IGX

There are two key reasons that Dragonslayer stands out as the best of the Sword and Sorcery films that were popular in the 80s. The first is basic cinema stuff - it's an involving. entertaining and intelligent work, nicely performed, beautifully shot (the director of photography was Derek Vanlint, a man who worked almost exclusively in commercials and only shot two features until his recent directoral debut The Spreading Ground: Dragonslayer and Ridley Scott's Alien - enough said), handsomely scored by old hand Alex North, most impressively designed by Elliot Scott and directed with wit and gusto by Matthew Robbins. It also has possibly the best dragon in fantasy film history, a horned, fire-breathing creature of prehistoric design that even has a Latin name to describe its particular species: Verminthrax Pejorative. Made before the numbing effect of CGI, this is a seriously threatening creation, a creature with a demonic head, a maliciously purposeful stride and genuine grace and power in flight. The stop-motion work here is first rate, and the sense of threat it creates makes any wandering into its lair an almost unbearably tense experience.