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Lean, lanky Lee Horsley (TV's Matt Houston is hardly the iconicimage of a medieval warrior, but in this cheesy Conan the Barbarianknockoff he makes his swaggering, mercenary Talon a genial smart aleck of abarbarian hero. The plot is pure pulp cliché: evil Cromwell (Richard Lynch)raises a demon to conquer a peaceful kingdom, kill the rulers, and imprison theroyal heirs, and the son of a murdered patriot returns to take his righteous vengeancewith a projectile-loaded, three-bladed sword. First-time director Albert Pyun apprenticedunder Akira Kurosawa and brings with him an eye for handsome images and a fluid senseof action that helps overcome B-movie dialogue ("Unlock this door, wench, and leavethat to us!"), scenery-chewing performances, and bargain-basement budget. In one fightsequence a guard punches a rock wall--and dents it! Kathleen Beller (the dark-eyedbeauty of The Betsy) is the rebel princess who enlists Talon to the cause,Route 66's charming wanderer George Maharis is a conniving traitor under anunflattering mop of greasy hair, and Richard Moll dons a latex monster mask to playthe double-crossed demon. It's utterly silly and often awkward, but it does haveenergy to spare. The sequel promised at the end of the film was never produced andPyun went on to direct some of the best straight-to-video action films of the 1990s,including Nemesis. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Talon on DVD!
Summary: An Evil King seeks the aid of an evil sorcerer in order to conquer a peaceful kingdom. One of the good king's sons escapes and later seeks vengeance as an adult.

My Opinion: This is a very fun movie. I loved at when I saw it years ago and I'm very glad to have it in my collection now. I loved Lee Horsley as Matt Houston and he is great here as well. This movie is one of those guilty pleasures for Fantasy fans. It may be cheesy and silly but it's so much fun that I don't even notice.

DVD Quality: Pretty much bare bones with a couple of trailers. Hey at least it's on DVD!

What You Should Do: If you are a SciFi or Fantasy fan and a collector, you should buy this DVD. I can't imagine them putting out a Special Edition of this one, so there's no need to wait. If you liked Beastmaster, Krull, Dragonslayer, Conan or anything along those lines, then give it a rent. Otherwise skip it.

Entertaining and action-packed fantasy flick.
This is one of the best, and surprisingly underestimated, fantasy movies of the 80's. It goes along the lines of classics like Beastmaster, Conan, Dragonslayer, Krull and Legend. Its best features are the great dialogues and solidly written characters, the marvelous sets, a surprisingly coherent and original plot, and an excellent soundtrack. The acting on the movie is not so good, but the story is so entertaining and funny that you won't really mind.

Talon, the son of a murdered King, turns into a barbarian hero who tries to end the rule of an evil conqueror and his allied demon. To achieve his goal he must free the heirs of the kingdom and avenge his father. In his quest he will encounter all the elements common in most fantasy stories: sword battles, powerful demons and treacherous villains, beautiful and exotic damsels in distress and dark ancient rituals and magic spells.

After the credits roll by, you will probably be left expecting to see the second installment of this movie: Tales of the Ancient Empire, which unfortunately, was never made.

A word of warning: the image quality of the DVD is not great, nor does this movie have any Special Features, but it's very unlikely it will ever get a better edition.

A must for fantasy film buffs.

A blast from the past
I cannot believe the bad reviews about this film. This was the most entertaining film during the 80's Conan era. What I enjoyed most was that it wasn't all gloom and doom like some of the others, it is, after all, a fantasy film. It has all the sorcery and wizardary of the times and still had it lighthearted moments. I remember watching it over and over. I'm going to order it now so I can watch it again.

Yikes
The opening scene of this fantasy film, in which the sorcerer of the title is called back from the dead, shows promise. But then it's all downhill from there. Every aspect of this terrible production screams amateur-hour, despite the Amazon reviewer's assertion that director Albert Pyun apprenticed under Akira Kurosawa. Richard Lynch makes a reliable villain, and Kathleen Beller is very easy on the eyes, but otherwise the flick is pure torture.

Sucks. Bad,
If you like movies like "Krull" or "Beastmaster," this movie will NOT amuse you. I could barely tell one character from another; the plot was so stupid, at an hour and forty minutes, it felt like work finishing it. There's action, sure, and a few nude scenes to keep morons occupied for a few minutes.

