The 1980s included great years for genre movies, from fantasy and sci-fi to action flicks and horror films. In the era of excess, Hollywood began to push boundaries in all these fan-favorite genres. For fantasy movies, it was time to start bringing in more specialized effects, tell more fantastical stories, and sweep viewers into new worlds.
The filmmakers that arrived in the 1980s included a nice mix of fantasy-minded individuals, with Terry Gilliam sliding in perfectly to the fantasy aspects he already explored in Monty Python, and John Milius proving he had an excellent eye for sand-and-sandals epics. With epic fantasy and exploratory stories, 80s fantasy remains iconic.
Clash Of The Titans (1981)
Clash of the Titans was a throwback movie that owed its existence to the 1950s and 1960s and films with practical effects by Ray Harryhausen. That is because Harryhausen produced this film, and this was the last time he created stop-motion monsters for a movie.
The fantasy film from the 1980s shares a connection with classics like Jason and the Argonauts, and it wasn’t just because of Harryhausen, who created the effects for both films. Both films are based on Greek mythology, with Clash of the Titans loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus (played by Harry Hamlin).
The movie was a box office success, spawned a toy line, and even a comic book series. A remake was made in 2010 that had more expensive CGI effects, but lacked the personal touch that Harryhausen brought with his hand-crafted figures and stop-motion effects.
Conan The Barbarian (1982)
In 1982, John Milius adapted the long-time pulp medieval action hero Conan the Barbarian to the big screen. Milius hit a home run with his casting when he signed a young bodybuilding champion named Arnold Schwarzenegger for the lead role, and the rest is history.
The movie had a good box office considering its relatively low $20 million budget, and it made Schwarzenegger a major movie star and opened the door for roles in the next few years, like The Terminator and Predator. It also became a monster success on home video, with VHS sales and rentals proving its lasting power.
Conan the Barbarian helped to open the door for more sand-and-sandal epic fantast storytelling, although few matched the lasting success of this movie. The reviews when it came out were polarizing, but it maintains a cult status for fantasy movie fans and remains one of the best movies about Conan on the big or small screen.
Legend (1985)
Ridley Scott had already mastered the sci-fi genre with movies like Alien and Blade Runner, and in 1985, he set his sights on the fantasy genre. What resulted was a dark fantasy film with a young Tom Cruise in the lead role as a “pure being” named Jack who has to stop the Lord of Darkness from conquering the world.
On top of a young Tom Cruise, a brilliant Tim Curry plays the Lord of Darkness, and that mix made the good vs evil dynamic. Despite poor box office numbers and critical reviews, it still garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup.
However, as time has passed, Legend has become a cult classic from the 80s, and with the 2002 unrated Director’s Cut, the movie has proven once again that Ridley Scott is best when he releases the movies he had in mind when he filmed it.
Highlander (1986)
Released in 1986, Highlander created a brand-new fantasy mythos and ended up making a new franchise that spanned movies, TV shows, and comic books. In this first movie, directed by Russell Mulcahy, Christopher Lambert stars as Connor MacLeod, an immortal warrior involved in an age-old war where there can be only one.
The movie introduced the idea that when an immortal warrior kills and beheads another immortal in an action known as the quickening, they gain some of their strength, and it will all eventually lead to the Gathering. In this battle, only one immortal remains alive and inherits all power and knowledge from all previous immortals.
This was another box office failure in the 1980s for fantasy films, but it was a monster success when it hit home video and became a cult classic before spawning sequels and spinoffs.
The Dark Crystal (1982)
Jim Henson made his name with The Muppet Show, and he mastered puppetry with Jim Henson Studios. Frank Oz is best known for being the man behind Yoda in the Star Wars movies. The two masters of puppetry teamed up to co-direct the fantasy movie The Dark Crystal, which hit theatres in 1982.
This groundbreaking movie was unlike anything fantasy fans had seen. It had the dark mythic storytelling fantasy fans love, but with puppets, it was a little shocking for families at the time who weren’t aware this was not a movie made for kids. That is likely responsible for the mixed reviews, but it has since become a cult classic.
Dark Crystal even developed a bigger reputation years later when The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance premiered on Netflix as a streaming series, winning Emmy Awards for its production.
Time Bandits (1981)
Time Bandits was a fantasy adventure movie that offered something different and unique to the genre. Rather than elaborate sand-and-sandal storytelling or dark fantasy thrills, Terry Gilliam brought his Monty Python sensibilities to the making of this movie. While not as comedic, it was a looser, more carefree fantasy film.
The movie follows a young boy who embarks on an adventure through time with a band of thieves who plunder treasure from various historical eras. Gilliam had his fellow Monty Python cast member John Cleese by his side, along with Sean Connery, Ian Holm, Shelley Duvall, and David Warner.
The entire idea here was for Gilliam to break out from Monty Python and show his brilliance, as this was the first of his “Trilogy of Imagination” movies, followed by Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, showing that Gilliam was at the top of his game in the 1980s.
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
In 1984, one of the best family-friendly fantasy movies of all time hit theaters, and it remains a beloved classic to this day. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen and based on the book by Michael Ende, this movie tells the story of a young boy who discovers a book and is transported into its world.
Bastian Balthazar Buz is the boy in the real world who finds the book and is warned not to read it. However, he does and realizes he has the power to help the young hero Atreyu find a way to save the Childlike Empress before it is too late. This is a storybook fantasy movie and works beautifully.
There were two sequels to The NeverEnding Story, but they never matched up to the first movie, which has an impressive 84% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.
The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Seven years after making Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam finished his “Trilogy of Imagination” with the inventive The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This movie was based on real-life tall tales told by a German nobleman, which were written into a book by novelist Rudolf Raspe.
In the movie, it is Baron Munchausen (John Neville) who takes the role of the nobleman, while Monty Python veteran Eric Idle also joined the cast. The movie was a box office bomb, but it has a fantastic 90% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score and is widely considered one of the best fantasy movies of the 1980s.
When Gilliam talked about imagination, it was this movie that really paid off that promise. Time Bandits was inventive, and Brazil was darkly dystopian, but this is the fantasy movie that showed how incredible Gilliam’s imagination really was, especially for visually striking filmmaking skills.
Labyrinth (1986)
Jim Henson was back as a director for the 1986 fantasy movie Labyrinth, written by Monty Python member Terry Jones. Unlike The Dark Crystal, this movie had actors mixed in with the puppets, and Labyrinth was also a little more child-friendly as a family fantasy film.
Jennifer Connelly plays a teenage girl named Sarah who is frustrated with her baby brother’s constant crying and need for attention. She makes a wish that the Goblin King would take her brother away from her, without realizing the Goblin King was real. Musical icon David Bowie plays the Goblin King.
The movie did not have a good theatrical run, but it was huge on home video and has become one of the most beloved fantasy movies ever made in the 1980s.
The Princess Bride (1987)
The best fantasy movie released in the 1980s is the Rob Reiner movie The Princess Bride. This film stands out from other fantasy movies of that decade as a fantastical tale without magic, although still featuring swordplay, with an inventive story that hooks viewers from the start.
This is a picture book movie in one way, with a grandfather (Peter Falk) telling his ill grandson (Fred Savage) a story as he rests in bed. It is that story that remains beloved. Cary Elwes is Westley, using the title of the Dread Pirate Roberts, setting out to save Princess Buttercup, who three bandits kidnapped.
There is so much to love about The Princess Bride, including performances by the three bandits: Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya, Andre the Giant as Fezzik, and Wallace Shawn as Vizzini. This fantasy movie from the 80s was added to the National Film Registry in 2016.
