Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Bezenby Cameron Mitchell and his stunt double take on the Viking hordes in this cheaply made Mario Bava film that carries a little more emotional weight than usual. This film cost $75,000 to make, which is surely really cheap even for 1966?The story is this: jerk Viking Hagen has just returned from exile to his home town to claim the throne from himself, as the previous King, Arald, has seemingly drowned at sea. The only way Hagen can become King is to marry Arald's wife, Karin, but she has gone into hiding to get away from him, hiding with her son in a remote cottage. Hagen has his men scour the land looking for her, and ignores the prophecy of a strange old woman that a man is on his way to kill Hagen.One day, hunky Cameron Mitchell turns up at the cottage looking for shelter and some food, and ends up saving Karin from two of Hagen's men in a rather violent fight. Turns out Cameron is a drifter who offers his services to Karin and starts training her son to be a fierce fighter, but also falls in love with Karin and sees the kid as some sort of surrogate son. This is all heading somewhere!Everyone has a past and it's the past that comes back to haunt the characters in this film, as Cameron seeks both revenge and redemption and is actually quite believable as a man torn between his conflicting emotions. He's also hard as nails and takes down quite a few of Hagen's men with his throwing knives, even if his stunt double has a totally different colour of hair.You can tell this was made cheaply, due to the limited sets, most of the action on the beach taking place in the one area, and a general sparse feel to the whole film, but then again you've got Mario Bava behind the camera, so everything looks better than any big budget film made last week with the most hi-tech CGI you can imagine. Plenty of action too, mainly Cameron taking on gurff Viking types. He also gets a good performance out of Cameron Mitchell, who is prone to hamming it up in most of his roles. Here he exudes warmth and regret and finally, resignation, and his character does go on some kind of personal journey that ends in a bitter victory.

MartinHafer Cameron Mitchell stars in this Viking film that essentially is a traditional western plot but set in the Middle Ages. Mitchell plays the hero--a guy who comes to town and finds that a local baddie is tormenting folks. So, being a noble sort of guy, he comes to the aid of a woman and her son--not realizing that she is a queen living in hiding. While all this sounds pretty exciting, it really isn't. Despite Mitchell tossing knives about and acting manly, it's pretty dull. BUT, I really expected much worse. Considering the zillions of Samson/Hercules/Machiste Italian films (most of which were terrible), I assumed this dubbed film would be just horrible. Perhaps having the talented director Mario Bava (known for horror films) helped a bit. Still, it's far from a must-see film and is easy to skip or see if you've got nothing better to do.

morganmpoet This is a good film, Bava & Cameron Mitchell both do good work imo, the soundtrack is excellent & there are a couple real gems in this film regarding Bava's visual strengths. One such scene shows the bad guy galloping off linearly away from the screen zig zagging through hills descending into a valley as the soundtrack thunders & his descent has a strange visual extrapolation to it that I'm still not sure how Bava achieved, you have to see it.Another such scene is when Mitchell reveals his face from under his helmet with the burning village surrounding him, very impressive visuals! Again, the music & Bava's commanding sense of visual style come together for a moment of perfection.This is really Shane redone as a Viking film & it's actually quite good. I recommend it however not to neophytes of Bava, there are other obviously more well known titles in his filmography that one should start with.At some point every Bava fan should see this film. I need to see Eric the Conqueror, that one I still have not seen, I think Bava did 3 Viking themed films. BTW he was the special effects director for Steve Reeves original 'Hercules' film!

Witchfinder General 666 "I Coltelli Del Vendicatore" aka. "Knives of the Avenger" (1966) is a somewhat cheesy, but doubtlessly fun 'Sword and Sandal' flick by the arguably greatest Horror director of all-time, the brilliant Mario Bava. I may be slightly biased. If I was to select one all-time favorite director of mine it would quite possibly be Mario Bava, as no other director has ever been capable of combining beauty and terror and creating a haunting and overwhelming atmosphere as it was the case with the supreme master of Gothic Horror and inventor of the Giallo. The man's repertoire includes more masterpiece than that of any other Horror director. His ultimate masterpiece, "La Maschera Del Demonio" (aka. "Black Sunday", 1960) is doubtlessly one of the greatest Horror films of all-time, and his filmography includes so many brilliant that it is hard to pick favorites: Gothic tales like "La Frusta E Il Corpo"(The Whip and the Body", 1963), "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath", 1963) and "Operazione Paura" ("Kill Baby Kill", 1966), the Giallo-milestone "Sei Donne Per L'Assassino" ("Blood And Black Lace", 1964) or the ingenious Crime-Thriller "Cani Arrabiati" ("Rabid Dogs", 1974) are only some of the many brilliant films this man has made, and I could probably go on praising Bava forever. This being said, "Knives of the Avenger" certainly isn't a masterpiece or must-see, and definitely ranges among the lesser films in Bava's impressive filmography. While anybody unfamiliar with this great director's work should definitely start their journey into the fascinating world of Mario Bava with another film, this one is yet a fun little film that is recommendable to my fellow fans of the man."Knives of the Avenger" is a vengeance-themed Sword and Sandal film that was made in 1966, several years after the genre's heyday in the 50s and early 60s. Cameron Mitchell stars as Rurik, a Barbarian (Viking?) warrior, who saves the young beauty Karin (Elissa Pichelli) and her son from the clutches of an evil warlord (Fausto Tozzi)... I do not want to give any parts of the story away, but I can say that it is pretty random classic stuff. Bava, as always, succeeds in giving his film a great look and nice atmosphere. For its time and genre the film also has quite a bunch of violent and somewhat gory moments, and the hero is quite dark and vengeful. This one's cast includes the leading men from two of Bava's greatest achievements, Cameron Mitchell (who starred in "Blood and Black Lace"), and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (who starred in "Kill Baby... Kill!" and who is credited as "Jack Stuart" here). Mitchell, who is the leading man here, is a very good actor; while this role doesn't need great acting skills, he has what it takes - a grim look. The revenge-story isn't exactly unique, but it's entertaining enough and well-executed by Bava's skillful direction. The film is nicely shot and supported by a cool, genre-typically heroic score. This is a cheesy film, of course, and by no means a masterpiece. It certainly ranges among the least important films Bava has ever made and doesn't nearly play in the same league as any of his Horror films (including the director's personal least favorite of his films, the somewhat weird "Five Dolls For An August Moon"). Yet it is fun enough and warmly recommended to my fellow Bava fans who have seen most of the man's many masterpieces.