Not exactly fantasy per se, but Lifeforce has some seriously nasty critters that depict what I consider the gold standard for energy drain.
Not exactly fantasy per se, but Lifeforce has some seriously nasty critters that depict what I consider the gold standard for energy drain.
I hated Lifeforce when I first saw it on 1980's cable TV, then gave it a second chance a couple years ago - I found I didn't mind it too much at all on second viewing, and I really enjoyed a lot of the imagery, especially that wonderfully Gothic alien ship. Not a great film, but not a bad one either, and certainly a lot better than I'd remembered.
It surprises me sometimes what a difference a few years can make in how much I can appreciate a film :)
I felt the same way about "Ghosts of Mars" - I hated it when I saw it in the theater, but didn't mind it at all on second viewing.
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I hated Lifeforce when I first saw it on 1980's cable TV, then gave it a second chance a couple years ago - I found I didn't mind it too much at all on second viewing, and I really enjoyed a lot of the imagery, especially that wonderfully Gothic alien ship.
That's not the wonderful imagery that most watch that movie for. :D
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I hated Lifeforce when I first saw it on 1980's cable TV, then gave it a second chance a couple years ago - I found I didn't mind it too much at all on second viewing, and I really enjoyed a lot of the imagery, especially that wonderfully Gothic alien ship.That's not the wonderful imagery that most watch that movie for. :D
*cough* Mathilda May in slow motion *cough*
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I hated Lifeforce when I first saw it on 1980's cable TV, then gave it a second chance a couple years ago - I found I didn't mind it too much at all on second viewing, and I really enjoyed a lot of the imagery, especially that wonderfully Gothic alien ship.That's not the wonderful imagery that most watch that movie for. :D
I also have fond memories of that movie, seen when I was a young boy.
Actually, come to think of it, that may have been the reason why I didn't like "Lifeforce" when I saw it the first time.
I was a youngster, and watched it with my parents (who generally went with cover-your-eyes parental discretion when it came to a little T&A, but generally ignored most violence up to just about the head-exploding scene from "Scanners").
So, it seems like I watched half of "Lifeforce" with my eyes covered, on a rough old TV set with grainy 1980's cable where the rest must have been barely visible.
When I saw it again 25 or 30 years later, I could actually see the monsters and stuff clearly - my reaction for that on the second viewing really was a lot of "how did I not notice the creepy scenery the first time?" While, alas, being a bit jaded to the film's other assets after so many years of internet access... my reaction to the nudity was mainly "wow, that was actually kind of tame in the scheme of things... my folks might as well have just let the eye-covering slide on this...."
So, bad timing, I guess :)
A couple more fantasy films I meant to include in earlier replies, and forgot:
"The Gate (1987)" - that's the one where a couple kids manage to open a gate to hell by playing a cheesy Hellhammer/CelticFrost clone record backwards, letting vaguely Lovecraftian claymation nasties creep over into our world. I don't know how I missed seeing this one until a few years ago - I remember seeing the trailer for it back in '87, and wanting to see it, but somehow it never happened. It got mediocre ratings and reviews at best, but once I finally saw it, it was actually a lot of fun.
"Nightbreed (1990)" - Somehow, this movie existed about 25 years before I'd ever heard of it. I'm guessing it must not have rated very well in its own time, and the special effects, sound, and so on didn't really age too well, but I enjoyed it well enough.
I usually think that Stephen King films deserve the bad ratings they get, and feel slightly baffled when they get rated highly (when they're OK, they tend to be OK but seem to get rated higher than they usually deserve), but I couldn't help liking "The Mist" and "Graveyard Shift"... I guess there's something about the way that the characters accidentally poke holes in the walls of their normal, sane worlds, and find a nightmarish world of teeming with monsters spilling through to replace it.
I think everyone remembers the 1939 "Wizard of Oz" adaptation. But there were a bunch of other ones that tend to get forgotten for the most part: I actually enjoyed "Tin Man (2007)" (a sort of diesel-punk crapsack-world update to the story), the animated "Journey Back to Oz (1974)" might have had some moments (I haven't seen this since the early 1980's and don't remember it much except that I liked it alright), "Return to Oz (1985)" (a darker-and-grittier adaptation and box-office failure which most folks remember simply for the nightmare fuel). I'm sure there are other underrated or forgotten Oz adaptations I'm forgetting about that deserve a little more than to be left forgotten as footnotes in film history (I'm pretty sure there was at least one silent version that was worth seeing more than once, for example.)
