Customer Reviews
Decent for the decade, but a little dated... 
2008-09-11
I read a lot of the reviews on the site before I actually bought this movie. I have to say that it isn't the best dragon movie out there, but the dragon is definitely a pretty awesome thing to see. The detail in the skin and its clawed feet is just amazing. The story was not worked on in as much detail. While it is a simple and easy to follow plot, the movie didn't capture me as much as the visuals of the dragon itself did. I definitely enjoyed the movie more than my fiance did, but it's really not a movie that I'll want to watch over and over. It's a little predictable at parts and I didn't feel like you really got to know the characters very well. I am a big fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre and this one was only okay in my book. As stories go, it's not as good as Flight of Dragons (which has yet to be released on DVD, unfortunately) or Dragonheart - 2 Legendary Tales Double Billand the characters aren't nearly as interesting.
I would recommend watching it somehow before actually purchasing it, but if you want a kind of campy 80's dragon fantasy movie then this one might just meet those criteria. Just don't expect to be floored by this one (except by the dragon itself).
First of it's kind 
2008-05-25
When this movie was produced we were still in the age of godzilla where it was obvious the monster was a man in a suit wrecking havoc in a minature seaside town with bath tub "ocean" waves. The dragon is Dragonslayer was the first computer generated image laid against a backdrop of a real landscape complete with up close human interaction. A super-sized monster that you could easily imagine burning down the strip mall down the street. I've been in awe ever since.
If you loved 'The Lord of the Rings'......... 
2008-03-31
LOTR fans will plug right in to this 1981 film!
Here we have sorcerers, dragons, rotten old kings, and VIRGINS (to be sacrificed!) *.*
A very Dark Ages village must periodically sacrifice one of its beautiful young virgins to a local trouble-making dragon. The King conducts a lottery, as needed, in the village to determine who the unlucky gal is to be for each sacrifice.
An assemblage of the locals gets damned tired of this process and so they travel to the castle of a renowned sorcerer to get him to resolve their dilemma; however, not everyone in the village agrees with this idea, knowing that if the plan goes awry, the dragon is going to REALLY be ticked off and the devastation is sure to be tremendous. So the King covertly sends his chief bad guy close behind the vigilante group to make sure that things go along as they always have.
The sorcerer (think "Gandalf") is killed in a test of his powers, prior to taking on the job, so it falls to his enthusiastic, but inept, apprentice to complete the task.
I'll stop here to avoid major spoilers but be aware that this superb film boasts excellent cinematography, shrewd casting, and is conveyed in letterbox format. The filmscore by the great Alex North, ("Cleopatra," "Spartacus," and other great high-end films), also adds a notable extra quality to this fine movie. The dragon is one of the best that you'll ever see in the vast world of film. I don't know that Peter Jackson will be able to top it in "The Hobbit" when that long-awaited film finally does premier!
The movie runs 109 minutes and is rated PG, probably due to one very quick flash of underwater nudity (from the side). This is one of the great films of all time -- a masterpiece!
I just wish we had a horse...... 2008-03-30
"Dragonslayer" has become THE dragon film within the genre. There was "Reign of Fire", but there existed too many inconsistencies to make the film great. "Dragonslayer" does not go outside of the legends associated with the myth. I do not count films like "Dragonheart" and "Eragon", as dragons (within the mythical representations) do not speak. While both latter films could be considered suitable for children, the myth is much too sinister, and there also exist the references to evil and the domain of Hell.
"Dragonslayer" makes no bones about the origins of the myth, and the dragon itself does not change it's character from the "Hellspawn" nature that it has occupied all throughout history. There has always been morbid curiosity regarding dragons for thousands of years, and in all cultures. It does seem strange that cultures that possess no similarities all have dragons! Some good, but for the most part, they represent evil incarnate.
