Mystery Science Theater 3000: DEATHSTALKER AND THE WARRIORS FROM HELL Rewatch

November 4, 2021 4:05 PM - Season 7, Episode 3

Re-rewatch! In a fantasy realm there is this guy called Deathstalker, and he's kind of a hero? Previous movies make him seem a lot more unclothed and morally questionable, whereas here he's just a smug jerk with a sword. Anyway, here he enlists the aid of undead warriors against the villainous sorcerer "Troxartus" or something. Great riffing in this one. Previously and again.
posted by JHarris (4 comments total)

I just happened to rewatch this one, and for some reason I actually tried to pay attention to the story. I have to give it this: they tried—by which I mean, the story shows effort in a way that other sword-and-sorcery hackjobs very often do not bother with (e.g., I only got maybe forty minutes into Reb Brown's Yor: The Hunter from the Future for this reason). But what makes Deathstalker 3 painful (apart from Relson) is that the story's effort is so earnest and yet so…not up to the task. It's all crystallized in the dopey swordfights between Deathstalker and Truck-Artist: you can tell somebody thought they were being epic and profound. Fortunately for MST purposes, it's not slow and dull, and there's plenty of fuel for very good riffing.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:24 AM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Yeah, someone thought hard about that mother and her daughter living off on their own, and their weird, fanatical passion for potatoes.

There were four Deathstalker films, and I seen three of them, although the first I don't remember much of. The second though is rather a lot of fun, it doesn't take itself seriously at all, it's full of purposeful crazy. And boobs. Let's not forget all the boobs.

I might have blocked out a lot of DS1 because, according to the esteemed Chrysostom, it's story is chock full of sexual assault.
posted by JHarris at 11:39 AM on November 6, 2021

Potatoes are what we eat!

And to think earlier he misrepresented his knowledge of the location of the horses!
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:50 AM on November 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

So, I didn't have access to MST3K for most of the original run(s); I watched almost all of them years later. But I was aware of it, and I seem to remember some "Joel vs. Mike / Original Fan vs. Newbies" debate when Joel left, and I'm sure there were similar gripes when Frank left, and then Dr. Forester, but I rarely felt like any of the various crews weren't firing on all cylinders, at least after they got their sea legs midway after the first season and a half or so.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:08 PM on November 9, 2021 [1 favorite]