2-Disc Collector's Edition 4K UHD/BD
Label: Scream Factory
Rating: R
In the Albert Pyun (Captain America) directed sword and sorcery fantasy epic The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) King Richard’s (Christopher Cary, TV's Time Tunnel) medieval kingdom of Ehdan is threatened by the power-hungry madman Titus Cromwell (Richard Lynch, The Premonition). At the beginning of the film the tyrant travels to Tomb Island with a witch to resurrect Xusia of Delos (Richard Moll, Metalstortm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn), a demonic sorcerer to help him defeat the king and his armies. The demon sorcerer rises from a tomb of blood and displays his black magic powers by ripping pulling the heart out of the witch's chest, it's a Hell of an opener. With Xusia's help Cromwell easily lays waste to the King's army before capturing and murdering him; but the greedy usurper double-crosses the sorcerer, not wanting to pay whatever ghastly cost his services require, plunging a dagger into his chest and chasing off a cliff. Cromwell then intercepts the escaping queen and kills her, while her young son Prince Talon watches. Talon attempts to intervene but is unable to save her and barely escapes himself, afterward fleeing the kingdom.
The 10-min Brothers in Arms – an interview with special effects artists the Chiodo Brothers – with brothers Charles, Edward and Stephen discussing working for Magic Lantern and getting tapped to do the 'Crypt of Heads" for The Sword and the Sorcerer, creating the maquette mini-sculpture for it, and how they built and executed it for the film versus how it was originally planned, saying the initial designs were not scary faces but they decided to go with a Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing) styled ghoulish faces. They also get into working with Richard Moll and some issues he has emerging from a vat of blood while wearing contact lenses. They also touch on how energetic and fun Pyun was, and that this was their first legit Hollywood production that got the start of Chiodo Brothers Productions. ANother n nice bonus is the 4-min Trailers from Hell episode with editor Marshall Harvey who edited the film and created the trailer itself, saying how much he enjoyed the Whitaker score, and tells the Reed story one more time.
Special Features:
Disc 1 (UHD):
- NEW 4K scan from the original negative
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Albert Pyun
Extras: 
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), A (BD)
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo, DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Albert Pyun
Cast: Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, Richard Moll
In the Albert Pyun (Captain America) directed sword and sorcery fantasy epic The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) King Richard’s (Christopher Cary, TV's Time Tunnel) medieval kingdom of Ehdan is threatened by the power-hungry madman Titus Cromwell (Richard Lynch, The Premonition). At the beginning of the film the tyrant travels to Tomb Island with a witch to resurrect Xusia of Delos (Richard Moll, Metalstortm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn), a demonic sorcerer to help him defeat the king and his armies. The demon sorcerer rises from a tomb of blood and displays his black magic powers by ripping pulling the heart out of the witch's chest, it's a Hell of an opener. With Xusia's help Cromwell easily lays waste to the King's army before capturing and murdering him; but the greedy usurper double-crosses the sorcerer, not wanting to pay whatever ghastly cost his services require, plunging a dagger into his chest and chasing off a cliff. Cromwell then intercepts the escaping queen and kills her, while her young son Prince Talon watches. Talon attempts to intervene but is unable to save her and barely escapes himself, afterward fleeing the kingdom.
Years later Cromwell is King and rules with a tyrannical hand, aided by his duplicitous war chancellor Machell (George Maharis, TV movie Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby), but Cromwell has grown paranoid that the sorcerer is not dead and is out for his revenge, and he's not wrong about that. Meanwhile a rebellion is underway, lead by Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale, Jaws 3-D) and his beautiful sister Alana (Kathleen Beller, Are You in the House Alone?), the children of one of a King Richard loyalist. When Mikah is captured by Cromwell's men Alana enlists the help of a rogue adventurer, the now grown Talon (Lee Horsely, Hateful Eight), who had grown into a rougish mercenary who carries with him his father's signature three-bladed projectile sword. This blade-slinging sword is probably the one thing you will remember about this flick if nothing else, it's pretty cool. His request for payment for such a heroic feat is a night in her bed, which she accepts, figuring he will likely die before he she can fulfill his request.
