WOLFHOUND
So my cousin Boris from Westwegostan called me up the other day and like most Russians he was drunk and blabbering on about something or another. Eventually he got around to slurring about some Russian Conan movie called WOLFHOUND. Turns out of course that it's not a "Conan" movie but is very Conan-like in some ways. A gentler, Russian Conan perhaps. I believe he described it as sorta like LORD OF THE RINGS but for men which I think I understand. I think what Boris meant to say is that it has hot chicks and less guys looking teary eyed at other guys and weeping. Since LORD OF THE RINGS came out I've been looking for a sword and sorcery movie more in line with something Roger Corman might produce. Something shorter, with more fun, with more monsters and hot chicks so I thought WQOLFHOUND might be for me. But was it? Not really but it was still pretty good.
It begins much like CONAN THE BARBARIAN as the bad guys ride in and pillage, killing everyone and making an orphan of the young boy who becomes Wolfhound. I don't think he is called Wolfhound yet but he is spared and sent to be a slave in the mines. Years later, the boy grows up and sets out for revenge. After he kills a villain named Maneater he becomes involved with a plot involving an even worse evil druid named Zhadoba or something that sounds like that. He becomes the guard to a noble and beautiful princess and that involves taking on Zhaboda and his legions of henchmen who I think want to awaken and evil god type thing and rule the world. It's pretty standard Dungeons and Dragons plot stuff but it's enough. Oh yeah, Wolfhound's best friend is a big bat that rides on his shoulder. The bat is quite good.
WOLFHOUND is a great looking picture with great scenery and some nice production values that owes a lot to films like CONAN, DRAGONSLAYER, STAR WARS and others. The man bad guy, Zhadoba, is pretty cool with an awesome helmet he never removes and some Vader-like telekinetic powers. There are some detours plot-wise that don't really pay off that seem to be included just because they might have been in the novel. It's not a very gruesome picture considering the amount of combat and could easily play on TV uncut. My only problem was that it never really grabbed me. It's fairly somber and could've used some humor somewhere. I kept hoping a monster of some sorts would appear but it doesn't happen. The big "god" is a tornado of boulders which was different but not particularly cool. It definitely takes itself seriously like THE LORD OF THE RINGS but obviously can't compete with the scope of those pictures. Still, a great looking picture and it's cool to see a genre film like this from Russia. After watching it I wanted to see some of the pictures of Aleksander Ptushko like SAMPO which seem to be hard to find in non-MST3K versions or uncut.