Similarly, there are probably quite a few underrated and forgotten "Alice in Wonderland" adaptations I'm forgetting as well, but I rather liked the darker-and-grittier "Alice (2009)" follow-up to "Tin Man", and it's worth seeing the surreal and nightmarish Czech "Alice (1988)" at least once for the stop-motion nightmare fuel. I'm sure a couple of the more conventional adaptations can probably be considered underrated, as well.
"They (2002)", "The New Daughter (2009)", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", and "Absentia (2011)" all cover more or less the same Evil Fairies ground, will probably be considered horror more than fantasy, and generally got mediocre ratings at best, but I think they're all worth seeing at least once anyway for the fantasy elements they do have.
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Am I a bad person for loving Hawk the Slayer and The Sword and the Sorceror given the Rifftrax treatment? I find myself thinking that I really love their love for badness and I think aside from Paizo/Frog God Games material on my harddrive, they have the second most populous folder.
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Excuse me for cutting in...
As far as lesser know fantasy films go (assuming you consider fantasy as anything including concepts outside of the norm that ya just can't explain with your physics book), Highlander needs to be there. Ignoring for a second that the swordplay was... Lackluster, to say the least, that movie captured my imagination ever since my uncle mike sat me down to watch it ten years ago.
Sean Connery?
Amazing songs from Queen, featuring the astoundingly talented and much missed Freddie mercury?
"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"?
One of the greater regrets I have is that after the first movie, it slowly began to fall down hill. Sure, the TV show was ok, but then that s&#~ started to take the canon and twist it into a freakishly contorted pretzel.
(Sighs)
Oh, and for sure Flash Gordan. There is no way you're telling me a setting with hawkmen and evil princesses is Sci Fi. Sorrynotsorry.
Oh, I suppose that Solomon Kane movie that came out awhile ago deserves mention too, even if it wasn't QUITE what I wanted from it. (Needed more blackpowder goodness)
"Return to Oz" (1985) (a darker-and-grittier adaptation and box-office failure which most folks remember simply for the nightmare fuel).
I LOVED Return to Oz.
Excuse me for cutting in...
As far as lesser know fantasy films go (assuming you consider fantasy as anything including concepts outside of the norm that ya just can't explain with your physics book), Highlander needs to be there. Ignoring for a second that the swordplay was... Lackluster, to say the least, that movie captured my imagination ever since my uncle mike sat me down to watch it ten years ago.
Sean Connery?
Amazing songs from Queen, featuring the astoundingly talented and much missed Freddie mercury?
"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"?
One of the greater regrets I have is that after the first movie, it slowly began to fall down hill. Sure, the TV show was ok, but then that s!$$ started to take the canon and twist it into a freakishly contorted pretzel.(Sighs)
Oh, and for sure Flash Gordan. There is no way you're telling me a setting with hawkmen and evil princesses is Sci Fi. Sorrynotsorry.
Oh, I suppose that Solomon Kane movie that came out awhile ago deserves mention too, even if it wasn't QUITE what I wanted from it. (Needed more blackpowder goodness)
Flash Gordon was a blast, and that's even less Sci-Fi than Star Wars is - I think it's definitely fair to classify it as Fantasy. I doubt it's ever been over-rated, a real cult classic. I never would have thought of that one - great catch! :)
Am I a bad person for loving Hawk the Slayer and The Sword and the Sorceror given the Rifftrax treatment? I find myself thinking that I really love their love for badness and I think aside from Paizo/Frog God Games material on my harddrive, they have the second most populous folder.
I think it's fair. I've always had a soft spot for certain bad films... seems like maybe as many as a third or so of the films that appeared on Mystery Science Theater are at least as enjoyable to me without the commentary as with it.
I'm trying to remember if I've seen Hawk the Slayer and the Sword and the Sorceror... there are more of those weird little sword-and-sorcery films from the 1980's than I ever realized! :)
IMPETUOUS BOYOh, and for sure Flash Gordan. There is no way you're telling me a setting with hawkmen and evil princesses is Sci Fi. Sorrynotsorry.
Flash Gordon was a blast, and that's even less Sci-Fi than Star Wars is - I think it's definitely fair to classify it as Fantasy. I doubt it's ever been over-rated, a real cult classic. I never would have thought of that one - great catch! :)
Yeah, flash was another awesome one. Once again, with music from Freddie and the rest of queen... Damn, I was born too late.
