10 Epic Fantasy Movies You Probably Haven't Seen
Come explore magical lands of sea-monsters, wizards, and one gigantic flea.
Fantasy is one of the most underappreciated genres out there, seen by some as merely a vehicle for sickly-sweet fairytales and overly-lionhearted heroes. Harry Potter books literally released a line of adult-covered novels to save commuters the embarrassment of reading "children's books". Yet, fantasy isn't a children's genre; it can combine many fictional forms to tell terrifying and tragic tales that appeal to all ages and tastes.
Since The Lord of the Rings, fantasy films have struggled to reach the same level of critical and commercial success. In particular, epic fantasy requires enormous budgets and masses of production work which can make it challenging to rake back the cash at the global box office.
Despite these hardships, filmmakers have produced numerous pieces of fantastic epic fantasy cinema over the years. Stories of brave adventurers, dastardly evil overlords, and strange magical lands are all waiting to be viewed by an avid cinephile such as yourself!
What makes a fantasy epic? In loose terms, a high-fantasy setting not of our own world or a narrative detailing a grand heroic journey. While a couple of these underappreciated films may use our world as a framing device, the main focus is on the fantastical. Onwards we go!
10. The Company Of Wolves
Okay, while fantasy doesn't just comprise of fairytales, it's not a bad place to start.
The Company of Wolves - based on Angela Carter's short story in The Bloody Chamber - is a reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood's tale. A modern-day Rosaleen falls asleep and dreams that she is living in a magical forest filled to the brim with whimsical wolves. Within that main narrative, there are another four short stories all comprising of grisly Lycan-laden incidents.
You can't get much closer to fairytale fantasy than this, with each tale detailing supernatural encounters with witches, werewolves, and the Devil himself. The fables cleverly entwine allegories on coming-of-age, trust, and revenge. Romance and bloodshed all mix up into a genuinely terrific fantasy experience.
Where The Company of Wolves really shines is in its use of practical effects, with some of the most horrifying depictions of werewolf transformations ever put to screen. The sudden shift from the charming mise-en-scène of a snow-crested forest to a man hungrily tearing off his own face is scary stuff to say the least.