s complete junk. It\u2019s silly, cheesy, convoluted and dumb. It\u2019s positively laughable at times. I guess it\u2019s a good thing nobody takes themselves seriously in front of or behind the camera.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dungeonmaster (1985)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire\/Fantasy-Horror-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 78 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, some language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rosemarie Turko (\u201cIce Gallery\u201d), John [Carl] Buechler (\u201cDemons of the Dead\u201d), Charles Band (\u201cHeavy Metal\u201d), David Allen (\u201cStone Canyon Giant\u201d), Steve Ford (\u201cSlasher\u201d), Peter Manoogian (\u201cCave Beast\u201d) and Ted Nicolaou (\u201cDesert Pursuit\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Allen Actor, Rosemarie Turko (\u201cIce Gallery\u201d), John [Carl] Buechler […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,9,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies","category-guilty-pleasures","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/The-Dungeonmaster-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8718,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8489\/revisions\/8718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}