I love sword and sorcery movies, and while this looks like a gem for your DVD collection, belive me, it is not. This is just as bad as "Dungeons and Dragons." I guess I should add, for the sake of fairness, if you liked "Dungeons and Dragons," you'll love this. But if you thought it was another tired attempt by corporate Hollywood to suck dollars from your pockets, stay away from this loser.

Let me put it this way: "Gor" is a better movie than this one.
Luckily, I rented the film, so I could return it. You'd be better off drinking the fifteen bucks you'd spend on this sucky movie. At least you'll feel magical.

My advice, watch Krull 20 times before you see this p.o.s. once. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good mystery
I have read several plot analysis written by the "pros" and they seem to be all wrong. There is no terrorist on the plane. The story is about a letter that is found in the first class airport lounge after an international flight has taken off. The letter states that there will be murders before the flight lands. The best part is the "WHO IS THE KILLER" set-up. Farrah is in one of her first roles and just as lovely as ever. Adam Brooks talent was not shown enough. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Interesting movie with pretty cool effects
I found this one on Sci-fi one afternoon and it was intriguing enough to go through three different video stores to find it. Drew Barrymore does a pretty good job and the storyline, although kind of weird, can keep you enthralled until the end. Definitely a good buy at this price. My first online name was Doppelganger; That oughta show you how much I liked it :)!

An overall interesting movie
Drew delivers a very good, believable performance. Throughout the movie, she keeps us in suspense, wondering whether the doppelganger truly exists or she is suffering from MPD (multiple personality disorder). Her supporting cast members also perform well but she definitely stands above them. The movie is not an award-winner by any means but the acting is good and the story, which is very well written, covers a subject that is refreshingly different...there are not many movies out there on the supernatural element of doppelgangers.
Unfortunately, this movie has been overlooked by many. If you like suspense/horror movies, give this a try...you'll be pleasantly surprised.

DREW REALLY LOOKS LIKE HER MOM. 16th april 2004.
Drew barrymore plays holly gooding, she kills her mum at the very begginning [Her also real mum]. Holly has a double. A man dresses up exactly like her to get people to realise who she is killing when actually he is doing it. He tells her to murderer her mother. She is an evil within. Toward the end, her brother is killed and him dressed up is like her and people think she as done it. She as been made like she is because of him who is telling what to do. She knows that the murderer is back. At the end it shows her turning into blood, skeleton abit discusting. 2 skeletons of her 2 sides of her. One kills the murderer and never kills the man who is good. ACE,GORE AND TERRIFYING. My mum liked this film too i never thought so a bit rude in parts 18 rated.

doppelganger
its really a very nice movie and i want a sneak preview of it

Super-awful
It gets two stars for the unintentional comedy. Other than that, it's one of the worst of the ultra-cheesy, predictable, low-budget horror movies from the early nineties. The FX are funny at first, but then they just go on and on and on and the sucking takes over from the comedy. The acting is uniformly terrible, and one has to image that the typically enjoyable Barrymore is just glad to have this ridiculous part of her career well behind her. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good mystery
I have read several plot analysis written by the "pros" and they seem to be all wrong. There is no terrorist on the plane. The story is about a letter that is found in the first class airport lounge after an international flight has taken off. The letter states that there will be murders before the flight lands. The best part is the "WHO IS THE KILLER" set-up. Farrah is in one of her first roles and just as lovely as ever. Adam Brooks talent was not shown enough. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good mystery
I have read several plot analysis written by the "pros" and they seem to be all wrong. There is no terrorist on the plane. The story is about a letter that is found in the first class airport lounge after an international flight has taken off. The letter states that there will be murders before the flight lands. The best part is the "WHO IS THE KILLER" set-up. Farrah is in one of her first roles and just as lovely as ever. Adam Brooks talent was not shown enough. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good mystery
I have read several plot analysis written by the "pros" and they seem to be all wrong. There is no terrorist on the plane. The story is about a letter that is found in the first class airport lounge after an international flight has taken off. The letter states that there will be murders before the flight lands. The best part is the "WHO IS THE KILLER" set-up. Farrah is in one of her first roles and just as lovely as ever. Adam Brooks talent was not shown enough. ... Read more