My Cultural Diet

Contrary to what its title might suggest, The Dungeonmaster has nothing to do with Dungeons & Dragons. (It was originally titled Ragewar and renamed to capitalize on D&D’s success.) But it does feature Night Court’s Richard Moll chewing up the scenery as a demonic sorcerer as well as a cameo by heavy metal band W.A.S.P., so there’s that. (And, as to be expected from a mid-’80s fantasy movie, some gratuitous skin.) As for the plot, that actually does feel a bit D&D-esque. Moll’s sorcerer whisks a computer programmer and his girlfriend off to a fantasy world in order to test his technological prowess in a series of challenges. The film is essentially an anthology; all of the challenges were made by different filmmakers and span the fantasy, slasher, and post-apocalypse genres. The Dungeonmaster’s technology vs. magic conceit is promising, but the film is pretty uneven right on up to its abrupt ending. Not even the fact that I probably would’ve loved The Dungeonmaster had I actually seen it back in 1984 changes the fact that it has “low-budget direct to VHS fare” written all over it. (Random bit of trivia: This film was the source of Adam Savage’s “I reject your reality and I substitute my own!” quote.)

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