I remember discovering this on cable TV right around the time I was watching stuff like the bigger-budget Excalibur and Conan the Barbarian, and of course lower-budget but pulpy fun stuff like The Beastmaster. The early 80's had some fantastic sword and sandal flicks, and this was at the near top of the heap in my opinion, just underneath The Beastmaster. Being Albert Pyun's first feature film it showcased his flair for action and what he could do with not-much-money, though this was a decently budgeted flick, just not on par with big studio films like Conan and Excalibur. What it does have is a pretty basic, yet still convoluted story of good versus evil, fantastic production values and set designs, and some very creepy black magic and horror-friendly set-pieces. It's also got a pretty cool cast, including Moll as the serpentine-sorcerer and Richard Lynch makes a wonderfully corrupt usurper, while Horsely makes for a solid heroic figure with some occasional humor peppered into the performance. Beller makes for a gorgeous wide-eyed princess but doesn't have a ton to do, but her presence is certainly appreciated as she is quite a looker. The make-up effects for Moll's wizard are pretty cool too, I loved the unusually long fingers and glowing red talons, plus those creepy serpentine eye gave me nightmares as a kid.
Audio/Video: The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) arrives on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a 4K scan from the original negative. This is not UHD perfection by any means, it's a very grainy presentation, but it looks completely natural, it's just a grainy film. There's a bit of dirt and debris that looks baked into the optical effects scenes as well, but blemished are mostly relegated to some white speckling. It's also a very dark film, but the Dolby Vision and HDR10 color-grading does good work saturating the darker scenes of which there are many, grain levels are still quite heavy, but I thought the black levels were rock solid. Primaries also get a nice bump from the increased HDR color-gamut, it's not eye-popping but it definitely warms the green and reds seen throughout, and are noticeably more vibrant than the Blu-ray presentation. Fine detail is decent but if you're expecting The Suicide Squad levels of fine detail and texture you will be disappointed. The film is quite dark and often bathed in detail-sapping wafts of mist and colored-lighting, but the uptick is detail and shadow detail is very much appreciable, just not demo-worthy.
Audio comes by way of both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo and 51, Surround with Optional English subtitles. Ssream Factory offer the following text blurb before the start of the film regarding audio:
“When getting access to the film elements for The Sword and the Sorcerer, there was almost nothing for audio. We have transferred a lone optical track for the stereo sound. There is some damage we could not fix. The 5.1 track was created by another label and has some directional errors. We think, even with some static the stereo track is the strongest audio option.”
I preferred the stereo option, despite the underlying hiss it's a solid track that had a nice directness to it, the score from Dave Whitaker (Vampire Circus) sounds great too, a totally fun sword and sandal adventure flick score that does the job. The 5.1 sounds forced to my ears, it does a decent job spreading the score around a bit but otherwise didn't do much for me.
Scream Factory load this one up with extras produced by Samuelson Studios, the only extras on the UHD is the new Audio Commentary with director Albert Pyun, which is terrific, and it's also featured on the Blu-ray, with the remainder of the extras also appearing on the Blu-ray.
The 33-min Tales of the Ancient Empire is an interview with director Albert Pyun, who late in the interview mentions he is suffering from dementia, but regales us with tales of the making of the film. Starting off by coming to Hollywood from Hawaii, pitching various incarnations of the script to studios and being shot down, and in one instance and being asked not to come back, EVER, but that he pushed on. He talks about how the success of Excalibur and Star Wars threw open the doors for fantasy films, and how with Conan already in production that got his foot in the door at Group 1 Films, who ended up producing the film. He also touches on not having final edit on the film, how that sort of prepared him for future disappointments, but that no matter how he felt about the finished film it's the movie that got his foot in the door. He also covers not being happy with the score, being underpaid, the casting process (including Lorenzo Lamas and David Hasselhoff), the latter of whom he says has "twig arms") and his struggles with producers during the making of the film, the hard work of the effects and production crew, a weird experience with a typical Hollywood manager, and the eventual sequel.