(Starts to hum "Flash")
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Yeah, flash was another awesome one. Once again, with music from Freddie and the rest of queen... Damn, I was born too late.
(Starts to hum "Flash")
"Flash" and "Who Wants to Live Forever" are two of the finest songs ever written for film. Both capture the moods of their films *exactly,* and they work as stand-alone pieces.
FLASH! AAHHH-AAHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE! KING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!
Do we really need anything else in a theme song?
OK, so the "Conan the Barbarian" theme music is pretty cool too...
I LOVE flash Gordon.
Disney's The Black Hole is a fun movie.
My ex-wife and I went to Event Horizon having evidently seen the one trailer that implied it was fairly straight sci-fi. We both despise horror, and had no idea what was coming.
We practically staggered out of the theater, exchanged haunted looks and said, as one, "That was really good. I hated it."
I'll concur. It's rare that I like horror movies as well.
Basically Event Horizon, The Shining and Evil Dead are the horror movies I like (in no particular order).
More to fantasy movies:
Princess Mononoke
It's also my favorite of the Miyazaki films to date. The themes and grittiness of the movie compared to his other ones is what keeps me hooked. While it isn't super gritty, it feels like the stakes are real for the characters. I love the presentation of the story too, with the neutral arbiter, who isn't fully neutral, being our guide throughout.
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the fairly recent John Carter strikes me as a truly underrated fantasy film.
Like Flash, it had a lot more fantasy tied into it than straight Sci Fi, and I weep whe I consider how much it bombed at the box office. Worth a peek.
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WE'RE THE PRINCES OF THE UNIVERSE!"Flash" and "Who Wants to Live Forever" are two of the finest songs ever written for film. Both capture the moods of their films *exactly,* and they work as stand-alone pieces.
FLASH! AAHHH-AAHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE! KING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE!
Do we really need anything else in a theme song?
OK, so the "Conan the Barbarian" theme music is pretty cool too...
Nuff said.
It strikes me that someone really ought to cook up a spiritual successor to "Flash Gordon", in the form of a revival of 1980's thud-and-blunder fantasy films. Start by rounding up a bunch of actors in danger of being forgotten, filming on a low budget in Romania, a lot of bizarre psychedelic imagery and comic-book colors, a good healthy "this is so crazy, it might just work" attitude, and a soundtrack by Manowar. As long as the SyFy channel isn't involved, I think I'd buy it. I might even buy it if the SyFy channel IS involved!
I did mention "John Carter" a couple pages back, but it's a blink-and-you miss it thing, and worth mentioning again. I totally agree: I thought it deserved at least a little better than the box-office-bombing it took.
Pls no Sy Fy. Don't get me wrong, I'll watch their stuff, and they do have a few gems hidden among the disasters, but they are HORRID at marketing their stuff, and I'd hate to ruin a successor to Flash, spiritual or literal, by tying their name to it.
Also, I have seen a few anime films here, and none that I disagree with, but has anyone mentioned
Heavy Metal? Made for Conan lovers that like to do drugs with THIS GUY, I saw it at 15 and was forever cursed with a soft spot for barbarians ever since.
The last unicorn? Featuring voices like Jeff bridges and Christopher Lee, it's a wee bit childish but dem voices bring it all home gloriously.
Fire and Ice? ... Yeah, I guess I can only promote the micro bikini for this. But still. Nice bikini.
The spiritual successor to Flash Gordon already exists - it's Star Wars. (Lucas first tried to get the rights for Flash Gordon, when that didn't work he developed his own story instead.)
The spiritual successor to Flash Gordon already exists - it's Star Wars. (Lucas first tried to get the rights for Flash Gordon, when that didn't work he developed his own story instead.)
...lolwut.
"Return to Oz" (1985) (a darker-and-grittier adaptation and box-office failure which most folks remember simply for the nightmare fuel).I LOVED Return to Oz.
I liked it as well. As a bonus, it gave me a great laugh to think that Dorothy grew up to be Nancy in The Craft.
The spiritual successor to Flash Gordon already exists - it's Star Wars. (Lucas first tried to get the rights for Flash Gordon, when that didn't work he developed his own story instead.)
That's odd - I never thought of it in relation to Flash Gordon. When I finally read "Dune", however, I concluded that "Star Wars" was definitely "Dune" with the serial numbers filed off.
