I’ve been catching up on and rewatching some lately. Legend, Highlander, The Never ending Story. What are some others that are similar? And why do 80s movies seem to hit different than other decades?
It’s… inconceivable no one has said Princess Bride yet.
I think that word means what you think it means
The dark crystal is the greatest fantasy movie of all time.
One of the reasons I think they hit different is because of the technology used to film them and the practical effects.
To me horror films from the 70s and before seem more real and scary than modern ones that are full of CGI and weird pallete swaps like when they film night scenes during the day and then darken them after. It just gives off this whole ‘this is a fake movie’ thing to me.
The Goonies, The Golden Child, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, and The Monster Squad.
Bonus: I think Bill & Ted’s movies were in the 80s too? The one with Death I always felt was sort of similar to Never Ending Story.
Wait, no Ghostbusters!?
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Big Trouble in Little China
Nausicaa is so good
- Hawk the Slayer, with Jack Palance (!) playing the bad guy
- Dragonslayer, astounding dragon models and cinematography
Labyrinth, Willow, and of course The Princess Bride.
Star Wars Episodes 5 and 6
If you also want so-bad-it’s-good then you must not miss Yor: The Hunter from the Future from 1983, see video review here: https://youtu.be/doS-sxtlNfU
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All the good ones that can think of have already been mentioned. I also remember enjoying Heavy Metal as a teen, but not sure if I’d enjoy it nowadays.
Deathstalker 1 and 2 are underappreciated rubbish.
Cheap, tone deaf, bad acting, bad writing, catchy out of place theme music, pure entertainment.
The Secret of Nimh
Xanadu (Modern Fantasy)
LadyhawkeOh, and Return to Oz.
That movie is terrifying
Ladyhawke, Excalibur (this one is much more R rated than most, it features an on-screen rape in the first 5 minutes), Legend, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, Krull, Conan.
The 80’s were really a heyday for fantasy movies, weren’t they?
The Beastmaster! The only film I know where Rip Torn squares off against ferrets. The best sword and sorcery movie of all time, I think.
Oh my God! I watched this so many times. Those… Vampires who turn people into goo when they catch them with their wings. Those monsters with metal claws and masks.
And the witches with the horribly mangled faces and pin-up girl figures :) A wild movie!
Dragonslayer was pretty good.
Big trouble in little china