Pretty Good

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Wow, so I just read all the reviews... It seems a lot of people were expecting Dungeons & Dragons to be involved somehow, how could you get confused by this? I admit I didn't expect an awesome computer superhero, but still how can someone like Dungeons & Dragons but not wish they could 'link up' with a computer in there glasses that can seem to magically control anything electronic? And another reviewer mentions Mythbusters, umm, which do you think came first and where do you think he got it from?Anyway, I really enjoyed myself, I thought it'd be a campy 80s wizard movie and it opened with a computer whiz that can control anything using his computer and seems to be always connected to it. I admit the description on IMDb is a bit misleading, he's not spending too much time with his computer, he's basically one with his computer. I mean if Lois was jealous and told Superman to give up his powers because she was insecure about where he was flying to and what he was doing with his x- ray vision, would that be fare? The only part I didn't like was the dinner scene where we first meet his girlfriend and hear her complaints, but in the end she realizes she has an awesome man and Cal is just a tool.I wish we had learned more about the experiment that lets him 'link up' and what that really involves and why Cal is so powerful, and maybe where Mestima really comes from, but otherwise I loved all the different sequences, the main character and especially Mestima. How can that be over acting, he was very convincing and everything I wanted him to be.I'm so glad I found this movie.

I'm quite surprised to see so many people writing negative things about this film. I don't know what they were expecting from a film called The Dungeonmaster released by Empire (this isn't supposed to be Citizen Kane, people), but for those who enjoyed the minute in the 80's where Sword & Sorcery films were being dropped into theaters every weekend (and disappearing the same weekend), this splendid little number provides a nice twist on the formula.Watching it today, it does seem a bit clunky and dated, but the special effects remain quite impressive considering the technology and budget the filmmakers had to work with. There is a lot of imagination at play here, and it's delightful to watch each of the segments unfold. John Buechler's undead make-up in the "Demons Of The Dead" segment is particularly excellent, and his lord of that underworld is a great piece of puppetry. People who watch a film like this and criticize the execution of such a prop are obviously forgetting that even Yoda looked like what he a was, a rubber puppet, until George Lucas spent millions of dollars digitally enhancing his effects.Though most of the segments fall squarely into the realm of Fantasy, the "Slasher" and "Ice" pieces are great nods to classic horror sub-genres. The brevity of each segment keeps the film moving along at a brisk pace, and no matter how engrossed you become in one piece of the film, you're assured that there's going to be something interesting around the corner as well.Enough can not be said about the greatness of Richard Moll's performance as Mestema. Moll is a joy to watch, and he seems to take great delight in chewing up the scenery and delivering the surprisingly strong dialogue he is fed. His "cat" speech is a classic, and I can't imagine a better character or actor to deliver such a great piece of wickedness. Sparring against him, our Paul Bradford makes a fine hero, and the verbal interplay between the two of them is well written and executed.One thing I haven't heard mentioned extensively is the music in the film, which is uniformly great. It's unlikely that a soundtrack ever circulated, but upon re-watching this, I found myself plotting my own transfer of the audio to CD. Of course, a strong number by W.A.S.P. ("Tormentor", which appears on their self-titled debut LP) helps in that regard. But, even without it, the score alone would make for excellent listening should anyone ever have the foresight to rescue this film and its supplements from obscurity.It seems so petty to overtly criticize a film that never tries to be anything more than an enjoyable way to spend 80 minutes. To that end, The Dungeonmaster succeeds magnificently. The 80's was a time when films like this flourished, and comparatively, this is far more professionally made and creatively executed than the overwhelmingly poor caliber of direct-to-video fare we are subjected to these days.DVDs are cheap to produce and release, and because of this, there are a lot of truly unwatchable films in circulation that deserve to languish in the scarce VHS-only netherworld The Dungeonmaster currently occupies. In fact, if I could pick one film to be plucked from the past and given a loving DVD remaster, it would probably be this one, and its digital absence is one of the only reasons I still have a VCR.Anyone familiar and comfortable with this sort of material will have a hell of a lot of fun watching this film. After all, that's ultimately the point of The Dungeonmaster, so it shouldn't be graded or scrutinized with the same stringent detail we apply to "serious" or "important" cinema. Those looking for thought-provoking social discourse, breathtaking cinematography, or Oscar-caliber performances will hate this film, and that's okay, because they aren't the demographic for The Dungeonmaster.However, for anyone who enjoys the giddy pleasure of a well-constructed B-movie, The Dungeonmaster is well worth seeking out. If that's you, then prepare for battle, Excalibrate. Mestema awaits you.

The summary of the movie is not all there... did the writer watch the movie? Actually, the movie is mostly about a computer programmer/enthusiast who gets sucked into another world where 'The Dungeonmaster' has him and his girlfriend interact in different scenarios/riddles. They must figure out how to escape from each scenario... in most cases the riddle's solution involves zapping things with his arm-computer.This movie has 7 different directors, each of which direct one of the 7 scenarios the main characters are placed in. This film is awesomely horrible; I loved it and would recommend it to any other fans of crappy movies.Another interesting tid-bit is that the main character says "I reject your reality and substitute my own" while confronting The Dungeonmaster. I had never heard this used anywhere but Mythbusters before I saw this movie.

Oh, heavens. This is one of the most awful movies I've ever watched. My friend Kevin worked at a video store, and would bring home a free movie every night. We marveled at his horrible taste -- each movie was worse than the last. Years later, however, The Dungeonmaster still stands out in my mind as the worst. It has seven directors and eight writers, and while I'm sure it was meant as a collaboration, it really feels like every ten minutes they decided, "Ugh! This is ghastly!" and got another director and writer to do the next segment, without there ever being any improvement. Even the wonderful Richard Moll as Mestema wasn't enough to save this train wreck of a movie. Go ahead and rent it if you love to revel in the awfulness of really terrible movies… otherwise you might be better off with some of the directors' later works like Troll or Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter. Er, on second thought, maybe that's not such a good idea, either.