Also, I have seen a few anime films here, and none that I disagree with, but has anyone mentioned Heavy Metal? Made for Conan lovers that like to do drugs with THIS GUY, I saw it at 15 and was forever cursed with a soft spot for barbarians ever since.
How did I forget Heavy Metal? I was thinking of it at the same time as "Wizards", but then it slipped my memory. Great catch! (I think there was a sequel, but I've never seen it... I never had high hopes for the sequel being any good, does anyone know anything about it, and whether it's been underrated?)
Now, I remembered that there was a made-for-TV adaptation of a couple of the "Chronicles of Narnia" stories back in the 1980's, but I had no idea there was an animated version from the 1970's. I'm watching the animated version now - reviewers have said the animation and voice-acting are terrible, but they don't seem any worse or any better than you might expect from a low-budget animation from the 1970's. I think both of these earlier adaptations, and the newer ones to a lesser extent, probably all count as underrated fantasy films.
I'll also toss in the "Phantasm" film series as bordering closely enough to underrated fantasy. I love the "Phantasm" films, but they generally seem to be a love-it-or-hate-it thing, with most viewers and reviewers on the hate-it-and-don't-get-it side of things.
Also, I have seen a few anime films here, and none that I disagree with, but has anyone mentioned Heavy Metal? Made for Conan lovers that like to do drugs with THIS GUY, I saw it at 15 and was forever cursed with a soft spot for barbarians ever since.How did I forget Heavy Metal? I was thinking of it at the same time as "Wizards", but then it slipped my memory. Great catch! (I think there was a sequel, but I've never seen it... I never had high hopes for the sequel being any good, does anyone know anything about it, and whether it's been underrated?)
Unfortunately, I do.
And sad to say, the zero rating on rotten tomatoes is deserved.
I rented it for s%@+s and giggles one night.
I had to make up a story about how it fell out of my car, when in reality I ran it over after the first 20 minutes.
True story.
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Oh, stupid me. I legit forgot one movie up above in my last post.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Not only is it a very good fantasy movie on its own, it is probably the very best video game to movie adaptation ever made (the close second/third would be Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter: The Movie, of course.)
Mortal kombat, I might give you.
But street fighter?
Really?
:/
On a side note, was Prince of Persia really that underrated? I thought it did reasonably well for itself o_o
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Mortal kombat, I might give you.
But street fighter?
Really?
:/
To you, Street Fighter the Movie was a morbidly terrible adaptation of a game you enjoyed, but to the film industry it was Tuesday.
No, to me Street Fighter was what ruined Jean Claude Van Damme for me.
I could live with time cop.
I could live with yet ANOTHER universal solider.
But street fighter was the straw that broke the camels back.
What would Jean Claude Van Damme's chances be of making a comeback as an under-paid washed-up actor in our "Flash Gordon" thud-and-blunder fantasy film? And, who do we cast him as?
Prince of Persia was a good movie... except for the ostrich-race organizer. Ewww anachronisms and politics in my fantasy!
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Prince of Persia was a good movie... except for the ostrich-race organizer. Ewww anachronisms and politics in my fantasy!
Are you kidding? I loved that bit about small businesses and taxes.
I was cracking up the entire time.
What would Jean Claude Van Damme's chances be of making a comeback as an under-paid washed-up actor in our "Flash Gordon" thud-and-blunder fantasy film? And, who do we cast him as?
He's actually had a coupla hits recently.
Nothing huge, but enough to make him probably want a biggish role.
JCvD has a recent-ish role as a BBEG type, quite the character.
The spiritual successor to Flash Gordon already exists - it's Star Wars. (Lucas first tried to get the rights for Flash Gordon, when that didn't work he developed his own story instead.)
This is true and the story which was circulating when SW was coming out from what I understand.
I suppose that's one reason the people saying it was based on Dune were almost laughed out of court.
Much of the items in Star Wars are drawn directly from the old Flash Gordon serials from several decades prior. It's just been updated to 1970's fashion (instead of a death ray that destroy's the planet earth you have a deathstar, instead of Ming and the princess who want to get Dale, they have Darth Vader who gets princess leia, instead of a blonde flash, you have a blonde luke, you even have the old order of knights...though in SW they all have special powers).
He even stole the scrolling at the beginning of some of the serials and placed it in Star Wars.
