Lawrie Brewster's The Slave and the Sorcerer

Cody checks out a new sword and sorcery movie.

I grew up on sword and sorcery fantasy films, but not so much the more popular and expensive Conan the Barbarian. I was drawn to the ones that were on the cheaper side of the budget scale, like the Deathstalker franchise and Barbarians, with the Beastmaster movies being some of the more costly ones that I enjoyed. The sub-genre has largely gone dormant in recent decades, but I would love to see it have a resurgence – and there are filmmakers who are trying to make that happen. This year, we got a Deathstalker remake, and that’s not the only notable new sword and sorcery fantasy film. Filmmaker Lawrie Brewster, who leads Hex Studios and serves as president of the revived Amicus Productions, has also given us a new entry in this wild sub-genre, with his The Slave and the Sorcerer being dedicated to the late The Sword and the Sorcerer director Albert Pyun. (But don’t get confused; The Slave and the Sorcerer is not meant to be a sequel to The Sword and the Sorcerer.)

Scripted by Brewster and frequent collaborator Sarah Daly, the film stars by introducing the slave of the title, Chris Black as the musclebound Tyrol, a mercenary who was captured and forced into slavery by King Gerind (Richard Pate). The King doesn’t seem to have much in the way of redeeming qualities, but he has raised a compassionate daughter, Briony Monroe as Princess Meyra, who wants to protect the slaves from the abuses they suffer under her father. When Tyrol saves Meyra from a couple of her father’s overzealous lackeys, she chooses him to become her official bodyguard. This promotion backfires when the King tries to give his daughter to the Prince of another land (Chris Capaldi as Laram) as a way to seal their trading alliance. In an effort to get out of this arranged marriage, Meyra hints that she’s in love with Tyrol – which gets the slave sent off to the clutches of a character called Arlo the Torturer. Played by Brewster himself, Arlo is an amusing character who challenges Tyrol to a fight while having a mental breakdown freak-out reminiscent of Vernon Wells at the end of Commando.

That’s not even the worst turn of events. The worst comes when Meyra is abducted by the King’s sorcerer brother, Jonathan Hansler as Akaris, who intends to take his own niece as his bride. A team is assembled to rescue Meyra from her uncle (and save the realm from darkness, of course) – and to do so, they’ll have to make their way through a dangerous maze that’s said to be guard by “the Old Ones.” The rescue team consists of Laram, his guard (Dean Schofield), the thief Rhynn Grey (Stephen Kerr), and sorceress Nemain (Megan Tremethick). They’re soon joined by Tyrol, who had little problem getting away from Arlo, and another Prince who hopes to make Meyra his bride, Vigor (Jon Vangdal Aamaas).

I’ve seen a review on IMDb that gave the movie a 1 out of 10 score simply because the film was obviously made “on the cheap,” so I’ll address the fact that, yes, The Slave and the Sorcerer had a minuscule budget that was partly raised through a Kickstarter campaign. This is evident in the look of the movie and the fact that most of its 86 minutes take place in simplistic locations (like the dark, stone-walled maze) – but Brewster and his crew were able to accomplish some awesome visuals. Some of the exterior shots are works of art that are great to look at, and I was in awe when the duelling dragons showed up on the screen. Those things look amazing.

There are also some cool gore effects, plenty of magical displays, and an onslaught of action. Tyrol and the rescue team have to deal with a lot of threats while making their way through the maze: sightless demons who know only hunger and can infect you like a zombie, a giant spider, a head-exploding being who likes riddles, a golem / Dread Knight, etc. They also have to overcome some sorcerer mind games.

The Slave and the Sorcerer is a lot of fun and delivered exactly the sort of action, supernatural elements, and creatures I hope to see in this sort of movie. It’s also really funny at times, with amusing dialogue and wonderfully over-the-top performances. I have to admit that some of the attempts at exposition went right over my head, but I wasn’t too concerned about that as long as it was quickly followed by more action or bloodshed. And it always was.

Brewster has delivered a sword and sorcery fantasy film that’s worthy of being viewed alongside the ‘80s (and early ‘90s) classics I watched when I was a kid – and he’s not done playing in this genre yet. The end credits promise that Tyrol will return in a sequel called The Slave and the General, and I can’t wait to see it.