The Barbarians - So, so, bad, yet so much fun

While checking the 'trivia' section online after watching 1987's 'The Barbarians' I found that it frequently appears in various YouTube 'so-bad-it's-good' lists.  Yeah, there's not much more that really needs to be said.  This film is utterly terrible and yet I sat through it with a smile so goofy it rivalled the main stars' permanent expression.

It's a pretty shameless 'Conan' rip-off, set in those magical days of 'sword and sorcery' that the 80s seemed to be so obsessed with.  A group of baddies, led by - you guessed it - a bad guy (that's about all the character development he gets) kills a load of innocent people and takes two young brothers as slaves.  They spend their lives being whipped and tortured in a prison labour camp which somehow turns them into bodybuilders some twenty years later with amazing fighting abilities (I haven't seen this method of 'keep fit' anywhere before, but I guess it must work!).

So, now our two heroes are 'supercharged' it's time for them to seek revenge on that generic bad bloke and rescue their adopted mother who he's fallen in love with (a woman who doesn't really age much in the twenty year time gap - probably magic.  Most plot holes in this film can most likely be explained by magic).

If you've seen any type of Conan rip-off you'll know they have to go on various quests before they reach their goal, plus fight a few giant rubbery monsters (a scene towards the end which has to be seen to be believed!) and where armour that looks cheaper than most cosplayers at a Comic-con.

As I say, this film is terrible.  But I loved it it.  If you actually sit down to watch this movie with expectations of an epic, deep 'Lord of the Rings' saga then you're going to be sorely disappointed.  You have to loved your 'trash' films to get the most out of this escapade.  I'm now off to watch 'Beastmaster' which could and should be some sort of 'companion piece' to 'The Barbarians.'

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that