In the film "Dragonslayer", the beast does not disapoint. It has ravaged a kingdom that has lost sight of it's primary purpose in protecting it's citizenry. The King has made a "pact" with it. The Kingdom supplies it with a virgin sacrifice at certain intervals (the result of a lottery), in exchange for it's crops remaining unburnt. A small band of villagers have taken it upon themselves to enlist the talents of a "Wizard". However, one of the King's most loyal soldiers kills the Wizard before he can do any good. The Wizard's Apprentice takes on the responsibilities his Master would have undertaken. The job is not without it's hazards, as the Apprentice finds out. The Wizard is "summoned" from the death he suffered earlier to aid the Apprentice in slaying the beast.
This film was released in 1981, and if memory serves, did not do well at the Box Office. It HAS been a modest success since it's release on VHS, and now DVD. "Dragonslayer" continues to draw more and more fans to the genre, which as of late, has turned them into cuddly talking flying lizards. The myth is all but gone, save for films such as this one.
Only the virgin lottery is fun 
2008-03-03
Dragonslayer might sound like a film involving barbarians and knights taking on a fire breathing monstrosity... instead you get a young jolly magician with a crystal stone who buffoons about the place like a court jester, dates a boy-girl (yes) and takes on an iguana with wings glued onto it.
The only good part is that the local village has a virgin lottery to decide which dame is going to get sacrificed to the dragon so that they can live peacefully that year. There are certainly not enough dragons (baby dragons that get stabbed to death by the cheery hero don't count) and the blue screen effects are clearly visible. This doesn't seem to be a good production, even for its time (1981). Overall I wanted to watch a good fantasy film and found this one on the list, but was disappointed by the plodding plot, lack of story, hamming acting and bad special effects.
Let this one burn.
Best Dragon Movie to Date 2008-02-27
Despite its box-office failure in 1981,
Dragonslayer was gradually recognized as one of the finest fantasies to emerge from the post-
Star Wars boom in special effects. It's still one of the best adventures of its kind, featuring one of the most fearsome fire-breathing serpents in movie history. Ominously named Vermithrax Pejorative, this ill-tempered monster terrorizes the peasantry of sixth-century England, feeding on maidens sacrificed by a duplicitous king until a sorcerer's apprentice named Galen (Peter MacNicol, long before
Ally McBeal) is recruited as a reluctant hero. Aided by a tenacious beauty (Caitlin Clarke) and his resurrected mentor (Ralph Richardson), Galen confronts the soaring beast in a breathtaking climax. Employing a then-innovative technique called Go-Motion to animate the dragon, the special effects are still dazzling, and stunning locations in Scotland and Wales allow director Matthew Robbins (cowriter of Steven Spielberg's feature debut,
The Sugarland Express) to maintain a vivid atmosphere for the wealth of movie magic.
--Jeff Shannon
Dragonslayer 2007-11-21
Dragonslayer it's a good price for a good movie. Another rainy day special. Bought these as another Christmas gift. Good Movie. Many of the actors are now gone..including the female lead. Good price.
A sincere, if flawed gem of a film. 2007-10-12
"Dragonslayer" starts out on a refreshingly offbeat note; a dark medieval adventure tale with the magnificent Ralph Richardson as an eccentric wizard and his bumbling sidekicks. It has a smart story about the origins and ramifications of the fantastical Dragons, and the cowards and heroes who populate its world. Excellent production design and cinematography pays great respect to the middle ages.
Alas, "Dragonslayer" is not a classic film by most people's estimation for a number of reasons. The plot gets increasingly convoluted and the "subtext" is somewhat overstated. Obviously, the filmakers are on the side of supernaturalism and take some weak jabs at Christianity and its followers. If this were done today it would be much, much worse. The filmakers also cannot ever quite figure out what they want to say about the benefits and drawbacks of magic and in the end it just kind of gets lost in the mix. Shakespeare this is not.
I admire the enchanting world of Dragonslayer, I only wish it were a bit more spectacular. Suprisingly, the dragon Vermithrax (fabulous name) looks pretty lousy when compared to Harryhausen's work from many years earlier. It acts erratically, pops its head in for a fight then ducks out for two minutes. Worst of all it does not follow and of the laws of aerodynamics or gravity in flight! That is not the fault of technology but with TLC in the animation. Whenever it breathes fire, the head just kind of stays put while a column of flame pours out. I think that ILM was trying to prove that they could make "good" FX without spending gazillions and tinkering over every optical composite to death. It shows.
