Hawk the Slayer is back – and he's brought his mindsword

They wanted to make a medieval Fistful of Dollars. They ended up with a cult hit that triggered the sword and sorcery boom. Now, Hawk the Slayer is set to return - with better fights and special effects, but still plenty of cheese

Back in 1980, Terry Marcel kicked off the cinematic sword and sorcery boom that would give us Excalibur, Conan, Dragonslayer and Willow with a low-budget opus called Hawk the Slayer. Shot in six weeks in Buckinghamshire for 600,000, it featured the handsome but wooden John Terry as Hawk, who - with his flying "mindsword" and mismatched allies (witch, elf, dwarf, giant) - sets out to rescue a nun from his own deformed brother Vultan, played by Jack Palance at his scenery-chewing worst. Now, 35 years on, Marcel is finally preparing the follow-up: Hawk the Hunter. It's not quite the longest a British director has waited to make a sequel to a cult hit, but damned close.

"We have a studio deal and a sales deal," says Marcel, himself quite elfin at 73. Games company Rebellion has also signed up to produce a Hawk game and a putative range of books or comics, and to provide CGI and funding for the sequel. Rebellion's co-founder Jason Kingsley described the original Hawk as "a touchstone" of his life and said he was "delighted and slightly awed" to be part of the new venture.