Dragonslayer 1981: The Best Dragon Movie You've Never Seen

Great video!! Dragonslayer is one of my favorite sword and sorcery movies. My dad saw it in the theater. It was the first fantasy movie I ever saw. Vermithrax Perjorative is still the best cinematic dragon ever!! (Sorry, Smaug). Siskel and Ebert gave the movie Thumbs Up!! I got the 4K for my birthday and saw it for the first time this past Saturday and it was GORGEOUS!! :)

I was the boom operator on that movie t the age of 20 - my first big budget major movie. Great memories of location shooting in Wales and on the 007 stage @ Pinewood Studios

I loved this movie. I saw it when it came out and every Superlative you have given it is true and beyond. I believed EVERYTHING that Ralph Richardson, as the wizard, said.
I also believe everything the dragon said which is pretty effective because the dragon didn't say anything. He just ate too much spicy food.... country of origin unknown. Suffice it to say, the dragon scared the s_ _ t out of me more than that dinosaur movie that arrived more than a decade later.
He's the only dragon I ever believed.
Wonderful movie. I can't recommend it enough.

This movie was one of the first I ever saw on VHS video as a child in the early 80's. Looking back, I was probably a bit too young for the dark themes in this movie but I was still glad I saw it. I have a feeling that my parents didn't know how dark the movie was going to be until after the fact. The only thing they didn't allow me or my siblings to see was the brief nude scene. I didn't know until recently that the dragon had a name. I had to rewatch the scene in the wizard's home where he does mention the name but it seemed like it was in passing and it was never obvious to me that what he said was the dragon's name. I also don't remember the name being mentioned by anyone else in the movie and it doesn't really matter. The movie was still well-made and I do recommend it to anyone who's a fan of the genre.

I saw this in the theater when I was only six. I think my grandmother thought that because it was Disney, and fantasy it wouldn't be as dark or as violent as it was. For years I would take gems, and make them into amulets in hopes that I could summon a dragon. As much as I understood the dragon was bad I also understood that it was just doing what it had to in order to survive. The book version of the film adds in a few details that explain some of the films plotholes but really it's pretty much a David and Goliath story with a silly romance side-story. I became a big fan of both dragons and Peter Macnichol thanks to this film. Eagle-eyed viewers will note that this movie shares an actor with The Neverending Story.

Pitiful.... Spiteful....
This move mad me start dungeons and dragons lol - i loved that old man - so cool ... "Dont worry .. u cant hurt me....."

Fuckin great movie - dojt makem like that any more...
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

So glad you found this movie! 😁 I - being a major fantasy geek at the time, as opposed to a moderate one now 😝 - saw it in a local cinema when it came out; even then it wasn't highly thought of, apparently, because they screened it with little fanfare in one of the smallest theaters, with less than 100 seats (as they also did a few years later with "Krull", another overlooked fantasy gem).

Words can't describe how gobsmacked I was at the dragon back then, I immediately fell in love with the film & have watched it dozens of times since 🤩I also thought the Sicarius Dracorum lance was the coolest dang movie weapon ever & it's still high on my list!


BTW a contributing factor to its forgottenness may be that Peter McNicol reportedly hates it & considers it an embarrassment, which he doesn't even include on his CV, despite being his big screen debut. I mean, he wouldn't have the power to suppress it but a leading man who won't even talk about the film can't possibly have helped...

When I was a 12 year old, I saw this movie in cinema and was very impressed (and also had some nightmares afterwards). Not exactly what you expect from a Disney-Movie 🙂I just watched it again over 40 years later and was fanscinated once again. What a gem! Some fun facts: The actor who played Ulrich the Sorcerer also played "God" in "time bandits" and the priest, who ist killed by the dragons fire is played by Emperor Papatine himself (Ian McDiarmid).

I was 16 when it was out in the theater. I watched it twice. I was a huge fantasy nerd and thought it was pure magic on the big screen!!

Watched this way back when it was 1985. Still couldn't get over that Disney made it. Sadly the actress who played Valerian passed away some time ago.

