The 10 Best Dark Fantasy Movies of All Time, Ranked
Born with Autism (formerly classified as Asperger syndrome), Tyler B. Searle has been obsessed with storytelling since he was old enough to speak. He gravitated towards fairy tales, mythology, the fantasy genre, and animated movies and shows aimed at family audiences. When not writing, Tyler enjoys watching more cartoons and reading fantasy books in his home in Ontario, Canada.
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The fantasy genre is one of the oldest and most vibrant genres of storytelling thanks to its ability to bring anything the storyteller can imagine to life. It can be further broken down into different sub-genres, such as high fantasy, like Lord of the Rings, and urban magic, like Harry Potter. One that has become more popular in recent years is dark fantasy.
Defining dark fantasy is a bit tricky, but the basic idea is that it is a fantasy story that incorporates elements of horror and more mature and frightening themes. As such, creative types can go wild with these stories, especially in film. Dark fantasy movies always stand out for their amazing visuals and how harsh their stories can be, even if the target audience is children.
10 'Legend' (1985)
Princess Lili (Mia Sara) is a pure-hearted soul who has befriended a woodland sprite named Jack in the Green (Tom Cruise). One day, Jack takes Lili to see the last pair of unicorns, one of whom is killed by the goblin Blix (Alice Playten), in service to the evil Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry). This brings about a deadly winter, and if the second unicorn is killed, Darkness can banish the sun.
Though poorly received on release, Legend has become a cult classic thanks to its charismatic actors and phenomenal practical effects. Its story is a simple good vs. evil fairy tale, but it lends itself to some memorable characters, with the highlight being Darkness. Along with a striking and intimidating design, his personality is another chance for Curry to chew the scenery. Note: if you're going to watch it, try to find the director's cut, which includes the original score by Jerry Goldsmith.
9 'Fire and Ice' (1983)
Sorceress Queen Juliana (Susan Tyrrell) and her son, Nekron (Stephen Mendel), use their magic to spread Arctic glaciers in their war against humanity, with only the volcanic kingdom of Firekeep standing against them. Juliana sends her minions to kidnap Firekeep's princess, Teegra (Maggie Roswell), to be Nekron's bride, but she escapes. She finds allies against the sorcerers in the form of Larn (William Ostrander), a survivor from a tribe wiped out by the glaciers, and Darkwolf (Steve Sandor), a powerful and mysterious warrior.
Fire and Ice is an underrated gem in the wild filmography of Ralph Bakshi. It boasts some fantastic use of rotoscoping, which gives the characters more lifelike movement and adds a lot of realism to the action scenes. This realistic movement also makes the film feel more dangerous, as the characters struggle to survive in this hostile world and fight for their right to live.
8 'Return to Oz' (1985)
After returning from the Land of Oz, Dorothy Gale (Fairuza Balk) is sent to the sanatorium of Dr. Worley (Nicol Williamson), who plans to use electroshock therapy on her. She escapes with the help of a mysterious girl and returns to Oz, which has been taken over by the Nome King (Nicol Williamson and Pons Maar). With help from a mechanical man named Tik-Tok (Sean Barrett), a pumpkin-headed scarecrow named Jack (Brian Henson), and a talking chicken named Billina (Denise Bryer), Dorothy attempts to find her friend the Scarecrow (Justin Case) and save Oz from the Nome King's rule.
Return to Oz has earned a reputation as one of the most disturbing kids' films ever made, especially if one watches it after seeing the original Wizard of Oz. It trades bright and colorful imagery for some truly twisted and terrifying concepts, such as a witch who collects the heads of young women, her wheel-limbed minions called Wheelers, and some of the creepiest stop-motion in film, brought to life by the legendary Will Vinton. This fits the tone of the original Oz books better than the 1939 classic and has helped the movie gain a strong cult following over the years.
7 'The Neverending Story' (1984)
Bastian Balthazar Bux (Barret Oliver) is an introverted child who lives with his father following the recent death of his mother. One day, while escaping bullies, he runs into a mysterious bookshop and steals one titled "The Neverending Story". It details a fantasy world called Fantasia, which is being destroyed by an abstract force called The Nothing, and the hero Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), who sets off to defeat it.
The Neverending Story is an amazing balancing act between a rich, whimsical fantasy world and dark, existential themes. The Nothing in particular is one of the most terrifying forces in any fantasy film: an abstract manifestation of loss and depression that slowly erodes the world until all color and hope have left it. Still, there's lots of wonder and magic to be found, such as in the character of Falcor (Alan Oppenheimer), an optimistic luckdragon who encourages Atreyu to never give up.
6 'Dragonslayer' (1981)
Galen Brandwardyn (Peter MacNicol) is a young man apprenticed to the great sorcerer, Ulrich of Cragganmore (Ralph Richardson). One day, a group of soldiers from the kingdom of Urland arrive at Ulrich's tower to request his help in slaying the dragon Vermithrax Pejorative. Unfortunately, one of the soldiers stabs Ulrich when he tries to demonstrate his power, leaving Galen to try and kill the dragon with nothing but his master's ashes and magic amulet.
