The Dungeonmaster

1984 "He is the overlord of strange beasts and stolen souls…"
The Dungeonmaster
4.5| 1h13m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 24 August 1984 Released
Producted By: Empire Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Paul, a computer whiz who spends more time with his machine than with his girlfriend, finds that he has been chosen as a worthy opponent for Mestema, an evil wizard who has spent centuries searching for a challenging foe. After having his computer changed into a wristband weapon, Paul does battle with a variety of monsters before finally coming face to face with the ultimate adversary.

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Reviews

SnoopyStyle This is a cheesy B-movie. That much is not in dispute. But is it cheesy good? That is the big question. It certainly has potential. The actors are watchable. It certainly has all the silly FX. It has all the silliness that is quintessential B-movie. The biggest problem I had was its disjointedness.The fact that this movie was written and directed in segments mean that there was some jarring transitions. Sure the evil wizard sends them to different scenarios each time which alleviated the need for an explanation. But it certainly was distracting to go into such divergent trials. Having so many different directors with their own styles makes this a disjointed experience.
Aaron1375 I just watched this film again after a very long time. The only other time I viewed this film is when it was released as my parents took me to see this one in the theater. Why we went to see this, is beyond me, but while this film is quite bad it is still rather cool we saw kind of a random film like this in the theater. Back in the day, movie theaters did not just do Hollywood blockbusters week after week, during off times they would show more obscure films like this. House By the Cemetery is another I had the fortune of seeing in the theater (or misfortune). I watched it again and was amazed at how short it was. That is the best thing to be said about the film, it was very short. It was done by Charles Band though of Full Moon fame, so I guess it should not have been that surprising seeing as how many of his films clock in at under 1 hour and 20 minutes. Heck, if you do not sit through the credits here, the thing will clock in under and hour and ten minutes! The film is very random as they had multiple directors for reasons unknown as it really is not an anthology and it is not as if the story is vastly different in the 'segments' if you will. Just seems like a film that seemed like a cool idea in someone's head, but as they filmed they quickly realized they really did not have all that much material to even make it.The story starts with a dream sequence, at least on the DVD I got. I, for the life of me, do not remember this sequence from years ago. However, the lead girl gets fully nude, so I am thinking perhaps this was not in the cut I saw back then because that is something I would have remembered. Kind of like how I remembered Trash dancing in the graveyard in "Return of the Living Dead". It then switches to a tech geek and establishes his relationship between he and a girl with a throwaway line about him being in an experiment that made him fully integrate with his computer and which seemed to have no real bearing on the story. Then they are both transported to a realm where Bull, oh I mean Mestema sends the hero to do different challenges. The hero must clear all seven or Mestema will have he and the girl's souls! The challenges are random and do not really seem like they have any reason to them! The first is in an icy museum where the figures come to life, the second a cave where the hero must battle the dead, the third a Wasp concert, the fourth battling a giant and little people, the fifth the hero must stop a serial killer. This one seems so out of place and is the longest, so I'm guessing it was needed to be so long to pad the film a little and save some money as it inexplicably took place in the real world. The sixth made no sense as it was the hero throwing rocks at a troll creature and for reasons unknown lasers were shooting and finally a road warrior type area where they use some vehicles that looked left over from the set of Megaforce. Inbetween the challenges the hero would debate Mestema, they had to do something to fill the time I guess.So this film is random and it just does not work very well. The challenges just are not set up well as there seems to be absolutely no purpose to any of them except the serial killer one. That is like the only one where any kind of rules are established. The most vague is that one where he is having a rock fight with a troll. Richard Moll is not as good here as he normally is in roles like this and the hero is a complete nobody. Still, all this negativity I am throwing at this film and I still have to say it was very quick. Not like it was a painful shot. It felt like a very short film, I have watched a few films where the running time is short like this, but they still take forever. Not this one, I am guessing the randomness of the challenges helps this as at least you are seeing new stuff every few seconds.
johan-404 It contains a few interesting concepts notably the strap-on arm computer. I see in the real world that you can now start buying a commercial available model.Considering the fact that the movie does originate from the 80's when computer based special effects were actually very few and far between. In general the story lacks 'n few elements but from an action perspective the movie did deliver the goods. I through that at the time the concepts was very unique even to this day this movie remains a favorite on my list.The soundtrack was very much classic sci-fi and you end up with a good feeling of good vs evil at the end of the movie. Unfortunately the bad guy does not meet a satisfactory end and it leaves you with a bit of a disappointment as far as that is concerned.Anyway if you are a sci-fi fan and like to see more or less original concepts this one should be on your list. Now if only they will get it out on DVD.
rgibson103 2.5 out of 10? Really? It's not that bad for what I'd like to call - along with ELIMINATORS - a proto-video game movie. Say you're working at your standard schlock factory - i.e. Empire Pictures - and you and six of your other director friends do a semi-anthology piece for fun together. You end up with this ....Think DRAGON'S LAIR with a Clark Kentish nerd in Subzero's ninja get-up from MORTAL KOMBAT, only instead of a dragon there's Bull Shannon from NIGHT COURT as the villain. When you're done laughing, crack open your beer. Now here's the punchline: you can watch it with your kids. No boobs, no blood. When you're done doing a spit take, wipe your mouth, and give it a shot.Vintage essence of 1980s in a bottle, stop-motion courtesy of Dave Allen - of LASERBLAST infamy, and a Charles Band soundtrack.~Ray