Never seen?

It's Disney, and it was nominated for 2 Oscars (Alex North soundtrack, and The Abyss FX guys Dennis Muren and co.), 4 Saturn Awards, and a Hugo. It should have won Best FX, as the Go Motion used for Vermithrax was new, and removed the stopmotion jerkiness of models.

Vermithrax!

I love Dragonslayer. For a long time I was fascinated with it, also especially the soundtrack as a composer myself. Glad I also got the 4K release, which looks absolutely beautiful!

OMG, I can't oversell the outrage the pool moms had over this movie! I guess they were expecting Pete's Dragon? 😂

I'd heard the name of Dragonslayer but nothing about it until now. I find it so interesting and funny how many names GRRM clearly put into A Song of Ice and Fire as ode to this movie.😂

I hadn't heard this film mentioned in years! I saw it when I was a kid in the late 1980s, my mom rented it from the video store. Thankfully, she did not watch it with me.

Great choice here! Love seeing someone talk about this incredible movie. Ty!

For me, I grew up with a ripped off VHS copy. I sorta of discovered it in my grandad’s things in ‘92 or ‘93. The tape didn’t have a title so I just put it in. The first few minutes of the movie were cut off so I never saw the title for years. I thought it was this great and miraculous discovery on my part. But I also couldn’t get past the first scene the first few times I braved it. Finally, I brought it to my dad and we watched it together and he went “oh I know what this is, Dragonslayer!” We watched it yearly after that.

I saw this movie in the movie theater when it came out 1981. I thought it was very well done and I still remember it to this day, especially when the baby dragons kill the king's daughter, when the old wizard is fighting the dragon and has to recite a speel to keep from being fried by the dragon and when Galen crushes the amulet and destroys the dragon. A few things that you didn't talk about was where he got the magic spear (it was made many years before hand and hidden in a brook by the blacksmith) and the how the king takes credit for slaying the dragon. Galen and Valyrian are standing around looking at the dragon carcass (it fell in the lake) when the king rides up with his court. He walks up to the dragon, sticks a sword into the carcass of the dragon and his councilor declares him King Nitwit, Dragon Slayer. All in all, a very good movie.

I saw this movie when I was 11 andit was FANTASTIC!

I absolutely loved this movie when it came out. I watched it on cable got it on VHS love it love it love it.
As a fan of fantasy literature I was floored when this came out. It was a serious effort to make the fantasy of magic and dragons real on the big screen.
I believe that due to this film we were able to have films like The Lord Of The Rings and TV shows like Game Of Thrones.
I would love to see this movie again it was great and would highly recommend it to fans of fantasy and high adventure.

Saw on opening day and saw it over 14 times it was billed with multiple movies

disney before it became disney.

I have it on DVD. One thing they didn't put in the movie which explains the ending is Galen's parents brought him to the wizard as an infant because wild animals kept coming to him. The wizard put a spell on him for the promise they would bring him when he was of age to be his apprentice.

I saw this underrated masterpiece at he theater when I was 16. It captures the setting of early medieval Europe perfectly. The dragon was an astonishing work of stop-motion animation. As a AD&D kid I thought Dragonslayer was way better than Raiders.

have you seen the dragon heart films?

One of many sword and sorcery movies I enjoyed on TV as a kid in the 80s (including the aptly named The Sword and the Sorcerer).

I still haven’t seen the full movie but it at the top of my list as i will watch anything with dragon in the title. Glad i found this video, glad to here it’s plot line described so enthusiastically.

It was amazing

Do Beastmaster

I have the dvd. I always loved the dragon practical effects; I think they outdo a lot of the CGI we get now especially that recent "Damsel" crap my daughter had on Netwaste.

I was also a 17yo D&D player so it kind of already had its fangs in me. Yes, I said the thing badum tish.

I had seen this movie as a kid, but tbh totally forgot about it, although echoes of a dragon scale shield and the guy from ghostbusters swinging a sword never left me. Thanks for reminding me this movie exist.