Dragonslayer

A fantasy film set in a world resembling the middle ages. There is a dragon in the kingdom. The king has an agreement with it: twice a year a lottery is drawn and the girl chosen is left for the dragon. In return the rest of the country is left in peace. A group of villagers comes looking for help. Who they want is an old sorcerer; the last one in the country, and how much of his power remains is unclear. Something happens on the journey and the work falls to the apprentice. Galen is young, inexperienced, and holds a stone his master left him. From there the film is about preparation. A spear is forged, the cave is entered, the king objects and the lottery is drawn again. What the narrative is interested in is not heroism but order: the king does not want the dragon killed because the present arrangement protects his power, and the people have got used to it. The dragon is the most discussed thing about the film. It is kept out of sight for a long time; when it appears it is heavy, reptilian and genuinely dangerous. The effects were made with a developed form of stop motion, and the blur on the movement was a new solution at the time. The tone is darker than fantasy usually was: the victims are shown, the deaths are hard, and the tension between religion and magic is plain. Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson and John Hallam are in the cast. Matthew Robbins directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1980s fantasy and practical effects. Who it is not for: anyone planning to watch with children; it was sold as a family film but its tone and some of its scenes are hard.