Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 7, 2017 14:13:14 GMT
"In the Dark Ages, Magic was a weapon. Love was a mystery. Adventure was everywhere... And Dragons were real."
For centuries a 400 year old creature have been terrorizing the kingdom of Urland and its inhabitants.
Every attempt of going up against this ruthless opponent, usually leads up to a gruesome death.
As a result, the weak and corrupted king has decided that the only way to keep the evil far away from his kingdom, is to have an annual lottery, where the "winner", a young female virgin will be given away, as a peace offering. This will make sure that the people of Urland will be safe for another year.
But not everybody are impressed by the way their king is doing his business, and so, as an alternative choice the people of Urland set out to find themselves a mighty sorcerer, but what they end up with is the young wizard apprentice named, Galen Bradwarden (Peter MacNicol) who accepts the impossible task, to go out and destroy the legendary dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative.
Dragonslayer has to be one of my favorite fantasy/adventure films, and not just out of the 80s but of all that I have seen.
The scenery, locations, and music all play a big part of why I love this film. At times, it feels very dreamlike, but the reason why I enjoy the it so much, is because of the more hostile and dark enviroment that creeps upon the viewer later on, and works like magic to create a rather different kind of atmosphere/tone, specially set up against the often adventurous day scenes.
Peter MacNicol is one of those actors that I remember mostly seeing in very goofy/weird roles, either on TV or in the movies, and so it was a bit of a surprise to see him play the part of the heroic/"normal" type of figure, and I thought he handled it rather well, while my only little "complaint" might be that his character Galen Bradwarden was a bit too "cocky" or smug at times, and I wished his beautiful co-star Caitlin Clarke would have far more screentime, as she surely did provide with a far more interesting plot along with some great little surprises too.
Sir Ralph Richardson is not in the film for that much of time, but in his few scenes, he dominates the screen as the wizard of Ulrich Craggenmoor.
The movies main villain, and a very impressive creature, is done by none other than Industrial Light and Magic.
Vermithrax is one of the most evil looking dragons that I have seen, and is a long shoot away from the more well known, cozy and friendly Disney/Hollywood dragons.
While this fierce and ruthless beast enjoys to burn down whole villages, slaughtering everyone in sight, then close it off by barbecueing some innocent virgin.
Produced in a time/period where the slogan "The Dark Ages" still seemed to hang over Disney and their many financial box-office flops, and yet there was a place for mature films such as Dragonslayer, which included rather un-kid friendly stuff such as nudity, blood and mutilated bodyparts.
I have always had a soft spot when it comes to 80s animation, and specially titles such as The Black Cauldron (1985).
And while it was a product between Disney and Paramount Pictures, I got to be honest, I was really surprised of how "brutal" or "dark" some of the scenes played out.
Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Pocahontas and so on, all very famous and beloved Disney princesses. They are beautiful, intelligent, brave and who often ends up finding their handsome and filthy rich, Mr. Right.
However, there is a good reason why the princess in Dragonslayer never become as beloved or famous. Sure, she is both beautiful and brave, in fact one of the most brave of the bunch, but instead of spending the rest of her life with Prince Charming in some dream castle, she ends up sufferering a gruesome fate.
Here is a couple of nasty/vicious scenes that has burnt itself into my memory (in a good way that is):
As our hero bravely is about to enter the dragon lair for the first time, we get a good glimpse of how other "heroes" have ended their lives, against the wrath of Vermithrax, as the cave entrance comes with a bit of warning sign, consisting of several human skeletons and skulls.
The films hero, Galen Bradwarden ends up almost stumbling over the nasty remains of the princess, inside the dark dragon cave, where small baby dragons are having a feast, and where one of them slowly bites/chews of the princess foot/leg.
In one scene, a priest thinks his all mighty god and belief is a worthy opponent towards the nasty beast, but instead he ends up being burned alive, while he screams in pain and agony.