The 24-min A Princess’ Tale is an interview with actress Kathleen Beller who speaks about her experience on the film. She regards Pyun as having been a novice director who was clearly in-over-his-head, but that the cast and crew were top-notch. She thinks the film should have been a bit more humorous and talks about shooting the scene with the 16-foot snake and how co-star Horsley was quite scared of it. She also dives into some issue regarding nudity, both hers and another young actress, and what her co-stars Lee Horsley, Richard Lynch and others were like, plus describing how the production was being controlled by the 1st AD and not Pyun, which she felt must have been difficult for the first-time director.
Mightier Than the Sword is a 20-min interview with co-writer/co-producer John Stuckmeyer who talks about working for Sid and Marty Croft before working with Albert on the script for this film, how he mostly did touch-ups on the script though Pyun was kind enough to give him a co-writing credit. He gets a bit more into the working relationship with producer Brandon Chase and his wife, whom he says sort of bit off more than he probably thought he would with this production, and how budget ballooned from 1.5 to over four million dollars, but he was trapped into completing it, which caused a lot of tension. He says Pyun was probably "winging it" a lot of the time, and that certain shots like the ocean set scenes were quite difficult to execute but that he persevered. He also talks about the success of the film and having to go to court to recoup proper payment from Chase soured the original plans for a sequel.
The 14-min Master of the Blade features editor Marshall Harvey talking about working for Group 1 Films as a trailer editor, working on the Alligator trailer and TV spots, and getting the gig as editor on The Sword and the Sorcerer. He describes Group 1 as a small outfit employing about a half dozen people, editing in a closet, and describing Chase as a William Castle type producer minus the gimmicks. He also touches on the problematic relationship between Pyun and Chase, the success of the film, and how he thinks a lot of teenagers snuck into the film because of the nudity, in addition to how his temp score helped sell the film in foreign markets. He mentions that Oliver Reed was supposed to do the opening narration but showed up so drunk it had to be re-recorded by some one else after he got belligerent.
The Specialist and the Effects is a 12-min interview with special makeup effects artist Allan Apone whereon he talks about how craftsmen like production designers, wardrobe and special effects teams do the absolute best they can on whatever budget they are given, that's just the way they are, and that's what they did for this film. He gets into what they created for the film, some fun gags like stab wounds, blood effects, the chest-burst, swords and shields. He describes working for Pyun as stress free but he could tell the director was under a lot of pressure. His best story is how when they originally built the chest-burst scene it was so overpowered it shot the rubber heart over the building and it was never found. He also gives admiration to John Carter's electrified sword effects seen in the film while saying he feels the film is a bit too dark, to the point it obscures some of the terrific production design in the film.
The 10-min Brothers in Arms – an interview with special effects artists the Chiodo Brothers – with brothers Charles, Edward and Stephen discussing working for Magic Lantern and getting tapped to do the 'Crypt of Heads" for The Sword and the Sorcerer, creating the maquette mini-sculpture for it, and how they built and executed it for the film versus how it was originally planned, saying the initial designs were not scary faces but they decided to go with a Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing) styled ghoulish faces. They also get into working with Richard Moll and some issues he has emerging from a vat of blood while wearing contact lenses. They also touch on how energetic and fun Pyun was, and that this was their first legit Hollywood production that got the start of Chiodo Brothers Productions. ANother n nice bonus is the 4-min Trailers from Hell episode with editor Marshall Harvey who edited the film and created the trailer itself, saying how much he enjoyed the Whitaker score, and tells the Reed story one more time.