Still, Dragonslayer has a place in my heart for its sincerity and total originality. My grandfather took me to see it when it came out and I was bored but also intrigued. If it fails a bit in execution it still is leagues ahead of most any adventure film made this decade -- particularly Peter Jackson's pandering, overripe LOTR films.
Micro fantasy film 2007-08-27
I have admitted previously that I am not a big fan of fantasy films with magic, fairies and unicorns in them. However, this being the first of the genre I was exposed to as a child left an impression on me. It was one of those movies they ran all the time on HBO when we first got cable. Seeing it as an adult is another matter all together.
Nearly 30 years before Ally McBeal, Peter McNichol plays an ernest peasent boy / sourcerer's apprentice who is approached by a group of equally concerned peasents in a neighboring village. Twice a year on the summer and winter equinox, they sacrifice a virgin to appease a dragon. They are looking for help so they don't have to keep giving up their damsels and hope to emplore the skills of the sourcerer. Peter McNichol joins the group in their trip back to their home village, and discovers quite by accident that the leader of the group is a woman disguised as a boy. She said since she was born, her father has dressed her as a boy to keep her from the virgin lottery. It's given her many opportunities that she otherwise would not have had, let alone increase her chances of staying alive.
What I liked about this movie best was the relationship between the crown and it's subjects, and the struggle of the haves and have nots. Like the masquerading boy says to Peter, her father is poor and cannot afford to pay the bribes to say out of the lottery. They have to resort to other means of avoidance. Their king is arrogant and uncaring, saying only a few of their children are being sacrificed and it's not really a concern. When his own daughter, Princess Elsbeth, learns that her name is not on the list of possible sacrifices, and some of the townspeople are paying bribes to stay out of the lottery, she altruisticly puts herself as the one and only in the grab bag. When the king witnesses this, he is of course terrified, but she announces that she will give up her own life to appease for the risk they have taken and she had not due to her status. The dragon, of course, is then slayed by our hero. But, the damsel in distress (Princess Elsbeth) is not rescued, but still gives up her life. She's the real hero of this story.
This dragon is the BEST!!! 2007-08-26
So what if the special effects didn't cost $200 million. Did you see 'Hulk'? It was horrible. Some silly looking 'video game Hulk' bouncing around the city'. Ridiculous. Did you see 'Spider-Man'? A good film, but the CGI effects showed exactly what 'Spider-Man' is: a special effect. 'Dragonslayer' doesn't have those highly expensive CGI effects. What it does have (way back in 1981) is a fine cast, lead by a sorceror's apprentice (regardless of what some say about Peter MacNicol's casting, I thought he was perfect), and Sir. Ralph Richardson, perfect as the sorceror, a good supporting cast, and a 'model' dragon that easily puts the dragons in 'Dragonheart', 'Reign of Fire' and the silly 'Eragon' to shame. Frequent Spielberg/Lucas visual effects man Dennis Muren ('E.T.', 'The Empire Strikes Back', 'Jedi', 'Jurassic Park', etc.) also worked on this film, and it shows. This dragon is the real thing. Ancient and scaly, bitter, terrifying, and unsympathetic. It's simply menacing. This is a beast that nightmares are made of. And this dragon was shot WITHOUT the aid of computers. Yet the effects look BETTER than today's CGI monstrosities. This dragon is truly a work of art. The bar has been set with 'Dragonslayer', so another filmmaker is going to have to do it better than Matthew Robbins' excellent fantasy, and that won't be easy. I do hope Paramount and Disney (they co-produced the film) put out a 2-disc set. A documentary about the making of the film featuring Dennis Muren, Matthew Robbins, and some of the cast members would certainly be entertaining, and well worth the purchase.
