This film has a lot more in common with movies like Excalibur and Ladyhawke instead of Conan the Barbarian but there’s still several of the common tropes of the Sword and Sorcery genre including well… swords and sorcery.
The film originally was a made for TV movie in Britain but became so popular it received a theatrical release. And honestly, compared to a lot of the “so bad they’re good” B-movies of the genre, it’s pretty stunning how many things it gets right. Where Hawk the Slayer really shines is in the character department. Great dialogue and witty characters propel a lot of the low budget scenes. There’s some qualities more like a stage play here with the acting and that’s not a bad thing.
Jack Palance plays the bad guy in this and he’s absolutely ridiculous. Cheesy speeches, overacting, etc. He’s hamming it up like crazy but that adds to the fun here.