*** This review may contain spoilers ***
*Plot and ending analyzed*
Zorikan the Exterminator
Zorikan lo sterminatore (1964)
I saw this movie at an old stuntman friend's home in Italy. It was actually in English, which is surprising. The copy is in absolutely horrendous condition. The colors are completely faded, it is severely cropped, it is blurry, and the images bounce during action scenes. Still, it is watchable.
American actor and muscleman Dan Vadis changes character and actually plays a Saracen (the term to describe the tribes of Arabia). Not that he is any good. But you probably already know that.
Some vizier (a high-ranking political advisor or minister in Arabia) hires him to steal a Christian relic in some Christian city. To do so, he must conquer the city. That consists of eight men hitting the defenders with cheap swords. A Christian captain goes back and gets the relic by using a secret passageway. He escapes, but then is overtaken by Zorikan (American actor Dan Vadis) and his men. In a weird scene, the Christian captain stabs some guy then looks out to see Zorikan (American actor Dan Vadis), and then I guess he slips off the small cliff. (?) The movie producers throw an obvious mannequin dummy, and then cut the scene to the real actor. Very odd, it's as if the director just did not care if the scene looked awful and fake. Most of the movie is like that as well, no one really cared about making a decent movie.
Anyways, the movie is bloody awful and terrible. The budget is extremely low, and the sword fighting is extremely amateurish and limp.
It seems it was made because El Cid (1961) was such a hit. And the Italians were making crusader movies. But then they changed the title later to "Zorikan, the Barbarian" to confuse the audiences and make them think that it was a barbarian movie.
*Plot and ending analyzed*
Zorikan the Exterminator
Zorikan lo sterminatore (1964)
I saw this movie at an old stuntman friend's home in Italy. It was actually in English, which is surprising. The copy is in absolutely horrendous condition. The colors are completely faded, it is severely cropped, it is blurry, and the images bounce during action scenes. Still, it is watchable.
American actor and muscleman Dan Vadis changes character and actually plays a Saracen (the term to describe the tribes of Arabia). Not that he is any good. But you probably already know that.
Some vizier (a high-ranking political advisor or minister in Arabia) hires him to steal a Christian relic in some Christian city. To do so, he must conquer the city. That consists of eight men hitting the defenders with cheap swords. A Christian captain goes back and gets the relic by using a secret passageway. He escapes, but then is overtaken by Zorikan (American actor Dan Vadis) and his men. In a weird scene, the Christian captain stabs some guy then looks out to see Zorikan (American actor Dan Vadis), and then I guess he slips off the small cliff. (?) The movie producers throw an obvious mannequin dummy, and then cut the scene to the real actor. Very odd, it's as if the director just did not care if the scene looked awful and fake. Most of the movie is like that as well, no one really cared about making a decent movie.
Anyways, the movie is bloody awful and terrible. The budget is extremely low, and the sword fighting is extremely amateurish and limp.
It seems it was made because El Cid (1961) was such a hit. And the Italians were making crusader movies. But then they changed the title later to "Zorikan, the Barbarian" to confuse the audiences and make them think that it was a barbarian movie.
