Just watched _Dragonslayer_ (1981) for the first time. Thoughts.
1. Holy shit, that was a great dragon.
2. The amount of Latin in this movie is a delight.
3. People in this movie are actually dressed in convincing Early Medieval clothing, rather than ridiculous confections of buckles and straps.
4. If they made this movie today, it would be full of crappy CGI, the leads would all be impossibly good-looking, and it would be 3 hours long. Also, there would be a bumbling comic sidekick, and fart jokes.
5. Hey, that priest is Emperor Palpatine!
6. The dragon has some depth (its rage at the murder of its hatchlings) without getting all Dragonheart - Sensitive New Age Guy about it.
7. Have I mentioned all the Latin? This might just be a former Classics major thing, but I'm grinning like an idiot, here.
8. The villain/main henchman guy was a total bastard, but in a way I could really respect.
9. I can't believe I've never seen this one before, and it really sucks that this was a commercial flop.
10. They sure used to be able to get away with a lot more in a PG movie.
I need to watch this again. It's been like 25 years...
ReplyDeleteIsn't the hero the dude from Ally McBeal too?
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorites as a kid. I dug the Dark Ages vibe.
One of the few gritty sword & sorcery flicks; maidens get eaten and the awesome magic items get shattered! I missed its blip of a theater run (tough competition that year), but found it later on RCA "videodisc".
ReplyDeleteI saw Dragonslayer in the cinema as a surprise sneak preview before Clash of The Titans. Dragoslayer totally blew Clash of the Titans out of the water.
ReplyDeleteThe book wasn't so bad either.
@ckutalik: Yup.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best vanilla fantasy movies ever made, IMHO. I love how the first sacrifice bloodies her wrists trying to escape being BBQ. Good stuff.