Spoilers Dragonslayer - 1981 fantasy movie

[JD]

I just watched this this morning on Amazon Prime, and I thought it was really good.
The big highlight of course was the dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, who is considered one of the all best movie dragsons, for very good reason. There were a few bits that were a little cheesy now, but overall the effects and design for him were awesome, especially for 1981. The movie did a really good job of building up the tension until we finally get the big reveal during the final confrontation.
The overall movie was good too, the story was a little predictable, but the acting and writing were good enough to make up for it. I accidentally pulled up the X-Ray cast list, so that ended up ruining the Valerian reveal for me. Ulrich's return and then sacrifice were big surprises for me.
The horse showing up at the end after Galen destroyed the amulet was another cool little twist.
I was surprised by the nudity and how graphic some of the stuff with the dragons was for a PG movie. Not bothered by it at all, just did not expect it when I saw was it was only PG.
If the Willow series is a success on Disney+ and they decide to do more live action fantasy, then I would love to see a follow up to this, depending on how things work with Paramount. I just saw that Caitlin Clarke, the actress who played Valerian died in 2004, so I guess we wouldn't be able to get her back, which is a shame.

 

[Greg Cox]

I loved this movie back in the day and was disappointed that it didn't do better at the box office.

And Vermithrax Perjorative is the greatest dragon name ever.

 

[Charles Phipps]

This was a stunningly dark and cynical movie for its production company.

 

[Pauln6]

At the time I remember being frustrated at how long it took to get to the dragon fight but on a rewatch as an adult, there is a lot to love in the movie. One of my favorites for sure.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, I really like this movie.

The go motion is spectacular. The story has a lot of layers.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I watched this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, as well, and I liked it very much. And I drew some of the same conclusions as you did, @JD . I, too, was surprised at the graphic scenes, especially of the dead princess being eaten by the little dragons, but for me that was more about the movie being a Disney production. It being PG didn't surprise me, as PG-13 wasn't introduced until 1984. Before that, there was no rating between PG and R.

Also, I hadn't looked up the cast list before, and the Valerian reveal was still very predictable.

 

[OCD Geek]

Oh, shit. Dragonslayer's on Amazon Prime? I've wanted to see this since I first found out it existed. Looks like I'm getting my Peter MacNicol on tonight!

 

[Christopher]

The big highlight of course was the dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, who is considered one of the all best movie dragsons, for very good reason. There were a few bits that were a little cheesy now, but overall the effects and design for him were awesome, especially for 1981.

I believe this was the first film to use a new FX technique developed at ILM -- "Go-Motion," which was stop-motion but with motors that slowly moved the miniature during frame exposures to give it the motion blur that traditional stop-motion lacked. (Although Jim Danforth was doing almost as well decades earlier by double-exposing two or more consecutive frames on top of each other to approximate motion blur. Danforth considered Go-Motion too limiting to the animator because of the rods and servos that had to be attached to the model.)

I was surprised by the nudity and how graphic some of the stuff with the dragons was for a PG movie. Not bothered by it at all, just did not expect it when I saw was it was only PG.

PG then meant roughly what PG-13 means now, only with a bit more nudity allowed. Today's PG is basically like what G used to be, since filmmakers are so desperate to avoid G ratings that they stick the odd cuss word into what would otherwise be G films to get a token PG.

This was a stunningly dark and cynical movie for its production company.

Disney in the early '80s was trying to diversify into more mature films, like this, The Black Hole, Something Wicked This Way Comes, etc. But that perception of Disney as a kid-friendly company kept those films from doing as well as they hoped, so they eventually invented the Touchstone imprint for the more mature stuff.

 

[JD]

Since this was a co-production with Paramount, does that mean it probably won't be on Disney+?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Weird to think the kid in this is Uncle Jeff from Veep.

 

[theenglish]

I remember this was one of the first movies I ever saw on VHS. I remember waiting and waiting and waiting for the dragon to appear.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Like Smaug, a great Wyvern.

I seem to remember the video arcade game which used a laser disc...very jerky and hard to play IIRC.

 

[Reverend]

I loved this movie back in the day and was disappointed that it didn't do better at the box office.

And Vermithrax Perjorative is the greatest dragon name ever.

Apparantly Vermithrax was a real diva behind the scenes. Even got into an altercation with a player on another production ILM had going around the same time...probably because he had a bigger trailer or something.

 

[JD]

That picture alone is enough to make me glad I started this thread.

 

[Forbin]

Wonderful movie.
Vermathrax was such an outstanding dragon, most dragons since have been patterned after him.
It's almost sad that Go-Motion came along just in time to be obsoleted by CGI.

 

[Unicron]

Oddly, I don't recall ever hearing of this one even though I've heard or watched many of the contemporary films from that era. Might have to give it a go.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Like Smaug, a great Wyvern.

I seem to remember the video arcade game which used a laser disc...very jerky and hard to play IIRC.

That was Dragon's Lair, not Dragonslayer.

 

[Cyrus]

Weird to think the kid in this is Uncle Jeff from Veep.

Haven't seen him in that role. But he seems to play a lot of weird or crazy characters, like in Ghostbusters or the crazy hermit scientist in the Big Bang Theory. Quite a bit different that his character in Dragonslayer.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Here's a taste of Uncle Jeff:

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[Ar-Pharazon]

That was Dragon's Lair, not Dragonslayer.

No wonder I couldn't google it I would swear it was from the movie though. Too many years ago.