The ORIGINAL Star Wars (though perhaps not those afterwards...who knows) was supposed to be a homage to the old serials people would see in the theater each week, including how many times you would have missed the first part of the adventure and try to catch up with the opening scroll to the section that was showing this week (such as episode 4 or part 4 of the serial).
It originally was all a homage to the old serials, and he made it pretty blatant. It was also probably that which also added to them believing it was only a B-rated movie and wouldn't be the hit it became.
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JCvD has a recent-ish role as a BBEG type, quite the character.
I just saw a comment on LiveJournal about him, from someone with the handle "Carbonel:"
"In the first season of the TV show Las Vegas, there was an episode where JCVD played himself, and (in-show) died when someone sabotaged his stunt setup. In the credits, there was a disclaimer: 'No Actual Jean Claude Van Dammes were injured during the making of this episode.'"
This is true and the story which was circulating when SW was coming out from what I understand.
I suppose that's one reason the people saying it was based on Dune were almost laughed out of court.
Much of the items in Star Wars are drawn directly from the old Flash Gordon serials from several decades prior. It's just been updated to 1970's fashion (instead of a death ray that destroy's the planet earth you have a deathstar, instead of Ming and the princess who want to get Dale, they have Darth Vader who gets princess leia, instead of a blonde flash, you have a blonde luke, you even have the old order of knights...though in SW they all have special powers).
He even stole the scrolling at the beginning of some of the serials and placed it in Star Wars.
The ORIGINAL Star Wars (though perhaps not those afterwards...who knows) was supposed to be a homage to the old serials people would see in the theater each week, including how many times you would have missed the first part of the adventure and try to catch up with the opening scroll to the section that was showing this week (such as episode 4 or part 4 of the serial).
It originally was all a homage to the old serials, and he made it pretty blatant. It was also probably that which also added to them believing it was only a B-rated movie and wouldn't be the hit it became.
All you have said is true. Lucas only worked on Star Wars because he couldn't get the rights to "Flash Gordon." Have you ever read "The Secret History of Star Wars?" You can find a copy on Amazon. In any case, a lot of the pre-history is unearthed, including the fact that Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker were two different people until the second draft script for "Empire Strikes Back."
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There is this part in Flash Gordon (1980) that gave me this kind of wacky idea. Ming offers Flash a deal.
The Emperor Ming: I've got other plans for you.
Flash Gordon: I can imagine.
The Emperor Ming: You want to destroy me.
Flash Gordon: It's the only way to save Earth.
The Emperor Ming: What if I granted you a kingdom?
Flash Gordon: If you what?
The Emperor Ming: Ming the Merciless, ruler of the universe, offers Flash Gordon of Earth a kingdom of Mongo, to rule over as his own.
Flash Gordon: You're crazy. Why would you do that?
The Emperor Ming: Because I've never before met your like. You're a hero, don't you see that? Who better to rule a kingdom? Your moon is very close now. Earth's end might come within hours.
Flash Gordon: You'd call off the attack?
The Emperor Ming: I could.
Flash Gordon: Everyone would be saved?
The Emperor Ming: Yes... and no. After the earthquakes and tidal waves, they won't be the same human beings. They'll be more docile. Tractable. Easier for you to rule, in the name of Ming.
Flash Gordon: You mean they'd be slaves.
The Emperor Ming: Let's just say they'll be satisfied with less.
Flash Gordon: What about Dale?
The Emperor Ming: We have decided to marry her. She's exceptional. We'll breed with her and send our progeny back to populate your Earth. Do you really prefer death to a kingdom? I'm disappointed. I'd rather see you on my side than scattered into ... Atoms. But as you wish.
Now what if in another parallel universe Flash seeing no way out takes it. We then get:
Thundarr is a descendant of Flash Gordon's. The wizards in the world are actually the descendants of Ming and his various brides. Ariel is a descendant of Dale and Ming. Heck, maybe Ookla is descended from Prince Thun (from the comics/cartoons). Thundarr has an opportunity to undo some of the damage his ancestor caused to the world.
Linking JCVD, and movies that were almost other movies, the story is that the movie Cyborg was made after extensive rewrites to screenplay for and using many of the sets that had originally been designed for the sequel to Masters of the Universe.
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I liked John Carter. My wife, who games with me, liked John Carter. Nearly everyone I've asked who saw it liked John Carter.
I'll never understand why it didn't do better. I was so hoping for franchise. At least a trilogy.
Still disappointed.