Dragonslayer (1981)

 

Having seen this at a very young age, 'Dragonslayer' both fascinated me and gave me the willies. I happen to like dragons, but I was never expecting a film by Disney to be as scary and creepy as this one could be to a mere 6-year-old. 

Thanks for the childhood trauma, Disney. Thanks a lot.

This was during a time when the company of the mouse dared to take risks and ventured into much grimmer territory. Alas, the crowds didn't appreciate this turn very much, thus leading to this film massively underperforming. A real shame because 'Dragonslayer' is great. Not only is it a rather balanced tale of good versus evil, but it also has one of the best cinematic dragons ever put to film.

And to top it all off the creature is called Vermithrax Pejorative. How's that for a name?

During the Dark Ages, an envoy from Urland knocks on the door of Ulrich, an elderly magister. Their lands are under the yoke of a dragon and they want Ulrich to destroy the creature. Not just to keep the country safe, but also because the king has made a pact with the creature and sacrifices young girls to Vermithrax twice a year. But before they can well and truly set off, Ulrich is killed by a soldier of king Cassiodorus, because the king does not want to upset the delicate balance and uneasy truce with the creature. 

However, Ulrich's young apprentice Galen then decides it is his turn to shine and being a cocky youth, goes forth to try and destroy the beast himself even if he is still wet behind the ears. After Galen brings down a massive landslide onto the dragon's lair, most people are relieved and think the creature is dead, but of course this is not the case. Vermithrax retaliates in a big way and the king rapidly calls for a new lottery to sacrifice a girl. This time though, it turns out to be his own daughter who is to be thrown to the creature. 

Galen knows magic won't save anyone and heads out with a special spear to slay the dragon, but things are never that easy as he soon finds Vermithrax is a wily old beast and she even has young... 

The brooding, dark atmosphere complete with the beautiful yet rather desolate looking British landscapes make this an exceedingly European film. Not just because most of the cast is comprised of British stage actors, except for our leads Peter MacNicol and Caitlin Clarke. You'd never expect Peter MacNicol to play the heroic lead as he was later often cast as more of a comedic actor, but hey: he does a pretty decent job of playing a slightly overconfident young sorcerer who soon learns that life is a lot harder than he thinks. Caitlin Clarke is also decent as Valerian, a girl who has posed as a boy all her life in order to escape the lottery, although even as a child I could never understand how people missed the fact that she was a girl. Now I get that sometimes it's harder to spot in real life, but here? Not so much. 

Special shoutout to John Hallam as Tyrian, the ruthless soldier of king Cassiodorus who has no qualms whatsoever in killing old men. You will cheer when he gets his comeuppance. In fact, most of the roles here are really well written and fleshed out, which is rather surprising for a Disney feature where characters are usually more black and white. 

Oh, and this film has the balls to completely annihilate a Christian priest. Who is played by Ian McDiarmid aka The Emperor from 'Star Wars'. FYI.

But the main reason to see this one is of course our dragon, Vermithrax. Not only is the design absolutely stunning and realistic (as far as dragons go, of course), but the go-motion is brilliant. It's far better than stop-motion and it still holds up remarkably well after all these years. The lifesize puppet head is also excellent; just the lifesize claws look a little too stiff and unwieldy to be convincing, but come puppeteering, this is great. They also hold back the full reveal of the creature for quite a while, so it does build a lot of tension and when you finally get to see her in her full splendour, it is jawdropping.

It's a good thing this film has gotten more recognition throughout the years thanks to reruns on television. It is a bit of a forgotten gem from an era when Disney took more chances. If you happen to like fantasy and dragons, this one is obligatory.