Dragonslayer is a gritty and subversive film that pulls no punches with how grim its world can be. Young women are regularly sacrificed to Vermithrax to appease its hunger, while Galen and his allies are pushed to their limit in trying to find a way to bring down the dragon. Speaking of Vermithrax, it remains one of the greatest dragons in film thanks to an ancient, menacing design, and the multitude of techniques that went into its creation.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
- You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
- You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
- Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
- The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
- Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
- You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
- Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
- Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
- The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
- You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
- Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
- That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
- Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
- You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
- Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
- Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
- Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
- You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
- The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
- You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.
5 'The Dark Crystal' (1982)
On the world of Thra live two ancient dying races: the evil Skeksis, who drain the planet's life force through a dark crystal to prolong their lives, and the good Mystics, who practice ancient magic in isolation. As the Skeksis emperor and the elder Mystic die on the same day, Jen (Stephen Garlick), one of the last Gelflings, is tasked with finding a shard from the dark crystal to bring an end to the Skeksis' rule. He must do this before the three suns of Thra converge, which will allow the Skeksis to achieve full immortality.
The Dark Crystal is one of the most visually distinct fantasy movies ever made. Thra looks and feels like a truly alien world: plants and even patches of earth seem to pulse with breath, and every creature's design is perfectly tailored to their role in the world. The Skeksis are easily the most iconic creatures from the film, with their vulture-like heads, extravagant costumes, and decadent personalities making them the perfect representation of greed, corruption, and rot.
4 'Conan The Barbarian' (1982)
As a child, Conan (Jorge Sanz and Arnold Schwarzenegger) is forced to watch as his village is destroyed, and his parents are killed by raiders in the service of a warlord named Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). Forced into slavery, Conan eventually earns his freedom as a gladiator and befriends the thief Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and the warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman). After the three successfully steal treasures from one of Doom's towers, they are contracted by King Osric (Max von Sydow) to rescue his daughter, who has been brainwashed into joining Doom's cult.
Conan The Barbarian is one of the most important and influential fantasy films ever made. It helped to kick off Schwarzenegger's career as a major action star and inspired a decade's worth of other gritty fantasy movies. The action scenes stand out, especially for their copious levels of blood, unshackled brutality, and fantastic music.
3 'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio' (2022)
After the death of his son, a woodcarver named Geppetto (David Bradley) gets drunk one night and decides to try to remake him out of wood. After he passes out, a Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) uses magic to bring to life the puppet he created, called Pinocchio (Gregory Mann), and assigns a cricket named Sebastian (Ewan McGregor) to teach him morality. As Pinocchio learns about life and all its trials and tribulations, he discovers that when he dies, he comes back to life after speaking with the Wood Sprite's sister, Death (Tilda Swinton).
This adaptation of Pinocchio has been a passion project of Guillermo del Toro for years, and it shows in the finished product. The story manages to be darker than the Disney adaptations in some ways, replacing fantasy nightmares with real ones like Fascism. It's also a very poignant dive into themes of mortality, exploitation, and what it means to truly live, all brought to life through fantastic stop-motion.
2 'Coraline' (2009)
Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) is not happy when she moves from Michigan to a boarding house in Oregon, or that her parents are more preoccupied with work than her. While exploring the house, she discovers a door in the wall that leads to another world created by her Other Mother (Teri Hatcher). She tailors the world to whatever Coraline desires, but underneath the glamor there is something dark and sinister.
Coraline combines a story by Neil Gaiman, animation by Laika, and the creative vision of stop-motion legend Henry Selick to make one of the most stylistic and creepy children's films in recent years. Everything about the Other World is especially disturbing, from how bright and perfect it is at first to how it slowly begins to erode and corrupt into a dark and twisted perversion of reality. The Other Mother herself is also one of animation's scariest villains thanks to how sinister she is while luring children to their doom.
1 'Pan's Labyrinth' (2006)
Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl living in Francoist Spain, follows a fairy deep into an underground labyrinth. There, she meets a faun (Doug Jones), who explains that she is the reincarnation of Princess Moanna of the underworld. To return to her kingdom, she must pass three trials, while also tending to her pregnant mother and ruthless stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi López).
Pan's Labyrinth is perhaps the masterpiece of Guillermo del Toro's career. The film uses its fantasy elements to complement and explain the harshness of the world around Ofelia, such as the terrifying Pale Man (Doug Jones), an elderly creature who sustains himself by eating the flesh of children. Yet intermingled with this darkness are themes of hope, sacrifice, and bravery.
The Dark Crystal
- Release Date
- December 17, 1982
- Runtime
- 93 minutes
- Director
- Frank Oz
- Writers
- David Odell, Jim Henson
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Jim Henson
Jen / High Priest, Ritual Master
-
Kathryn Mullen
Kira, a Gelfling
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.