Conan fans: are there any other good Fantasy movies? (1 Viewer)

[Frank@N]

I came across a:

- used copy of Kull the Conqueror (1997) for about $10.

- new copy Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) for about $6.


Conan fans: are these movies worth owning?

Any other Fantasy recommendations?

 

[Haden]

Kull the Conquerer is AWFUL. It tried to be like a mix of Conan and that stupid Hercules show that Kevin Sorbo did to begin with, but it failed miserably and was a huge bomb at the box office. Mixing rock music with a medieval fantasy film was a bad move. It's very cheesy and the acting is pathetic.

I've never seen Sword and the Sorceror, so I can't comment on it.

If you like Conan, you might also like The Beastmaster (just the first one, not the sequels).

Krull is also a classic fantasy film if you like a bit of scifi mixed in with all the medieval stuff, and it has one of Horner's best film scores ever.

 

[Ruz-El]

Sword and the Sorceror was one of my favorite films as a kid. That said, I haven't seen it in about 15 years, so I have no idea how will it's aged. I be curious if anyone can pipe in on the current disc, as I've seen it for $10 new.

 

[Jonathan White]

Hawk the Slayer....bad acting, bad directing, terrible special effects but I like it.

 

[Jacques C]

In a few weeks Dragonslayer is coming out. Great flick. If you have never seen it, it is a definite pickup.

 

[MartinTeller]

You might also like Excalibur and Ladyhawke, both of which can be gotten very cheap.

 

[Larry Talbot]

I also saw Sword in the theater when I was a kid and enjoyed it very much. It has a sense of humor and a lot of good gore/special effects. Like Russ though, I'm not sure how it will stand up today, but I'd like to see it again.

 

[Jeff Kuykendall]

I haven't seen The Sword & the Sorcerer since I was a kid, but it has a pretty big cult following.

If you're a Conan fan (like I am), I recommend the PG-rated 1983 animated movie Fire & Ice, which was designed by Conan cover artist Frank Frazetta and has a Robert E. Howard vibe. Unfortunately, it's not out on DVD in Region 1 yet (it is in other regions).

In my opinion, prior to Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian and Dragonslayer were the only really good sword and sorcery movies! (That is, they avoided camp humor and haven't dated that badly.)

Jeff

 

[Eric F]

When Sword and the Sorcerer came out on DVD last year I picked it up and thought, "Geez, did I actually like this?".
I've sold it since.

Excalibur is probably the most literate Fantasy film you'll see, Dragonslayer is also cool.

Some of the Hallmark produced films are also very good like Merlin, (which is sort of fun in a stupid kind of way), 10th Kingdom, The Odysee, Jason and the Argonauts, etc.

Alot of the old Ray Harryhausen stuff is fun:
Sinbad Collection: 7th Voyage / Golden Voyage / Eye of the Tiger
Jason and the Argonauts
and my favorite and a stellar DVD to boot- Clash of the Titans.

But if you're really into fantasy, I highly recommend you get into Anime. That's where the best adult oriented (when I say adult, I mean sophisticated, not neccessarily pornographic (there's that too)) Sci-Fi/Fantasy is today.

 

[todd stone]

LEGEND

WILLOW

13th Warrior

 

[Frank@N]

In no particular order...

===============================

my favorite and a stellar DVD to boot- Clash of the Titans

I've heard good things about this one.

 

[MartinTeller]

The first three he mentioned are available in a Sinbad box set. Jason and the Argonauts is not a Sinbad movie, it's separate.

to Jason and Clash from me, too

 

[JonZ]

Excalibur
Dragonslayer
13th Warrior
Legend

 

[Jim_K]

If you've never seen them then I'll third the recommendations for the Harryhausen films.

They're all great fun, the best of the bunch being Jason and the Argonauts & 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

It's been years since I saw it (god knows I was fourteen!), but I seem to remember DEATHSTALKER really being a good fantasy action flick.

Certainly it wasn't the height of intellectualism. But it was good for swords and sorcery.

 

[Eric F]

I guess we're staying close to the Swords and Sorcery? There are so many different "Fantasy" genres we can mention. There's the Vampire/Moster one, the Futuristic one (Brazil), the time travel one (Time Bandits), etc.

I suppose the two Discworld DVDs- Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music would qualify, but they're iffy unless you're a Pratchett fan (which I am).

Then there's stuff like Dark Crystal and Labyrinth which is hard to classify.

 

[Joe D]

There are not very many good sword and sorcerer movies out there... Conan the Barbarian is fantastic, the 2 LOTR movies are good, Harryhauesen films are good, particularly Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts, but other than that most of the movies feature terrible acting, worse scripts, and basically failed attempts to make a good movie.

 

[Lars_J]

Mya I suggest LadyHawke - before PJ's LOTR, it was my favorite fantasy movie.

 

[Stephen_Ri]

"Wizards" though not serious, might be enjoyable.

 

[Shane S.]

I've spent some time looking around for sword and sorcerer movies. The thing is like Joe_D said more often than not they just seem to suck.
Willow, LadyHawke, Conans, Red Sonja(though I don't think its available on dvd), Dragonslayer are all good. the D and D movie was a dissapointment, it was sorta entertaining and had some pretty good A/V aspects but just was missing something. If your a fan of the genre you may want to pick it up at Walmart or something. With its source material it could have been an amazing movie. (I can only imagine how all the hardcore D and D people must feel.)
I'll also agree with Eric F and say some really good S and S material is in the anime world, Checkout the Lodos Wars or the spinoff Berserk (great story).