Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Deathstalker II is a hilariously self-aware bordering-on-parody of the genre.
IIRC, either the trailer or the beginning of that movie had the witch-queen (or whatever) delivering the line "I'll have my revenge--and Deathstalker too" just before the title of the film appeared. It made us groan even as teenagers.


Yor, the Hunter from the Future. It is terrible and low budget even for this thread but it made a big impression on 9 year old me. It had all my favorites like cavemen, dinosaurs, mutants, lasers, robots etc and my young mind was blown away. Only thing missing was nudity, ya know? The theme song occupies the same brain space as the Flash Gordon theme song for me. It was burned into my brain LOL.
A friend of mine from those days thought it was hilarious to say 'so you're the hunter from the future?" They do pronounce Yor that way, though.

So far I don't think anyone has mentioned John Boorman's Excalibur (1981):
Excalibur Poster.jpg

Which I've always enjoyed, though I once read a review likening Helen Mirren's performance to 'gay-bar theatricals.' It has a young Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson in it and Nicol Williamson makes a good Merlin. I always found it surprising that Nigel Terry is Arthur, given his pitch-perfect rendition of John as a young nitwit in Lion in Winter.
 
Last edited:
So far I don't think anyone has mentioned John Boorman's Excalibur (1981):

I didn't bring up either it or Krull because I was only thinking of cheesy barbarian movies.

Excalibur was a favorite of my teenage self. It was another one of those movies I watched over and over. A&E network used to play it a lot in the late 80s. If HBO was "Hey Beastmaster's On" then the E in A&E of the late 80s stood for Excalibur. I'd tend to stop and watch it whenever I was surfing channels and caught it, which was something like twice a week or something equally ludicrous.
 
I rewatched Excalibur recently and it is easily one of the better fantasy films we've got and a huge cut above the other films we've discussed so far in the thread.

My list of top fantasy films, as in the genre of fantasy set in pseduo-medieval or more historical settings, would have to include these two non-English films:

Valerie and her Week of Wonders, an amazing Czech New Wave film with a dark, sexual fairy tale feel.



The Polish film adaptation of the fascinating, bewildering (in a good way) fantasy The Saragossa Manuscript.

 
Oh and a discussion of animation in the SW thread reminded me of the remarkable Japanese animated film Belladonna of Sadness, which is very limited in its animation but beautifully drawn, movingly told and has wonderful music. Hypnotic.

 
Funny timing, I just started watching Dragonslayer (1981) on Prime.

I really enjoyed that movie and the dragon was pretty amazing on the big screen back in the day. Someday I'll have to replace my old VHS tape of it.

I thought the animated Beowulf was pretty good

There have been a lot Beowulf-inspired movies over the years, though that one probably has the biggest budget. At roughly the same time it came out, there was Beowulf and Grendel (2005), which had a good cast. Sarah Polley's character, though, seemed dropped in from the early 21st century. Christopher Lambert's Beowulf (1999) was more than cheesy enough to qualify for this thread:

Beowulf Grendel Poster.jpgLambert Beowulf.jpg

I also liked The 13th Warrior, which is an adaptation of Eaters of the Dead, which is based on Beowulf:
13th Warrior.jpg
I didn't bring up either it or Krull because I was only thinking of cheesy barbarian movies.

I rewatched Excalibur recently and it is easily one of the better fantasy films we've got and a huge cut above the other films we've discussed so far in the thread.

My list of top fantasy films, as in the genre of fantasy set in pseduo-medieval or more historical settings, would have to include these two non-English films:

Valerie and her Week of Wonders, an amazing Czech New Wave film with a dark, sexual fairy tale feel.

The Polish film adaptation of the fascinating, bewildering (in a good way) fantasy The Saragossa Manuscript.

I've not seen either of those but now will be on the lookout for them. To redeem myself for inserting a good movie into the thread, I will offer up a cheesy alternative Arthurian film Sword of the Valiant (1984), which despite having Sean Connery, Peter Cushing, and Trevor Howard is ... not good.
SwordOfTheValiant_quad_UK-1.jpg
 
Re: Uwe Boll, I have a deep, genuine, and non-ironic love for the film BloodRayne. It has a hot chick in tight leather pants dual-wielding blades to slaughter vampires, and Ben Kingsley playing the bad guy! Really, what else does a movie need??

BloodRayne: Third Reich is also pretty entertaining, but BloodRayne II is one of the most boring movies I've ever seen.

As for S&S, there's a ton of that stuff on Amazon Prime, at least in the US.
See that's all the same reasons I enjoyed Underworld. Attractive gal, guns, vampires, werewolves, vampwolves! I mean what's not to love.
 
Excalibur is a fantastic film, but the Arthurian Mythos are definitely not Sword & Sorcery or Sword & Sandals

Fair enough, but the thread title says 'Sword and Sorcery and Fantasy Films.' I'd definitely put Excalibur in the latter category. Or do we need another thread for Fantasy films that are not Sword and Sorcery?
 
See that's all the same reasons I enjoyed Underworld. Attractive gal, guns, vampires, werewolves, vampwolves! I mean what's not to love.
Ooh, Underworld is another great one!

My buddy & I sometimes do themed movie nights, so we once double featured Underworld and .... Cold Comfort Farm :clown:. Two films entirely unlike each other, but they both starred Kate Beckinsale, so it worked :smile:.
 
Ooh, Underworld is another great one!

My buddy & I sometimes do themed movie nights, so we once double featured Underworld and .... Cold Comfort Farm :clown:. Two films entirely unlike each other, but they both starred Kate Beckinsale, so it worked :smile:.
See Van Helsing was the movie that showed me her butt in tight pants was not enough to save a movie but it was really close.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top