Ator IV: The Hobgoblin (1990)

Must See Movie...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Quest for the Mighty Sword (1990) 1/2 (out of 4)Ator is murdered so later in life his son, also named Ator (Eric Allan Kramer), goes for revenge when he learns that his mother was forced into prostitution. He also learns of a magical sword that belongs to his family and he wants it returned.QUEST FOR THE MIGHTY SWORD was the fourth film in the series and the third to be directed by Joe D'Amato. The infamous Italian director helmed the first two in the series, skipped the third film and returned with this one. It's funny because the first film was so horrid that I found myself having a good time with it. The second film was so awful yet it was bad enough to be entertaining. This film here is just downright awful without any camp or entertainment value.I'm really not sure where to begin but this here is certainly the bottom of the barrel as far as entertainment goes. The Italian horror market had already dried up and I'm really not sure why a film like this would be made since the genre was long dead and it's doubtful there was much demand for it. The film has the typical awful acting that you would expect, a stupid story and there's really not a single good thing you can say about it.Fans of D'Amato who are nuts like me and want to see everything the man directed might want to check it out but it's a pretty bad film. With that said, Laura Gemser does appear briefly in the film.

The cream of the crap... This movie was literally the worst I've ever seen. Everything was wrong: plot, acting, music, costumes, special effects, script... the list goes on extensively. Every film-making mistake imaginable was made in this film... yet I loved every minute of it. Its hard to imagine it as being a legitimate effort at making a motion picture, but as far as I know, it wasn't intended to be humorous. A movie so terribly bad that it becomes so wonderfully good. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh; I'm actually considering purchasing it (that is if I can find it anywhere... I doubt it).

I had spent six months looking for this movie. This was for many reasons.. partly because it's director was the executive producer of 'Troll 2', and the movie was made at around the same time, and party because it was rumoured to have used one of the goblin costumes from 'Troll 2'. This I had to see.The Quest for the mighty sword is a very interesting movie. Starring a barbarian called Ator, it is a 'Sword and Sorcery' movie with so many reasons that it should never have happened at all. TQFTMS is a culmination of almost a decade of bad movies. It is in fact the fourth movie in the 'Ator' quadrilogy. This series of movies is one that is amazing to have survived so long. The first one promotes incest, and Ator fights a giant spider. In the second he fights a giant sock puppet snake, and has a mute ninja partner called 'Thong'. By the time we get to the third, Ator has dyed his hair, grown a ponytail and gotten all arty, with scantly clad women dancing about, and very little spoken in the entire film. That'll be a new director for you. But the fourth movie, this is where the bad movie magic lives. Back with the original director (so soon? He'd only just left) but with a whole new actor for Ator, TQFTMS pulls out all the stops despite being the third lower budget sequel of an already low budget movie.TQFTMS is the sort of movie that should win awards. It should win every kind of movie award you have never heard of. If I had a say in the Oscars, TQFTMS would be winning the following …**Best mis-leading title in a movie* It's called 'The Quest for the mighty sword'. But Ator Jr. finds the mighty sword, within the first half hour of the movie, under a rock IN THE CAVE THAT HE LIVES IN! Some 'Quest' that was. As for the rest of the plot, he wanders about randomly until he bumps into an ex-goddess that once tried to save his dad. After shacking up with the demigod, he wanders about randomly until he bumps into his long lost cursed mum. After fixing her, he wanders about randomly until he bumps into a god-king that kidnapped his demigod lover at some random point in the movie. After that, he wanders about randomly until he is declared complete winner of the movie. Then he just wanders about randomly, but happily ever after.**Best 'Hot-pants on a Hero'* Not entirely sure what Ator was thinking with that one. But I know what I think…. "He must work out" **Best use of the same actor to play both father and son* So what, he's playing his seventeen year old son now? That's some acting range. It actually takes a bit of effort to work out that he is now a different character. Perhaps too much effort for a movie of this calibre.**Best use of costume borrowed from directors other movies* For the actual use of a goblin costume from troll 2.**Best use of the same costume for every goblin in a movie* For use of a goblin costume … er, from troll 2.**Best use of girlie laugh for a monster* And the Goblin from troll two scores a hatrick! **Best incestuous use of costume ideas from movies with the same character.* Isn't that the iron warrior costume from the 3rd movie? did that director let you do that after what you said about his movie? **Best use of the 'Hero dies in the first five minutes' plot twist* I never thought I'd see that twist in a movie. Brave story choices like that kind of makes you feel alienated towards Hollywood though.**Best use of atmosphere destroying light hearted music to represent an evil character* Oh he can't believe it, four out of four, the goblin is Ecstatic! **Best use of XXL T-shirt to create a Siamese two headed robot* This is the stupidest robot ever. For something that was described to Ator, as practically invincible, he outsmarts it pretty easily, the old 'duck below it's field of view and sneak up from behind' trick, I bet it had never seen that one before.**Best use of monster costumes from entirely different movies* For the use of the Japanese Godzilla costume. They did change it significantly though, by covering it in snot.But TQFTMS gets an honourable mention for the following This is a sword and sorcery flick. I'm thinking barbarians, kings, queens, castles, and perhaps the odd legendary monster. But to have the bar scene, full of aliens, neon lighting and pub-brawls … the only thing that was missing was the blaster guns. Well done that movie! **Best use of the 'sleeping beauty' cliché in a movie.* Well, it had ripped off every other type of movie. I suppose the cartoon genre was the next obvious choice.As you know, however, I unfortunately have no control over the Oscars (yet) and so TQFTMS will have to remain a little heard of, underdog to the big budget giants.In Conclusion This is a movie that seems to be scraping the barrel for plot ideas. Our hero bumbles about, discovering one coincidental, yet random, event after another... and then it ends. With an absolute zero budget, Joe D'Amato thought far bigger than any sane man would, and used every corner cutting device to try and create and all action blockbuster. He failed miserably.

Me and my friends used to rent this movie whenever we wanted to show how horrible a movie could possibly get. I would suggest renting it just to see how terrible it is. Make sure you are drunk first though and bring enough liquor in case you sober up before its over.