The 10-min Dedicated to Jack Tyree, Stuntman features the cast and crew remembering stuntman Jack Tyree who died during an 80-foot fall for the film, part of which is in the finished film. It's an interesting if slightly morbid featurette with Albert Pyun, the Chiodo Bros., make-up FX person Allan Apone, actress Kathleen Beller, editor Marshall Harvey, co-writer/co-producer John Stuckmeyer - many of whom were on set or witnessed the fatal fall. There's speculation about what caused the fatality; was it some loose gravel that caused him to slip a bit or perhaps the wizard wardrobe, or the placement of the crash pad, which the stuntman and the stunt coordinator disagreed on the placement of. Once you watch it you won't ever watch the film the same way again, it's eerie.
The extras are buttoned-up with a pair of 3-min Theatrical Trailers, a 26-sec TV Spot and a 9-minute Still Gallery containing poster artwork, pressbooks, lobby cards, newspaper ads, promotional stills, scripts, storyboards, soundtrack, novelizations, home video releases, the Colecovision videogame, and even a crew jacket. I didn't discover any Easter Eggs while navigating the menus, but Scream Factory aren't exactly know for hiding too many Easter Eggs on their discs.
The 2-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated poster by Peter Andrew Jones and the home video artwork, the two artworks are also featured on the discs inside, and the theatrical artwork appears on the limited edition slipcover.
Special Features:
Disc 1 (UHD):
- NEW 4K scan from the original negative
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Albert Pyun
Disc 2 (Blu-Ray):
- NEW 4K scan from the original negative
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Albert Pyun
- NEW Tales of the Ancient Empire – an interview with director Albert Pyun (33 min)
- NEW A Princess’ Tale – an interview with actress Kathleen Beller (24 min)
- NEW Mightier Than the Sword – an interview with co-writer/co-producer John Stuckmeyer (20 min)
- NEW Master of the Blade - an interview with editor Marshall Harvey (14 min)
- NEW The Specialist and the Effects - an interview with special makeup effects artist Allan Apone (12 min)
- NEW Brothers in Arms – an interview with special effects artists the Chiodo Brothers – Charles, Edward and Stephen (10 min)
- NEW Dedicated to Jack Tyree, Stuntman – the cast and crew remember stuntman Jack Tyree (12 min)
- Trailers from Hell – editor Marshall Harvey on THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (4 min)
- Theatrical Trailer #1 (3 min)
- NEW 4K scan from the original negative
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Albert Pyun
- NEW Tales of the Ancient Empire – an interview with director Albert Pyun (33 min)
- NEW A Princess’ Tale – an interview with actress Kathleen Beller (24 min)
- NEW Mightier Than the Sword – an interview with co-writer/co-producer John Stuckmeyer (20 min)
- NEW Master of the Blade - an interview with editor Marshall Harvey (14 min)
- NEW The Specialist and the Effects - an interview with special makeup effects artist Allan Apone (12 min)
- NEW Brothers in Arms – an interview with special effects artists the Chiodo Brothers – Charles, Edward and Stephen (10 min)
- NEW Dedicated to Jack Tyree, Stuntman – the cast and crew remember stuntman Jack Tyree (12 min)
- Trailers from Hell – editor Marshall Harvey on THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (4 min)
- Theatrical Trailer #1 (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer #2 (3 min)
- TV Spot (26 sec)
- Still Gallery (9 min)
- TV Spot (26 sec)
- Still Gallery (9 min)
Scream Factory deliver an outstanding 4K UHD 2-disc Collector's Edition of The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) on UHD/BD. The A/V is slightly compromised due to source limitations and missing original audio elements but they still gave us a terrific edition, plus it's loaded with some terrific extras. Having this on an extras-laden 4K UHD Collector's Edition is absolutely mind-blowing to me, surely to be one of my favorites of 2022!
Screenshots from the Scream Factory Blu-ray:
