Fantasy has traditionally been dominated by high-profile franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and The Lord of the Rings. However, there are plenty of other lesser-known тιтles in the sword-and-sorcery genre that have fallen through the cracks of the mainstream while still delivering the same adventuresome spirit of awe and wonder.
Whether it’s ’80s cult classics or 2010s fantasy epics, the past half-century of cinema harbors plenty of overlooked deep cuts that have failed to garner acclaim from a wider audience. Weird, campy, and often off-beat in their subject matter, these films are the life-blood that fuels the greater fantasy fandom, despite their long-overdue lack of credit.
In the Name Of The King
German filmmaker Uwe Boll’s In the Name of the King trilogy is a bizarre yet ambitious set of films that boast an incredible line-up of Hollywood A-listers, including the likes of Jason Statham, Ron Perlman, Burt Reynolds, Matthew Lillard, Dolph Lundgren, and even Goodfellas‘ own Ray Liotta.
The franchise started as a standalone fantasy movie led by Jason Statham, before swapping out the actor for another action hero in the form of Dolph Lundgren for the sequel. The third and final installment traded leads again, this time going with Dominic Purcell.
A consistent theme of the franchise is the fish-out-of-water main character. Each main protagonist is a time traveler from modern times thrust into a fantasy world full of monsters. Oddly enough, this recurring concept has nothing to do with the source material.
Based on the Dungeon Siege video games, this sword-and-sorcery trilogy was widely panned by audiences and critics alike, with the first entry in the series even receiving an abysmal 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the series is worth watching if for nothing else other than it being a fascinatingly star-studded mess that truly earns the label “so-bad-it’s-good.”
The Scorpion King
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s breakout role in The Mummy Returns spawned a flurry of sequels centered around his popular antagonist Mathayus “The Scorpion King,” a ruthless Egyptian warrior whose 5000-year-old exploits were cataloged and mythologized in the popular 2002 film of the same name.
Though The Scorpion King initially performed well, grossing nearly three times its $60 million budget, it wouldn’t be until 2008 that we would receive a direct-to-DVD follow-up, in which Johnson was succeeded by Michael Copon. Since then, actors Victor Webster and Zach McGowan have both taken up the mantle of Mathayus, yet Johnson still proves irreplaceable as the тιтular warrior-king.
Deathstalker
If you’re a fan of cheesy fantasy-adventure flicks, it doesn’t get more iconic than Deathstalker, a sword-and-sorcery film in the style of Conan the Barbarian whose over-the-top action makes it fit for the littered shelf collecting dust behind the teenage clerk of an ’80s video rental shop.
Following the тιтular warrior’s magical quest for a chalice, amulet, and sword, this Argentine-American picture kickstarted a franchise with all the tell-tale signs of a fantasy epic: muscular adversaries, scantily-clad heroines, and mysterious sorcerers whose antics propel the plot forward. Charming, tongue-in-cheek, and chock-full of camp, Deathstalker is perhaps the greatest example of the bygone low-budget fantasy genre—flaws and all.
Beastmaster
Another franchise steeped in the fantasy epic genre is Beastmaster, a franchise based on sci-fi and fantasy writer Andre Alice Norton’s 1959 novel The Beast Master, which—fun fact—had its plot dramatically overhauled and rewritten for the silver screen to make it more akin to the popular sword-and-sorcery adventures of the early ’80s.
In Beastmaster, Dar (Marc Singer) is a powerful warrior who can communicate with animals, an ability he utilizes when battling cultists, challenging warlords, and even traveling across time in this campy, out-of-bounds series.
After the success of Beastmaster, Marc Singer’s Dar received a sequel – complete with a time travel twist – in Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time. Even though it bombed at the box office, the Beastmaster franchise survived, albeit outside of theaters. The next entry was a made-for-TV film, Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus.
Furthermore, the franchise also received a TV series that ran for three seasons from 1999 to 2002, all in the spirit of the original early ’80s epic. There’s since been discussions of a reboot, but so far, any continuation of the Beastmaster franchise to take shape.
Witch Mountain
Popularized in the 21st century with the Dwayne Johnson-led 2009 reboot, the Witch Mountain films actually originated in the mid ’70s with Disney’s hit film Escape to Witch Mountain, a thrilling adventure-fantasy about two orphaned kids with incredible psychic powers on the run from an evil millionaire keen on exploiting their profound abilities.
What’s unique about the Witch Mountain franchise is its eccentric blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements, which add remarkable stakes to an otherwise typical Disney adventure. Though its reboot failed to kick off a new wave of films, the series’ run in the 1970s is as wholesome as it is iconic, something plenty of other fantasy тιтles can’t attest to.
Willow
One of the most star-studded fantasy epics of the late ’80s is the cult classic Willow, a George Lucas film directed by Ron Howard that stars the great Warwick Davis as the тιтular lead, alongside a daring performance from the late Val Kilmer as the gritty, charismatic swordsman “Madmartigan.”
Released in 1988, Willow was a modest success at the box office, raking in nearly $140 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. However, fans of the film didn’t receive a follow-up entry to the cult classic until 2022, when Disney+ released an eight-part series set 20 years after the original film that follows the humble farmer’s ongoing adventures.
Mythica
Created by Arrowstorm Entertainment, the Mythica franchise is a multi-part fantasy epic that follows Marek (Melanie Stone), a young girl who rises out of slavery to become a magician in a world of powerful monsters and dark necromancy. In the series, Marek ᴀssembles a rag-tag group of fighters against forces fit to rival the greatest villains in all of fantasy.
The Mythica creators utilized Kickstarter to raise over $90,000 for the first film alone.
Apart from its humble origins, Mythica‘s greatest achievement is its creation of a franchise produced and propelled by fans of the fantasy genre, weathering shoestring budgets and a lack of mainstream attention all the while. Yet, despite this adversity, the creators have never delivered a product absent of the heart that set in motion the greatest indie fantasy series yet.
