7 Best Sword & Sorcery Fantasy Movies Of All Time

Fantasy is a thrilling genre and one with a lot of facets. Not unlike its close cousin sci-fi, fantasy stories can encompass a massive range of kinds of stories that explore rich and often impossible worlds and complex cultures. It’s a genre of big stories, big characters, and big stakes. And within the larger fantasy genre there are special niches including sword and sorcery. Unlike “high fantasy”, the stories of sword and sorcery are more of the heroic fantasy variety, with adventure, romance, magic and plenty of battles, often of a personal nature and typically with plenty of morally gray characters because they make everything more fun.

Sword and sorcery stories make for some of the best movies, They’re full of action and are highly entertaining. Packed with powerful creatures, the classic damsel in distress, and warriors, and yes wizards typically of the mysterious variety, these sorts of movies might not always be box office smashes, but they are classics. Here are 7 of the best.

7) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

No, I promise we’re not pushing the limits of the definition of sword and sorcery here. The Lord of the Rings is high fantasy, but it has a bunch of elements of sword and sorcery as well, just on a very grand scale. Think of it as sophisticated sword and sorcery if you must. The story of Middle Earth is great as a whole, but of the three films, Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King are the most fitting in this subgenre. There really isn’t a lot that can be said about The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that hasn’t already been said before because these movies are all masterpieces, but trust me: go back, watch them again and think about them as sword and sorcery. You’ll be glad you did.

6) Krull

Krull is a divisive movie. It was met with a very mixed response when it was released in 1983 and is a rare film where that mixed opinion continues even to this day. It was also a box office bomb. It’s also not the best movie, generally and it is admittedly at times a little bit of a slog to watch with some performances of a questionable nature and the plot leaves a good bit to be desired in its story of Prince Colwyn (Kevin Marshall) and his companions who go on a quest for rescue his bride Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony) from the fortress of alien invaders. Yes, Krull combines sword and sorcery with sci-fil.

What makes Krull a great film with all of those things is effects and soundtrack. The film is visually very stunning at times. The best part, though, is that the film features Liam Neeson in one of his early film roles and it’s all just a very worthy experience.

5) The Beastmaster

Very loosely based on the 1959 novel The Beast Master, this 1982 film has a pretty thin plot. An evil wizard is given a prophecy that he will one day be defeated by the then-unborn child of his greatest enemy and, on that prophecy, tries to kill him first. Failing to do so, the child grows up with the ability to communicate with animals and he fights said evil wizard and his army.

The Beastmaster wasn’t a box office hit, but it was a staple of HBO in the 1980s and it firmly made the film a cult classic. Many have described the film as being very much like a comic book adventure and while its effects aren’t of the highest quality, it’s so much a part of 80s television because of being played so much on HBO that it’s now dearly loved — and well worth the watch.

4) Willow

Willow is an all-time classic. The story of Willow and Madmartigan, who team up to protect a baby princess from an evil queen. It’s a very straightforward story and it’s also absolutely fantastic. The film is a classic, directed by Ron Howard, George Lucas came up with the story which Bob Dolman wrote, and the film stars Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Billy Barty, and Jean Marsh. It even got two Oscar nominations.

Willow is also a film that crosses lines in terms of is subgenres. It’s definitely high fantasy and for many Gen X and elder Millennials it’s the absolute definition of fantasy films, but the themes of prophecy, the hero against a tyrant, and the story being a personal journey for Willow and Madmartigan put it also firmly in sword and sorcery territory.

3) Dragonslayer

Released in 1981, Dragonslayer follows a young sorcerer’s apprentice sets out on a journey to kill an evil ancient dragon to end its reign of terror. It’s a very straightforward sword and sorcery plot, but it’s also a pretty good story as there are some additional layers to this film. The story also includes a young woman disguising herself as a young man, highlights the apprentice/master relationship within magic and features a really cool evil dragon who remains one of the best ever on screen that isn’t CGI — Vermithrax Pejorative is a combination of effects, including some truly impressive practical ones.

And it’s the effects that really make Dragonslayer stand out. The film didn’t do well at the box office in its time, but it was well received by critics. The movie looks good, has an engaging story, and if score is phenomenal.

2) Excalibur

It would be wrong to not have a movie that retells the Arthurian legend on a list about sword and sorcery films. Released in 1981, Excalibur was a solid box office performer as well as a critical success and is considered by many to be one of if not the actual best movie about the Arthurian legends ever made.

Based somewhat loosely on the 15th century Le Morte de’Arthur, the film features a cast that, by modern standard is absolutely packed with stars: Nigel Terry as Arthur, Helen Mirren as Morgana, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere, Paul Geoffrey as Percival, Nicol Williamson as Merlin, and the film also included appearances from Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, and Gabriel Byrne. It’s got magic, myth, adventure and it’s practically perfect.

1) Conan the Barbarian

There is no getting around it; Conan the Barbarian is the absolute definition of a sword and sorcery movie. The story follows Conan, a young Cimmerian seeking vengeance against Thulsa Doom, the leader of a snake cult that killed his parents. It was a box office success, it performed well with critics, and it launched a film franchise — and helped launch Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career.

Conan the Barbarian is a successful sword and sorcery film largely for the reasons many of the others on this list maybe didn’t fare so well with critics or at the box office: it treated its story seriously. By leaning into more of the violence in sword and sorcery stories rather than the camp, the film shook up expectations and, in some ways, changed the subgenre. This film is now considered by some to be a classic and it absolutely deserves it.

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