that exploded at the beginning of the '80s, one of the easiest to exploit was the 
sword and sorcery craze that sprang from the 1981 pair of Excalibur and Dragonslayer and reached perfection the following year with Conan the Barbarian. All you really needed was an austere setting with lots of dark interiors, some flashy magic lighting effects, some swords, a mixture of beefy heroes and scantily-clad women, and presto. One of the quickest cash-ins was The Sword and the Sorcerer, a very profitable indie whose striking poster art and naughty trailer made it a hot ticket in the Spring of '82 during some very crowded competition. It was also the biggest hit for prolific action director Albert Pyun, who soon dove into Cannon Films with Cyborg, Dangerously Close, and Alien from L.A. Despite its lack of availability on home video for several long durations, Sword has remained one of his most popular films while its robust score by composer and pop arranger David Whitaker (Vampire Circus, Scream and Scream Again) became a fast fan favorite.
carries out a slaughter of King Richard and his entire family except for young son Talon (Matt Houston's Horsley) who grows up to be a strong, bewigged warrior bearing his dad's three-pronged blade. Talon ends up crossing paths with 
Xusia and the rebel Prince Mikah (Manimal's MacCorkindale) and his sister, Princess Alana (Are You in the House Alone?'s Beller), which leads to a treacherous attempt to seize the kingdom back from its ruthless ruler.
which feature a disclaimer that the only surviving audio 
elements are an optical track for the stereo version (with some minor inherent damage) and the old 5.1 mix from Anchor Bay with "some directional errors." You might as well go with the 2.0 track as it's the most faithful to the theatrical experience. Pyun also provides a new audio commentary in conversation with John Charles, and it's a terrific one with the director (who's been open about his struggles with progressive dementia) showing a sharp recall for the process of getting the film made after years of pitching (including a covert attempt to get Charlton Heston on board). It's really invaluable to get his memories of the film preserved here for posterity, and his zeal for genre filmmaking is really infectious here and even touching at times.
before this one, which he feels kicked into gear thanks to Excalibur and Dungeons & Dragons mania. He also goes into 
the creation of the film's infamous redband trailer (which this writer can attest brought down the house among young kids when it somehow ended up on prints of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). "The Specialist and the Effects" (12m10s) features special makeup effects artist Allan Apone recalls working within the budgetary constraints to accommodate what was within the storyboards and the visual ingenuity used to pull off some intricate design work. In "Brothers In Arms" (10m23s), special effects artists The Chiodo Brothers (Charles, Edward And Stephen), who went to glory with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, show off the modeling work that got them a very early gig on this film, the trickery that had to be employed to create a medieval world in the middle of Los Angeles, and the issues Moll had with the contact lenses for his character. Finally, "Dedicated To Jack Tyree, Stuntman" (11m50s) features the interview subjects all remembering stuntman Jack Tyree, who died during a tragic mishap on the production. Also included are the Trailers From Hell version of the trailer with Harvey, the redband and greenband trailers, a TV spot, and a 9m2s image gallery with lots of advertising art and stills. 